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new owner, need help with windscreen (it's too tall)


Chromedome

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16 hours ago, andy said:

I’m trying your “ghetto” solution for a test tomorrow.  Yours is fabricated with cardboard and duck tape?  I’m so impressed that you’ve stuck with it, especially after I became resigned to the buffeting. 

Yeah, I feel like I don't have a choice. The wind noise ruins the ride. It's either fix it or sell the bike. I have another bike I love and can sell and buy another bike anyway - it's not like I'm stuck with this one. 🙂

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Ok, well that's still good to know. I think it suggests I/we might be on the right track by getting rid of or managing the air flow coming up from there. 😄

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Yeah, that is true.  Mostly interested if you can determine how much help the edging on the windscreen is on its own. I also have the Honda accessory touring windscreen add on that I run sometimes in the winter.  Wonder how the edging would work on that.  The touring screen raises where the wind hits me but seems to make things louder. 

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Unfortunately I won't be able to test ONLY edging since the edging I put under the light is screwed in and since I know it helped I'm not inclined to take it off. But I guess I can make it a point to test the current setup without the edging and the Puig with and without it.

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So your original plan to get a more quiet ride was to get the wind to hit you lower so your helmet was in cleaner, calmer air but, the solution you have found actually puts the air coming off the screen high enough that the noise is reduced sufficiently.   Is that correct? 

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Yes, I've found two issues with trying to move the air lower.

 

1. it seems no matter how low I get the air coming over the center of the windscreen, there's air peeling around the sides that just curves back to right under the helmet. This suggests to me that much of the benefit I felt the other day was indeed from the edging.

2. I don't think I can get the air much lower over the center of the windscreen, at least at freeway speeds, because of the angle of the front fascia - it's pretty steep. I get this impression from having ridden the bike for a couple days with no front windscreen at all. Like a naked bike. 

 

I forgot where the air is now hitting me.. but I think it's about halfway up the helmet and is fairly quiet and smooth at the underside of the helmet. 

 

One last observation: the noise levels were good with the lower screen and the edging installed under the light EXCEPT just the right side of the helmet, just my right ear, had a fairly loud wind noise. I could only get rid of it by standing up or crossing my left hand over to my shoulder. This is partly why I gave up trying to go lower and lower.

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Reading this with great interest.  Can you post a pic of the edging underneath the headlight?  Did you use the stick-on version, or the push on version?

 

The noise level on this bike is indeed pretty high.  Earplugs (33dB) and a supposedly quiet Neotec helmet aren't enough for my liking.  My 1200 has the OEM accessory windscreen deflector and it has a marginal effect on noise in any position.

 

 

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Glad that I might be helping some people. 

 

The edging under the light is covered by the cardboard right now so not at this time. I bought the Gen 4 push on version for the windscreen so just used the extra from that. I actually screwed it in place on each end then used some adhesive for the rest. In hindsight, a spoiler like I built with the cardboard is a much better idea, I think. One could also build one without drilling into the plastic on the underside. 

 

I also use 32 NRR foam plugs (after having tried SO many different kinds of fancy plugs) and a Shoei GT-Air. On the Ninja and Blackbird, with the air stream hitting me at my pecs or below the ride is so quiet, it's heaven. Just a consistent, quiet whoosh. I've come to take this for granted.

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I taped a .75" OD piece of tubing to the front top of my screen today to try see if it brought the same results as the micro swirl edging.  It was not better at all. 

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Damn, I wish I could take more time to just test. 

 

FWIW, halfway on my commute to work today I pulled over and removed the edging from the top of the screen. It's either the same, or better. I realize it's kind of inconclusive so far but the point is this: before you buy the edging put a good sized spoiler under the headlight first. 

 

I still have to try the Puig screen with and without edging and now I can't remember if I tested my modified lower Zero Gravity screen with the under light mod. Anyway, maybe I can find some time this weekend to do some riding and testing. 

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I guess what I'm just saying is try the spoiler first - you can do it for free. Since I already bought the edging I'll continue to try it on any given shield I am testing and keep you all updated.

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Alright, this is probably it for a while. I have tried about every combo now.

 

1. I can say that at least for me, putting a spoiler under the headlamp has helped. 

2. I tried the stock windshield with and without the edging and it still wasn't quiet enough. 

3. Bought and ran the Puig screen and for a little while I thought I was all done, both with and without the edging... I decided I needed to test with the shortened ZG screen again.

4. Ran the shortened ZG screen today and this is the combo I'm sticking with. Spoiler under the light and no edging on the screen. Wind is again seemingly hitting me a bit below my shoulders and this is the combo I'm sticking with.

 

If I have time this weekend, I'll trim the screen another inch or so lower. I'm going to keep trying it lower and lower while trying to keep it from looking ugly, like some kind of sort-of-naked bike.

 

Hope that helps. Let me summarize real quick by saying that for me at 5"9", I still found the best solution was to try to get the air lower and for sure the spoiler under the light helped. Huge improvement from the first day I got the bike, for sure.

 

 

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Thanks for all your testing.  I was hoping you’d make a break through.  I’d like to try your under headlight spoiler.  Looks like it just extends about an inch or so?

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Well, for me I did make a breakthrough. Bike was so loud before I was going to sell it and now... I had a blast on it today. It is way better than stock. But realize that I've really trimmed this shield down so I'm sure that's the biggest difference. 

