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California Scientific Windshields

45K views 35 replies 27 participants last post by  snagel 
#1 ·
Anyone tried/own a California Scientific windshield? Comments?

Stromba
 
#2 ·
I have a medium on mine and my wifes bikes. So far, we love them. They have completely removed the buffeting and can be raised (with the madstad) high enough to get the air over my head. I like them way better than the Givi's we had before.

Tom
 
#5 ·
I've had all three sizes of the Cal-Sci windshields on two Wee's. I'm 6' and found the tall one too tall. The medium was good for me and the short is great for my wife's Wee. Mark, at Cal-Sci, is super about seeing that you are satisfied, sending me replacement exchanges before I had returned the tall ones. He has considerable experience with the Wee and offers a lot of information on his site: http://motorcycles.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/DL650.html.

The short one on my wife's bike has almost no buffeting, but is more breezy. The medium on my bike had almost no buffeting except when in large truck traffic, either following or meeting.

I'm now riding a Vee with a Windstrom, including their laminar top attachment. Aside from being butt ugly, it does a nice job. The Windstrom also transmits a lot of light to the edges when running at night. This is not a deal breaker, but is annoying.
 
#7 ·
I purchsed one from another forum member here. It is Tall size and I am 5'8 so I have to look through it but I did want it mainly for winter time riding. I put it on last weekend to see if it made much difference over the stock unit which I had adjusted to the 4th position. Here in Kansas we had sustained winds of 35 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH this last week. The wihdsheildd worked very well indeed. My only real complaint is it seems the hole in the bottom of the screen lets a lot of air through. Doesnt really seem to buffet me but I can feel it so it may be a problem in the winter. I may have to reduce this opening in the colder months.

The best thing however is my wife rode with me yesterday and we put 60 miles on the Wee and she noticed a world of difference between it and the stock so it probably will stay on year round.

MEL
 
#21 ·
Mel ,could you please send me a pic of that shield on your bike???? I am trying to decide which one to get. Mark say's i need the medium one but I have a Givi that's 22 1/2" tall And I still get buffeting.The medium calisci is 21 1/2 I think.Maybe he could make me a 23" one,that would work great I think.
 
#10 ·
Its a good windshield, but it didn't work for me. I sent it back.

Since then I bought a parabellum windshield. Its "just OK' too.

Then I got a madstad bracket!!!!!

I'm convinced the Madstad bracket makes anything better.

YMMV

John
 
#11 ·
I have one that I shaved a bit

I had to take the 'wings' off a medium to get the grip guards on. Took about 2 mins with a belt sander. Looks stock. I had a Givi before it, and there's no comparison. The Givi is weird to look 'through' as the plastic distorts the view. Also the 'bead' around the edge is super distracting. The Calsci is perfect, optically. It's Lexan, so it's hearty, and at 5' 9.5" the medium is perfect with a Madstad. I lower it when it's raining and I can't look through it safely, I raise it when I'm cold. If I did it over again I would get a tall and shave it down for an extra inch of coverage since the Madstad it so versitile.
 
#13 ·
I'm 6' with a 33" inseam. Between the CalSci shield & the Madstadt mount, I have very little buffeting (a little Jimmy Buffetting, tho...). I put the Saeing edging around 75% of it, which improved it markedly. Originally, I had the "large" shield & ended up cutting it down about 1.5", and liked that better than the "medium" on the bike now-it was perhaps 2" wider at the top. For the medium I have now, I had them make one without the NACA duct in the bottom part of the shield-not needed with the Madstadt mount.
 
#15 ·
OK, got it and it works GREAT!

I got the tall/XL version, which fits me better than the Givi. Even at max height the givi wasn't high enough and I still got some buffeting.

I just can't believe how quiet and smooth it is now to travel on the highway!

Here's an animated GIF showing it at max forward and down, and up and back. And a comparison with the Givi.



 
#16 ·
Tall Windshield User Report

I bought the tall windshield for my Wee Strom two years ago. I am 6'1" and have a 32"inseam, 190 lbs, so I have a tall torso. I think it is a fantastic product! The stock windshield was worse than no windshield. Riding with the Suzuki windshield was horrible, no matter what position it was in. After two weeks of ownership I ordered the California Scientific product.

There was an immediate and drastic improvement switching windshields. I went from an unhappy Strom owner to an ecstatic owner, all within a few minutes of installing the new windshield. It was the first bike I ever owned with a windshield, all the rest had been dirt bikes.

With this one I can see over the top (not by much), and always have my visor on my helmet in the up position. No wind buffeting whatsoever. It also seems to be totally silent sitting behind it. I am not sure what the hole in the screen does, but it certainly poses no problems, and I only ride in the Colorado mountains. I don't notice any cold air coming through it.

I also have since bought a 1990 KLR 650 and bought a Clearview tall shield for that. It doesn't work nearly as well as the California Scientific works on my Strom, of course it is an entirely different bike. It's noisy, and wind still hits me. I had hoped it would work as good on the KLR as the shield on the Strom works. Not even close!

All in all, this was most definitely the very best upgrade I did on my Strom.
 
