I was going to go down the route of a rad guard, but never had one before and never had any problems. Your radiator is as exposed just as much on a sportsbike, just you think is covered up because of the faring.
When I purchased my 13 triple it had R&G guards fitted to rad and oil cooler........On slow rides, (Memorial ride outs etc ), the engine got too hot and the fan was cutting in on a very regular basis ...every couple of mins ..... Since then I've removed the Radiator protector and the bike now runs a bit cooler .... The lower guard I left on as it is more in the way of road debris.
I was worried about protecting these rads on my Tiger, so this afternoon I fabricated something !! I already had in stock a rear fender extender off my Duke ST2, so I left it out in the sun this arvo to get the plastic nice and soft; then I bolted it to the already removed front mudguard and shaped it in so it doesn't look toooooo daft, before reinstalling the whole lot back on the bike. Now stones coming off the front wheel are going to have to try REALLY hard to get at my rads.
The fan kicking in is not because the engine is too hot. It's there to assist the cooling when there is little or no airflow across the rad fins. The fan kicking in is quite normal and there is no need to worry about overheating unless the temp bars on the dash max out. My temp runs one or two bars hotter after fitting the rad guards, and I am not worried at all. Can I point out I am a fully trained vehicle mechanic. Of course if the temp bars ARE maxing out, time to visit your dealer. If there is still some way to go, worry not. Hope this helps to put your mind at rest.
