Cooling Fan Question

[elmicko]

I was reading the Cooling Fan thread in the Watering Hole and it got me to thinking. Of course I never hear my fan come on when I'm on the bike but it never overheats and consistently keeps the needle in the middle of the Green area. Here's the odd part...when I stop and park the bike the fan isn't running when I'm sitting at idle, but it will start running a few seconds after I hit the kill switch. If I leave the key on, it'll go for a minute or two before it turns off. Is this anything close to normal??

[GaryZ]

Yes, this is common. When you turn the engine off the coolant is no longer circulating through the radiator and cooling. In fact, the hot engine is heating the coolant enough to trip the fan switch. The fan quickly cools down the coolant near the fan switch and the fan turns off. Many cars and motorcycles will briefly run their cooling fans in this way, even with the ignition switch off.