After riding halfway across the country a couple months ago, I've been thinking about buying a windshield to use on long-distance rides. As it's been getting colder, I've been considering getting one of those myself, I think it would help dramatically in fighting the cold wind, in these dark months...Be sure to post what you think of it after you've ridden with it for a bit.
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Well, fire the engines! Spur this iron space-pony on!
After riding halfway across the country a couple months ago, I've been thinking about buying a windshield to use on long-distance rides. As it's been getting colder, I've been considering getting one of those myself, I think it would help dramatically in fighting the cold wind, in these dark months...Be sure to post what you think of it after you've ridden with it for a bit.
Shadow, I've had the windshield on for 3 weeks now. I haven't tried it in the rain yet, not really wanting to not having lower fairings.. but I think it'd do pretty good. Keeps my upper body real warm and some of my upper leg also. The windscreen extends down a little from the handle bars, provides more wind protection.
I got vibrations from the windshield at first, turns out the rubber piece that goes around and over the headlight can't be touching or the back of the gauge cluster. A 1 min adjustment fixed this. Also, the wind doesn't fully clear the top of my helmet, so I'm getting wind noises up there. If I duck down by an inch, no noise. I wear noise-isolating headphones, so this isn't really an issue though. I think it's the best looking windshield for the bike.
Winter Storm Warning for Larimer County Below 6000 Feet/northwest Weld County, CO
from 12 am MDT, Wed., Oct. 28, 2009 until 6 pm MDT, Thu., Oct. 29, 2009
Issued by The National Weather Service
Denver/Boulder, CO
4:16 pm MDT, Tue., Oct. 27, 2009
... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY...
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY.
SNOW WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO THURSDAY. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES ESPECIALLY WEDNESDSAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 12 TO 24 INCHES WITH UP TO 3 FEET POSSIBLE IN FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS IN THE FOOTHILLS. NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS AT 15 TO 30 MPH WILL PRODUCE EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN OPEN AREAS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF WINTER STORM CONDITIONS WITH DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TRAVEL ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO DETERIORATE CONSIDERABLY DURING THE MORNING WEDNESDAY. CONSIDER COMPLETING TRAVEL BEFORE THE STORM IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY... TAKE ALONG A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT.
&&
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"He was a wise man who invented Beer"--Plato
Winter Storm Warning for Larimer County Below 6000 Feet/northwest Weld County, CO
from 12 am MDT, Wed., Oct. 28, 2009 until 6 pm MDT, Thu., Oct. 29, 2009
Issued by The National Weather Service
Denver/Boulder, CO
4:16 pm MDT, Tue., Oct. 27, 2009
... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY...
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY.
SNOW WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO THURSDAY. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES ESPECIALLY WEDNESDSAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 12 TO 24 INCHES WITH UP TO 3 FEET POSSIBLE IN FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS IN THE FOOTHILLS. NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS AT 15 TO 30 MPH WILL PRODUCE EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN OPEN AREAS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF WINTER STORM CONDITIONS WITH DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TRAVEL ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO DETERIORATE CONSIDERABLY DURING THE MORNING WEDNESDAY. CONSIDER COMPLETING TRAVEL BEFORE THE STORM IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY... TAKE ALONG A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT.
&&
Bah, I think I'll go for a ride up by Floyd Hill tomorrow....
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Well, fire the engines! Spur this iron space-pony on!
Good info on the windscreen. I have been looking at that particular model myself. What is your height? I'm 6' even, wondering where the wind would hit me.
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"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
---Thomas Jefferson 1776.
Says the guy who wont ride his ZX10 in the rain.....LOL. It would be kind of fun to try some studded snow tires and run on the ice though.
When I was a kid we used to ride our dirtbikes around town every time it snowed. However, they didn't have expensive parts to replace when we crashed. And, my ZX10 is too pretty for the rain, but my WR250X appears to be waterproof.
By the way, that windshielf is friggin gigantic. Hopefully you would only use it for trips or winter commuting, and otherwise take it off.
When I was a kid we used to ride our dirtbikes around town every time it snowed. However, they didn't have expensive parts to replace when we crashed. And, my ZX10 is too pretty for the rain, but my WR250X appears to be waterproof.
By the way, that windshielf is friggin gigantic. Hopefully you would only use it for trips or winter commuting, and otherwise take it off.
