daswulf
09-09-2005, 11:38 AM
Ok, last night I installed my new windscreen from MP Cycle Designs on my six-fiddy. I rode the Beast today, so a first ride report will wait til this weekend and Part2. Installation took about 3/4 of an hour, mostly because I screwed up twice on the well nuts. If you've ever adjusted your stock windshield, you have all the proper skilz to do this install.
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/logo.JPG
First off, dealing with Paul is easy. We did the entire exchange over email after playing phone tag a few times. He wants to know quite a few details about how you fit on the bike, like height and inseam, but also where your line of sight hits. All this info is for him to properly fit your screen to you. Once that's all done, send off a check and your new screen to up in about 7 days for us East Coasters.
Screen and hardware quality is great. I wish I had considered taking pictures from the start, I would have made sure the camera batteries weren't dying and gotten a few more pictures of the hardware. The brackets are study and nicely finished. They fit in place of the OEM bracket exactly. The screen itself is nice heavyweight Lexan. I cleaned off the shipping schmutz with a damp cloth and a bit of Windex, and it looked great. The only slight detraction from the screen is an artifact of cutting Lexan; the edges are cloudy and slightly rough. Nothing to cause concern, but it stands out because of the excellence of the rest of the fit and finish.
Ok, on to the install. All you need is a Philips head screwdriver and the hex wrench for the OEM bracket (I think its a 5mm). Take of the two plastic brackets on the OEM screen, and then the four screws that hold the screen to the bracket. Set the screen and screws aside and remove the four hex bolts that hold the OEM bracket to the fairing. Now take the two brackets provided by MP, two bolts with the weather caps, and as many of the washers as you want to adjust the rake. You get 8 washers in the pack, I used 2 on each bottom bolt to get the screen to lay back towards the rider a bit more. Paul's instructions have a good description of the effects of changing the rake of the screen.
The installed brackets with the weather caps locked down look like:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/brackets.JPG
The outside is the uber-adjustable section that allows the multitude of up and down adjustments of the screen. The two little round rubber washer looking things are the beauty and bane of this install for me. They are called well nuts, and the man who invented them needs to be praised and then beaten! For those of us who have never seen well nuts before, they are rubber sleeves with a gasket style lip at the top, and a captive nut at the bottom. I found them very useful and very easy to pop out of the back of the hole! SO, three tries and one full removal of the brackets later, I came up with the following solution to prevent the nuts from popping out when hanging the screen:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/well_nut2.JPG
You may not be able to see it clearly on the near side, but what I did was pull the nut up until it was stopped by the captive brass nut inside the rubber. This allowed me to position the shield without pushing the well nuts through the bracket. Also, it was helpful to start threading the bolts with the nuts in the up position to secure the thing together. That made for an easy time (on the third try). It is possible to replace all 4 well nuts with the brackets still attached to the fairing. Something long, thin, and not sharp will help with squishing the top "gasket" of the nut through the hole on the bracket.
Once the screen is in place and the well nuts are safe, just screw the bolts down according to the instructions, so the well nuts compress about half way. The well nut on the top bolt is in about the right position, and the one on the bottom is fully extended in this picture:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/well_nut1.JPG
That's it. Simple, easy, and a little extra care with the well nuts if you have never seen them before (like me) and this should take about 20 minutes. And it looks great...
(Full shot of the front)
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/full.JPG
(Closer view of just the fairing and shield)
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/fairing.JPG
The only potential concern for folks may be the fact that at full left lock, the mirror is pretty darn close to the screen. If you push hard, you can hit the screen. But I don't get into that full lock position aside from parking (at least not often or on purpose) and there is some clearance as you can see:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/mirror.JPG
All in all, great product with an easy install. I will follow up after the weekend rides with a ride report.
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/logo.JPG
First off, dealing with Paul is easy. We did the entire exchange over email after playing phone tag a few times. He wants to know quite a few details about how you fit on the bike, like height and inseam, but also where your line of sight hits. All this info is for him to properly fit your screen to you. Once that's all done, send off a check and your new screen to up in about 7 days for us East Coasters.
Screen and hardware quality is great. I wish I had considered taking pictures from the start, I would have made sure the camera batteries weren't dying and gotten a few more pictures of the hardware. The brackets are study and nicely finished. They fit in place of the OEM bracket exactly. The screen itself is nice heavyweight Lexan. I cleaned off the shipping schmutz with a damp cloth and a bit of Windex, and it looked great. The only slight detraction from the screen is an artifact of cutting Lexan; the edges are cloudy and slightly rough. Nothing to cause concern, but it stands out because of the excellence of the rest of the fit and finish.
Ok, on to the install. All you need is a Philips head screwdriver and the hex wrench for the OEM bracket (I think its a 5mm). Take of the two plastic brackets on the OEM screen, and then the four screws that hold the screen to the bracket. Set the screen and screws aside and remove the four hex bolts that hold the OEM bracket to the fairing. Now take the two brackets provided by MP, two bolts with the weather caps, and as many of the washers as you want to adjust the rake. You get 8 washers in the pack, I used 2 on each bottom bolt to get the screen to lay back towards the rider a bit more. Paul's instructions have a good description of the effects of changing the rake of the screen.
The installed brackets with the weather caps locked down look like:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/brackets.JPG
The outside is the uber-adjustable section that allows the multitude of up and down adjustments of the screen. The two little round rubber washer looking things are the beauty and bane of this install for me. They are called well nuts, and the man who invented them needs to be praised and then beaten! For those of us who have never seen well nuts before, they are rubber sleeves with a gasket style lip at the top, and a captive nut at the bottom. I found them very useful and very easy to pop out of the back of the hole! SO, three tries and one full removal of the brackets later, I came up with the following solution to prevent the nuts from popping out when hanging the screen:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/well_nut2.JPG
You may not be able to see it clearly on the near side, but what I did was pull the nut up until it was stopped by the captive brass nut inside the rubber. This allowed me to position the shield without pushing the well nuts through the bracket. Also, it was helpful to start threading the bolts with the nuts in the up position to secure the thing together. That made for an easy time (on the third try). It is possible to replace all 4 well nuts with the brackets still attached to the fairing. Something long, thin, and not sharp will help with squishing the top "gasket" of the nut through the hole on the bracket.
Once the screen is in place and the well nuts are safe, just screw the bolts down according to the instructions, so the well nuts compress about half way. The well nut on the top bolt is in about the right position, and the one on the bottom is fully extended in this picture:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/well_nut1.JPG
That's it. Simple, easy, and a little extra care with the well nuts if you have never seen them before (like me) and this should take about 20 minutes. And it looks great...
(Full shot of the front)
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/full.JPG
(Closer view of just the fairing and shield)
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/fairing.JPG
The only potential concern for folks may be the fact that at full left lock, the mirror is pretty darn close to the screen. If you push hard, you can hit the screen. But I don't get into that full lock position aside from parking (at least not often or on purpose) and there is some clearance as you can see:
http://nzwulfin.home.mindspring.com/MPinstall/mirror.JPG
All in all, great product with an easy install. I will follow up after the weekend rides with a ride report.