Myler's Aluminum Radiator Repair
MYLER’S ALUMINUM RADIATOR REPAIR
CW EVALUATION
Priced a replacement lately?
THE NEXT TIME YOU FALL OFF YOUR dirtbike and hear a loud crunch!, and you’re certain the noise wasn’t your collarbone breaking, take a good look at your motorcycle’s radiators. Granted, their location-tucked-in behind protective plastic shrouds adjacent to the steering head-renders them fairly impervious to damage, but they are not invincible.
For example, when a member of Team CW endoed during last fall’s resurrected Elsinore Grand Prix, the Suzuki RM250 he was riding appeared unscathed. It wasn’t until he got the bike home and gave it a good hosing off that he noticed the left-side radiator was bent into a parallelogram. It didn’t leak, but its ability to flow water, and thus cool the engine, was definitely suspect.
What to do? A quick visit to the parts counter at nearby Orange County Suzuki revealed that a replacement would cost $304. Ouch! That prompted a call to a radiator-repair company whose advertisements proclaim, simply, “We can fix it!” For seven years, Myler’s (8414 McDowell Ct., West Jordan, UT 84088; 801/280-8040) has specialized in aluminum radiator and oil cooler repair, and has fixed literally thousands. Success rate, proprietor Terry Myler claims, is over 99 percent for dirtbike radiators and slightly less for streetbikes. The latter’s larger size (and, sometimes, curved profile), he says, typically makes them more difficult to repair.
How does he do it? He could tell you, but then he’d have to kill you. Suffice to say it involves precision jigs, careful bending and welding, and patience-/oLs of patience, especially when a customer mucks up his radiator first by trying to fix it with epoxy. The only thing Myler won’t do is straighten the individual cooling fins; he recommends customers do that themselves using a small flat-blade screwdriver. Repair costs range from $35 to $75 for dirtbikes, $35 to $150 for streetbikes, and turn-around rarely takes longer than one day.
Our RM’s repaired radiator doesn’t look as good as a new stocker, but so what? It’s hidden behind a shroud, anyway. What matters is that it is again fully functional. Even better, Myler’s charged us just $50, meaning we could have it repaired no fewer than six times for the cost of one new one.
Like Jay Leno says in the Doritos commercials, crunch all you want.
