New windshields

Hi.
Where can I see the pages 4 to 14?
And thanks. I also need a bigger windshield. I have 1.80m (5.9 feet) and the standard one sucks.
And please share the price with us... :-).

I also need a bigger windshield. I have 1.80m (5.9 feet) and the standard one sucks.
And please share the price with us... :-).

I think you'll be better off going with a shielded or full face helmet. I played around with an old bike shield, and cut it to fit the Vectrix. I needed at least 8 more inches of height to push the air over my face, and with that much extension, the shield itself was too close to my face for me to feel safe around it, due to the lean angle of the shield.

I'm not sure if those high dollar deflector pieces that were mentioned here a while back actually would work or not, but with those kind of prices, I elected to buy a nice helmet with flip down shield. Now I have smooth air, better eye protection and I'm less likely to bump my nose on the shield. ;-) It also looked awkward to have such a large shield on that bike.

As moccasin says it's not obvious that higher is better. I have a full-face helmet and above 80 km/h the turbulence is worse than when riding a bike without windshield. It's like it just pushes all air over the shield into your face. The lower sports shield might actually be better, it's high enough to take some air pressure off the arms, but perhaps low enough to let air pass the helmet undisturbed.

I hope someone will be able to test and compare the standard, winter and sports shields. And report results here.

The lower sports shield might actually be better, it's high enough to take some air pressure off the arms, but perhaps low enough to let air pass the helmet undisturbed.

I hope someone will be able to test and compare the standard, winter and sports shields. And report results here.

Before I put the stocker back on, I cut my tall shield down to just a little over the dashboard of the Vectrix and took her out for a spin. I've never been a fan of unshielded bikes, and this one was not exception. However, a full face helmet would have fared somewhat better on the test, as they don't "parachute" in pure wind like my 3/4 helmet does. With the short shield, the air hits you in the chest and bounces straight up to catch your helmet. Not to mention that with pure straight wind, looking off to the side while traveling down the highway brings on a little head snap when the wind catches the helmet's broader side.

Fortunately for me, my commute is less than four miles, and only about half that is at highway speeds, so life with a stock sheild isn't that bad, although it's much rougher than life behind the full fairing of my touring Harley! ;-)

Ah, bike screens, they cause no end of discussion :)

The clue to solving many problems is to create turbulence at the top of the screen. If anyone has seen those older BMW K75/K100 motorcycles they may have noticed a rather odd looking finning arrangement at the top of the screen. What this is doing is disrupting the air as it flows over the edge of the screen. The resulting turbulence reduces the power and force of the air hitting your chest (if you're as tall as I) or helmet.

A cheap and easy way of doing this, without going to a lot of bother, is to fit a bit of plastic tubing of roughly 1/4" diameter around the edge of the screen. You can sometimes buy this "trimming" already split from car accessories shops (Halfords for instance) although you may have trouble finding clear. I have previously used the kind of hose used for fish tank air lines. It does not have to be huge wide diameters to disrupt the airflow. The effect can be quite strikingly efficient!

Try it, its almost free and a quick win if it works for you.

Ah, bike screens, they cause no end of discussion :)

The clue to solving many problems is to create turbulence at the top of the screen. If anyone has seen those older BMW K75/K100 motorcycles they may have noticed a rather odd looking finning arrangement at the top of the screen. What this is doing is disrupting the air as it flows over the edge of the screen. The resulting turbulence reduces the power and force of the air hitting your chest (if you're as tall as I) or helmet.

A cheap and easy way of doing this, without going to a lot of bother, is to fit a bit of plastic tubing of roughly 1/4" diameter around the edge of the screen. You can sometimes buy this "trimming" already split from car accessories shops (Halfords for instance) although you may have trouble finding clear. I have previously used the kind of hose used for fish tank air lines. It does not have to be huge wide diameters to disrupt the airflow. The effect can be quite strikingly efficient!

Try it, its almost free and a quick win if it works for you.

There is a company that makes a rubber strip that is designed to do just that. I recently bought $60 worth of this trim to takle the pounding effect on my open face helmet. Unfortunately it did nothing but create more noise. I think if you are right on the edge of missing the "burble" of air, these strips might do some good, but for a shield as low as the Vectrix, to a 6' tall rider, it just ain't gonna help.

If anyone has seen those older BMW K75/K100 motorcycles they may have noticed a rather odd looking finning arrangement at the top of the screen. What this is doing is disrupting the air as it flows over the edge of the screen. The resulting turbulence reduces the power and force of the air hitting your chest (if you're as tall as I) or helmet.

I had one of those (2 actually) K100RTs. Later they changed the screen design to a more conventional upright screen and it was rubbish in comparison to the low airfoiled screen you describe. For my hight anyway. I loved the look of it too. In fact when I sold the bike, I swapped the screen to my new bike because I disliked the look and the effect of the new version.

You can buy an adjustable add on that fits the V and looks like it does a similar thing to the old BMW windscreen foil. It was featured here somewhere on the forum.

Simon