 

I'd make it as big and steep as you can while not messing up the cooling too much. I'd say mine is just under an inch. At some point I'll make it bigger and try to extend the side mys downward. 

 

 

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No. Trying to lower the air flow again. Unfortunately I can't sell or give it to you since it's pretty much hacked up and I just installed it around the front of the front cowl down the sides of it. I'll upload a picture soon.

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From my point of view, i.e. a fifth gen with a Givi D200S touring windscreen, you gave a clue early on when you put your arm across the bottom front of your helmet.

My Schuberth C3 Pro has a fabric device that closes the bottom of the helmet under my chin. This blocks the wind from getting under the chin and makes the helmet much quieter. I need to hold it away from my chin as I put the helmet on and it fits tightly under my chin with the helmet on.

I do not know how much this would help in your case but you could experiment by finding something to temporarily close this opening and see how much difference it makes.

 

(My D200S places the area the wind hits my helmet near the bottom of the face screen; lots of bugs above, few below on the chin bar. Between the D200S, the closed chin on the Schuberth C3-Pro, and ear plugs, I experience tolerable levels of wind noise.)

 

The point is that wind entering from under your chin may be creating more noise than necessary.

 

Good luck.  

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I appreciate the effort but I'm a bit of a helmet nut, not sure if I covered it in this thread already. I'm currently on my 29th helmet since I started riding again in 2013. Schuberth C3 Pro, C4, Schuberth R2, GT-Air, Sena INC helmet, RF1200, RF1100, 2 X-14's, Neotec, 5 Bell helmets, Arai RX-Q's, Corsair X and Defiant, Nolans, even the Vozz RS 1.0 and on and on. Mostly just searching for the quietest helmet but some of these (like the C3 Pro) don't move enough air for the heat where I live (Phoenix, AZ). Yes, I wear plugs; after trying nearly every brand and kind of ear plug made, 32 NRR foamies are the best for me. 

 

Just for shiggles, in the short time I owned this bike I tried two other helmets. That is, for a while I've been very happy with what I believe to be nearly the quietest helmet made, the GT-Air. But on this bike I tried the new C4 and R2 and they're no better. Yes, with the chin curtains installed. There is no doubt that this bike is different than any of my past bikes in that more air comes up through the area around the forks but I can do no more or better in terms of helmets. I do have the Windjammer 2 that I can use in the cooler months but that's not now - it'll be hot for many months now.

 

I've made huge progress at this point and I'm sure the average rider would think it's plenty quiet - it's finally quiet enough for me to spend 800 miles on it in two weeks. I'll trim down my already short screen some more and increase the angle of the spoiler under the light soon and I think I'll be all set. 🙂

 

PS: remember the control group here is my Blackbird and the ZX-9R. I believe shape of the nose on these and how low the air hits me on the chest puts my GT-Air in very clean air and you wouldn't believe how quiet a GT-Air is in clean air. Just a very quiet whoosh. And to head off the next question, I only bought this bike because my Ninja is down from an accident, and of course I was always curious about this bike.

 

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On 5/3/2019 at 10:21 PM, Chromedome said:

Let me summarize real quick by saying that for me at 5"9"...

 

 

I wonder how much this affects your experience and why you are needing to lower your screen so much.

 

Hope that is taken in the way it is meant!   :beer:

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LOL - I'm not tall but I'm not like 4' short either. 🙂  In fact, I think I'm taller than the average Japanese man so, you know, designed by Honda. And I agree that if I were let's say 12 feet tall it's likely the wind would be hitting me at the stomach, allowing for clean air under the helmet. 

 

What's really going on is that I'm an outlier when it comes to my tolerance for wind noise, like way out on the tail here. You saw the note about 29 helmets in 5 years? But also, my prior two bikes, they sort of came stock with way better (in this case much lower like all sport bikes) air flow that put the helmet in clean air.

 

I think there's a good chance that many VFR1200F are tolerant of the turbulence because they're coming from other bikes that also try to route the wind over your helmet and so are used to excessive turbulence. 

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I agree with you.  I like everything about the bike but for the wind noise/turbulence and wondered why there wasn’t much mention on this forum till you started.  I first tried Helibars, that while more comfortable to me, didn’t do much for the wind.  The Touring. VStream made matters much, much worst so I cut two holes thinking that the vacuum behind the big screen caused the the turbulence.  Finally I added a MRA X-creen attaching it to both the VStream and stock windscreen.  Although it’s still noisy, I have the stock windscreen w/ the MRA set like the stock Honda add on screen.  I never considered the air coming from between the forks till you suggested it.  I’m trying to add a lip under the lights as you did as well as attempting some kind of Africa Twin solution.  Thanks for all your experimentation.  

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You bet. Then to add confusion, yesterday I rode my Blackbird for the first time in a long while. Wow, wind hitting me at my shoulders, helmet nice and quiet but also that engine is the smoothest thing out there. I have to admit after looking at the fairly funny front end of the VFR I ended up really loving how the Blackbird looks. And after all these years I've done like 50 mods to it - I think I need to keep this thing, finish my V&M Anniversary livery (see below) and I'll probably end up selling the VFR - late this year I'm sure. UGH. But, I guess it's all good. I plan to buy and sell many more bikes in the future.

 

I mean, I've got electronic cruise on this thing, DMr fork cartridges, Ohlins shock, custom paint and undertail, am installing a full Akrapovic system soon and it's red, white and black just like I seem to love. Too many bikes, not enough room in the garage, 😞

 

 

V and M blackbird.png

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