Why cooling your oil cools your engine better

Why cool your oil?

You've likely been there. Maybe it was the side of some curvy back-road you'd looked forward to carving through all week. If you got lucky, maybe it happened to be in front of an establishment serving some cold beverages. But chances are you've found yourself stuck on the sidelines, standing around and waiting for your bike to cool down.

You can smell it, too. It's the hot smell of defeat and missing out on the ride you should be enjoying.

What happened?

Whether your unscheduled stop was triggered by the unbearable heat cooking your seat, or a less personal but still as uncomfortable pinging from your engine, heat is a well-known problem for today's big V-Twins.

The bigger they build, they hotter they seem to run.

And heat can wreak all kinds of havoc on your engine – but it doesn't have to. 

How to stay cool

Air-cooled engines rely on two main cooling mechanisms: the first is obvious—"air-cooled"—it's the open air that, depending on the weather and the traffic at the moment, you can't really do anything about. Even forcing more air across the engine only goes so far to affect oil temperatures, merely fanning the flame. 

Oil is truly the lifeblood of your engine. As it pumps through the veins of your air-cooled engine, it circulates through areas of intense heat while performing its traditional lubricating job.

That intense heat often rises to levels that diminish the performance and life of your oil. This puts your engine in danger of fits of fever, wearing heavily on the moving parts that rely on your oil for smooth operation. On some models it may even shut down the rear cylinder of your motor, leaving you to wonder where the other half of your giddyup went all of a sudden.

Cooler oil carries away more of the destructive heat from your engine, working from the inside-out and getting right to the core of the problem.

Why oil coolers?

An oil cooler is the most effective means of cooling oil, and oil carries heat away from many areas that are real hot spots for trouble. Oil coolers can assist in lowering cylinder head temperatures and regulating the effects of knocking/pinging. Cooling your oil prolongs the life of your oil and that has a related effect on every surface the oil touches.

There are many products on the market making various claims of cooling your engine. Unless these products implement oil cooling, none of them cool your oil. Conversely, cooling your oil also cools your engine.

Cooling your oil cools your engine better than cooling your engine cools your oil.

A dedicated, legitimate oil cooler, built to do one job extremely well, and optimized for the cooling needs and flow characteristics of the air-cooled V-Twin, is the most effective means of cooling your oil. 

Just what does it mean for an oil cooler to be "optimized" for a particular system? It means an oil cooler should provide enough performance to keep your oil in the proper operating temperature range for your motorcycle, and it also means that it should do so with a minimal impact on your oil pressure. A low pressure-drop across an oil cooler ensures the oil will be unrestricted and delivered where it needs to go. 

Lastly, the most effective oil coolers work effectively regardless of whether the vehicle is in motion.

Why Jagg Oil Coolers?

In short: performance, flow, and quality you can count on for years of comfortable riding and peace of mind.

HyperFlow Technology – it's the engineered balance between performance and flow.

Jagg designs every oil cooler and component with the entire system in mind to provide the maximum performance and the highest flow for each application.

A combination of the internal & external build characteristics and the brazing process are what set the Jagg oil cooler apart as a superior oil cooler. (For a more detailed explanation of the internal and external design and brazing technology that goes into a Jagg oil cooler, read on here: What sets Jagg apart?)

Jagg's newest, most versatile oil cooler systems incorporate powerful, durable fans to enable Jagg oil coolers to perform as well sitting still as on the open highway. They work automatically via included temperature sensors to only operate when needed, like in stop-and-go traffic or "thud-thud-thudding" down on the boulevard at Bike Week.

So, what are you waiting for? Bolt on protection for your oil and your engine, and get riding!