#17 ·
2008 DL65 report from the field: Absolutely, hands down the best windshield you can get. Trade in your OEM or GIVI (they give you credit against your new windshield) cause this is way better. The measurements/recommendations for size are - well in a word - scientific. The medium windshield would have been a perfect blocker in the high position. However, I live in Florida (eat your hearts out winter trogladytes), and need/like some air in my face. So I got the small windshield. I have it mounted in the high position. It gives me great wind/noise abatment, but also allows some air flow into the face. If I want to cut out all the wind I just get down about an inch or so and voile - all you hear is the purring of the twins. Loving it. Call Mark - he's great.:)
 
#20 ·
I had CalSci Tall for 1.5 years until I got the Madstad. Worked well but the addition of the Madstad takes it up a couple of notches for different kinds of weather and winds. range of adjustment, especially tilt seems to make the difference. Marriage of the two works well IMO.

Bob
 
#22 ·
I drove out to West Sacramento and met Mark and his sons and took a tour of his facility.

He has an incredible home made laser to cut these shields. It is quite amazing to watch.

I traded in my Givi for the Tall and it works great. I find less turbulance with this shield then the Givi. I also have the Madstad bracket. I run the shield at half height on the Madstad, whereas with the Givi I ran it at the top.

I think the material in the Givi might be more high tech looking, but I would not trade back. He gave me $60 for the Givi.
 
#23 ·
I just bought the CaliSci V-Strom screen. It was sent from CA to New Zealand in 3 days! ( I can't even get stuff from Auckland to Wellington that quickly).

The screen mounted in 10 minutes and came with instructions, hardware, polish and a microfibre cloth. The one drawback is you can't use the Suzuki trim pieces to mount on top of the polycarbonate unless you remove the locating tabs on them, or drill an additional hole in the screen. I've done neither. But they do include finishing plates that looks fine.

10 minutes down the road and all my helmet buffetting was gone. I am 6ft and have Madstad brackets and wear an XL Shoei RF-1000.
I can even hear the engine and ride with my visor slightly open. That was never possible with the stock or Eagle screens I've tried.
The CaliSci was expensive, but I'm looking at the investment as money saved having to try 2-3 other screens before I comprimised on something else.
Mark and his boffin colleagues at CaliSci certainly have done their homework on the aerodynamics of the Strom. I'm definitely another happy customer and would recommend their screen to anyone curious about the product or company.
 
#24 ·
I just recently purchased a Calsci XL for my V-Strom. It replaced a V-Stream that worked pretty good. I've used both with a Madstad and can attest the Calsci is much better behind the shield. I put the shield straight up and look through it on the freeway and tilt it back and look over it when it's warm and I'm on side roads. I'm 5' 9" and it works great! The hand guards clear as well as the mirrors. Couldn't be happier!
 
#26 ·
I'm 5'8" with a 30" inseam. The medium on the stock mount still gave me some buffet with my Shoei 1000 helmet. The addition of a Madstad fixed the problem; now no buffet at any speed. I agree with the fact that there is some airflow under and through the screen, but not a factor to me on cold rides.

Complaints: I first bought an MRA 16" with spoiler. Excellent fit and finish, a quality product, but I got turbulence above 65 mph. I sold it to buy the CalSci. Same turbulence problem, even though Mark insisted I should not need the Madstad. So another $100 for the Madstad to make it right for me.

Fit and finish: I like the screen size and shape. However, the laser cut is NOT smooth, and the plastic has some distortion looking through it.

Conclusion: I am not convinced that the CalSci is better than the MRA. Functionally, I am pleased; aesthetically, for the price, I am less happy.
 
#27 ·
// However, the laser cut is NOT smooth, and the plastic has some distortion looking through it. //
The outer edge of the cut isn't supposed to be smooth, or it would be reflective.

Take some fine sandpaper to it and then run a smooth rag a little wet with acetone, Methylene Chloride or MEK on it you can make it water clear: so that it reflects sun into your eyes!

If you have distortion, call Mark, ain't supposeda be.
 
#28 ·
Bought a large CalSci and mounted it. Things were great till I got a new helmet (HJC CLSP?) and the buffeting was back. Could make it come and go by changing helmets.

Since the old helmet was really old and I was not too keen on wearing it much longer, I had a choice - MadStat or another helmet. Went with the Madstat since it was well cheaper and gave me some options that the standard windscreen mount didn't. Things were good again.

A few months later I ran across a new Shoei RF-1000 on sale. I bought it and WOW what a difference. It is true with the CalSci, Madstat, and Shoei you can hear the sweet music coming from that 650 motor.
 
#29 ·
Great windshield

I love my calsci windshield. With the adjustability of the basic setup you can put it where you need it. I had mine too low for a while and ended up raising to the top notch after my seat rebuild and bar raisers. Now I sit straight uip and look over the shield. No buffeting at all. Only problem is that the air is so still behind it that my jacket vents dont pick up enough air.
 
#30 ·
With my medium (I'm 5'10") and the stock bracket at the middle position, I was just barely looking over it, and the air seemed clean. But on the highway at 75+, I still get a bit of buffeting, and I found that if I stand up on the pegs a bit, while I get a lot more wind, it's CLEAN wind. so I lowered the bracket another notch, hoping that helps.

It was nice to just barely look over the shield and have all air sent over my helmet; I could run visor up at highway speeds if I dared, but I think overall I'll be more comfortable with my helmet in the airflow, but smooth airflow.
 
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