I currently serve in the Navy and am stationed in Norfolk, VA. The route I take to work frequently encounters bumper to bumper traffic. So bad to the point that it ranges anywhere from 1hr to even 3hrs (at its absolute worst) to drive a measly 14miles.

I recently purchased a 2017 Heritage Softail Classic in February and was chomping at the bit to ride it to work. Rode it a couple of times, no issues. Well about the fourth time to work I finally hit that dreaded, gawd awful bumper to bumper traffic for about 1.5hrs of crawling along. I finally get to the gate to show my ID and my bike won’t shift into neutral because it was so hot. I turn my bike off and then go to start it back up and it wouldn’t start. So there I am pushing my brand new Harley through the damn gate. I didn’t know what happened and I was panicking (my first Harley). I called the dealership, pissed off naturally, the service manager was great and calmed me down and said to just wait 10 mins and let the bike cool down and that it simply overheated from the traffic. Finally the bike started back up and I made it into work.

I did some reading and noted that normal oil temps range around the 220-250 range depending on conditions (or at least that’s nominal). So that night I purchased a oil temp gauge, brought it home and tested it in a boiling pot of water to verify its accuracy and it was spot on. So I installed it and figured my tripwire would be 275 degrees and I would pull over and let the bike cool down. Sure enough the next day at work, I hit 275 and climbing and I pulled over and shut her down. On the way home, we had a warmer day and it was about 85 degrees and sure enough I hit bumper to bumper due to a wreck, no where to pull off and here I am at 300 degree oil temp. I knew I had to do something.

I read many threads of the nay-sayers about cooling fans, oil coolers, etc. I opted for fans because it just made logical sense to me. An oil cooler sitting in grid locked traffic imo would yield next to nothing, but fans would keep air blowing across the motor (like driving down the road?!) go figure…

So I decided on the Love Jugs CoolerMaster fans for the cfm’s it puts out. I was skeptical to say the least, but figured what the heck. The instructions were great and I had no issues with installation. Since I’ve installed the fans I have hit this same bumper to bumper traffic on multiple occasions and on warmer days to boot. In the same conditions, if not even worse (90 degree days and warmer) I have YET to see my oil temps climb above 248. And mind you oil temp is all that I have been monitoring. Since I’ve installed the fans my bike has not kicked into parade mode once (rear cylinder shutdown) when before it would do it at every single stop light. My bike shifts into neutral way easier now, and I have had no further issues.

I’m not a master mechanic, or gear head. Just an IT Chief in the submarine force. You can call this snake oil, placebo effect, or what have you. But from where I sit the proof is in the pudding…and that proof is under my butt in bumper to bumper traffic, day in and day out now with no further issues. To me it makes perfect sense that if you are blowing that warm stagnant air off the motor it is naturally going to lower the oil temps as well as a bi-product of a cooler motor.

Hope this helps with some people’s decision making, or perhaps sheds a different point of view for the people scratching their heads…but like I said, this is just my .02 I myself am one huge fan of this product and am a happy daily rider on my FLSTC – Dale M. Suffolk, VA