Well I had to at least try to zing ya LOL I know that living in Seattle if you wont rid in the rain you wont ride much..... I Used to ride dirtbike (Honda XR1000 in the snow and mud all the time when I was growing up too, didnt much care about crashing, like you said it really didnt do any damage and was actually part of the fun. Flopping over on the pavement covered with ice sounds painful and expensive.
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"He was a wise man who invented Beer"--Plato
Well I had to at least try to zing ya LOL I know that living in Seattle if you wont rid in the rain you wont ride much..... I Used to ride dirtbike (Honda XR1000 in the snow and mud all the time when I was growing up too, didnt much care about crashing, like you said it really didnt do any damage and was actually part of the fun. Flopping over on the pavement covered with ice sounds painful and expensive.
It only snows a little up here, so we had to ride in the snow for the fun of it. One of my favorite memories was getting chased by the cops in about 6-8 inches of snow. I went to ride through the church field to get away, rode over the railroad tie I knew was at the edge of the parking lot, which apparently the cop didn't know was there (and couldn't see/notice with the snow). I loved seeing his car stuck on that railroad tie, and I still get a smile thinking about it.
Not the best looking thing in the world, but I'll trade looks for function in this case. Riding in the high 30s won't be so bad.
Mounting was fairly easy and straight forward. $160 shipped, should pay for itself in gas savings by the end of the winter and then some.
Thanks for the post, I'm interested. I have 2 bikes and neither has a fairing - looking to get quality long trip/touring/winter duty from the 919. No mods/trimming required? Looks like a good price too - where'd you get it?
Yep, that's things pretty ugly, but for riding in the winter, I don't blame you one bit. I added something close to that on my nighthawk a few years back for winter riding. It helped a lot. I didn't want to put it on the 919, so I picked up a national cycle f-16 tall. It's enough that I could tuck down behind it, and keep out of the cold wind long enough to get home. As soon as the weather warmed up, I took it off.
I've since picked up a little car that gets great mileage, so I don't see that many cold rides in my future this winter. The 14 degrees i rode home in last winter sucked big ass...
Holy crap, I thought my 3ft honda screen was ugly. It's function over form though when it comes to screens on a naked, looks like it's gonna function great!
Thanks for the post, I'm interested. I have 2 bikes and neither has a fairing - looking to get quality long trip/touring/winter duty from the 919. No mods/trimming required? Looks like a good price too - where'd you get it?
I got it from this guy on Ebay. I can ask to see if he's still able to get them and do the same price. I offered $150 + $19 for shipping. It was originally listed for $170 + shipping.
have the same shield used it once for a trip...the wind noise pissed me off..that what got me into ear plugs..4 hour ride at 80 85 mph without the wind was great
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dont need a bike to ride the fast lane
As far as mounting the shield, no trimming or modifications are required. Great thing about the setup, it can be taken off or re-mounted within 5 minutes without having to re-align. The parts for aligning stays on the bike, when the shield is taken off. Maybe some minor tweaks if there's vibrations, specifically above the headlight or behind the gauge cluster. There are two mounts that go directly on the handlebar. And another two onto the forks.
On the handlebar mount, there's one part that clamps onto the bar and the other is the actual piece the holds the rod which supports to screen. These two parts are held together by the bolt with the plastic knob on them. Adjusting the height is done by loosening the top nut, slide to the height you want, and tighten down.
The second mount is a simple hose clamp that goes around the forks and holds the bottom rods.
To take the screen off, remove the bolts with the giant plastic knobs on the handlebar. Along with 2 wing nuts for the bottom and the bike is convertible again.
Looks like it'll work pretty well for the cold weather, I'm looking for something like that myself. Where did you get the HRC decals? I've seen them on a couple 919's and love them...
I forget where I got those stickers.. I had a bunch of decals sitting around in the garage from the RC days. You can run a google on hrc motorcycle decal kits, probably get a good find.
have the same shield used it once for a trip...the wind noise pissed me off..that what got me into ear plugs..4 hour ride at 80 85 mph without the wind was great
Dam meant to say with the shield was great..i put a small dab of paint on the brackets so i can line it up to the same spot all the time...hell i adjusted mine about 20 times before it looks straight...i have the plexifairing 2 it a hair smaller..wish i got the bigger one like you did..you might not get the wind noise
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dont need a bike to ride the fast lane
put my shield on today long highway run some stretches 130 on speedo (120 mph) shield and bike was steady as a rock...National cycle makes a good product
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dont need a bike to ride the fast lane
I had a bunch of decals sitting around in the garage from the RC days. You can run a google on hrc motorcycle decal kits, probably get a good find.
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