windshield mod

[stromin'taylor]

Thinking about trying something with the stock windshield to help with buffeting before I spend money on a shield I may not like. Been reading about a lot of people putting spacers on the bottom mount bolts to decrease the vertical rake of the shield. Has anybody tried this on their stock shield yet?

My Wee came with the shield in the low setting, but I moved it to the middle position before I became aware of the buffeting issue. I was figuring that higher would mean better protection. Wrong! :?

I'm going to try the shield in the low and experiment with spacers and rake angle and see what happens. I'll post after my trials. :wink:

I love the Wee, but the highway buffeting is a real drag and tarnishing an otherwise great new bike experience. :roll:

[mokusbajusz]

stromin'taylor,

I am really interested in your posts regarding your experience on that issue.
I have the same problem: had some turbulence around 130 Km/h right at the top of my helmet's visor with the windshield's lowest position. I then set it to the highest position and it was even worse! Next time I will try to set it in the middle ('cause I like to touch my Wee :wink: ), but to be honest I do not trust it will be ok.

[stromin'taylor]

Well, I did some experimenting after work yesterday. First stop was Menard's to get some flat rubber faucet washers. Used a drill to ream out the holes to let them fit over the screen bolts easier.

I started by trying the bottom position first. Put 2 of the washers on each side of the bottom phillips bolts that hold the screen on. Changes the angle quite a bit, but doesn't look too wierd. One thing is that those bottom screws aren't quite long enough to get started, but once you have everything else back together and tightened good, seemed pretty solid. For some peace of mind I might find the same type screw that is about 1/4" longer (the same thickness as the washers) and replace them.

Testing conditions weren't the best yesterday, though. Gusting 30mph winds from the west. Took a short ride ( no helmet :roll: ) and got up to around 60 and did notice a slight improvement. I got up to speed and slipped my hand behind the screen and slowly raised it up and followed the airflow back and it hit right at the top of my head.

Headed back home and tried the same setup with screen next position up. BIG difference! Noticeable decrease in buffeting. Took my wife with me on that ride and we both wore a open face helmets. Usually wear fullface.
She said she didn't notice too much difference. Like I said, the wind made testing conditions unfavorable. I rode in all four directions to get a better idea of results. Gusting sidewinds still tossed me around, but head and tailwinds seemed much better!

It seems that with the extra opening at the bottom of the shield, it creates a smoother airflow over the helmet area.

I'll go for a short ride down the interstate today and hopefully it won't be so windy and will be able to get a better feel of the results. If all it takes is a 98 cent pack of washers to get some comfort, I'll take that over spending a couple hundred.

By the way, for reference, I am 5'9" tall, so take that into consideration when deciding what position to put your screen at.

Hope this helps some of you who want some relief without big money! 8)

[stromin'taylor]

:wink:

[WIsixfitty]

I have the screen at the top (legal) position with the bottom screws spaced out by about 1/4" with nylon washers.

This definately helped but a little more for me is needed to become buffet free. If I move my head ahead/forward by a few inches while keeping it at the same height I am in a total buffetless free pocket.

So I think I need to move it a bit further back with more rake or a laminar lip.

I am 5'11" with the tall Suzuki seat.

[stromin'taylor]

I might try raking it one more washer's worth just to see what happens, but I'm fairly pleased with it for the time being. With the stock shield, though, no matter what you do, it will be a compromise. After taking a 100 mile ride Sat. and feeling the wind with my hand at various points around the fairing, I suspect the overall design of the lower fairing plays a major role in the turbulence. :wink:

[Euro Rider]

Ive also played extensively with the stock windshield trying to save me some money! No matter what i tried i still had the buffeting. Im 6.5 tall and it seemed the higher i set the windshield the worse it got. It worked better in the lowest position. Also tried the angle. Bought the Givi windshield and installed in lowest position. The 22.5 inch Givi is a lot better than the stock. Only drawback is that the Givi hits the grip protectors at locking position. So you have to bend the corners of the windshield a little foreward at lock position. But im really happy with the windshield.

[becman58]

i also bought the givi, like it alot!! i have in the lowest posititon and i see over it good. the wind at speed is just over my helmet, i`m 6 foot even and a lot of wind presssure is off my chest too. my 2 cents, jeff

[Paper]

becman58,
You're a habitual liar.. :shock: First you're trying to tell me that Kenosha is an actual place, when I know it's make believe.. Now you're trying to tell me that the Givi screen actually works??

LIAR!!! :wink:

*(Hey, I've got to head over to Midwest Action Cycle in Lake Geneva this week to pick up parts. Can I meet you somewhere to test your shield?? I wanna try one before ponying up the $120.. I'll let you ride my 05 1K Strom with less than 1K miles.. :D )*

[becman58]

ya caught me! i`d sure let you try the shield if it was in my garage rite now, its in ill. getting the first service and i talked the service manager into calling suzuki, they are sending out a new ecm!!!i`m hoping for it to be in by friday, but you know how fast the mail is? becman p.s. what day are you gonna be up there?

[Paper]

MAC hasn't called, yet.. I ordered a couple items for my KLR from them. Not a big hurry by any means..

After a bunch of overtime in the last couple weeks, I could quit being a cheap ass and just buy a Givi Screen.. :lol: I've heard very few complaints about them, and the stock screen sucks snot..

If I don't end up in Lake Geneva this week, it'll be a while.. I'm off to Philly next week and New Mexico the week after.. I'll catch up with you at some time.. :wink:

[becman58]

paper, that sounds like me, a lot of overtime the last coupla weeks. if you do happen to go ahead and buy, you won`t be disappointed, i can ride with my face shield up at speed as before i had to keep it shut . take care, becman

[Hoppy]

What size Givi Windscreen do you have? Is it the 22.5" like Euro Rider's?


Thanks, Hoppy

[becman58]

i also have a black `05 1000, so its the d260??. i don`t think they offer different sizes, only one. becman

[Forgefan]

I have the stock screen at the highest position with 1/4" spacers on the bottom. I wanted to try a trim edge like the givi's or the saeng deflector. So last night, I took a piece of fuel line, cut a slit along the length and wrapped it around the top of the screen and down each side about 2 inches. I just got back from a short 40 mile loop that had me riding in each direction, NSEW. It does a little to reduce buffeting but wind blast is still an issue. I'm saving my pennies for an MP screen, but this will do until that occurs.

[true4ster]

This is a no-brainer. I used 1/2" x 1/2" spacers available from Home Depot, along with their longest 8mm philips head screws and a liked-sized washers.

While the shield now appears slightly at a distance from the fairing, the angle of the windshield now matches the angle of the fairing, which it should have right from the Suzuki factory (that fairing part is all wrong design-wise...WHO is designing this). This setup works great and it costed less than $5.

Geoff Kegerreis

[MIstrom]

This is a no-brainer. I used 1/2" x 1/2" spacers available from Home Depot, along with their longest 8mm philips head screws and a liked-sized washers.

While the shield now appears slightly at a distance from the fairing, the angle of the windshield now matches the angle of the fairing, which it should have right from the Suzuki factory (that fairing part is all wrong design-wise...WHO is designing this). This setup works great and it costed less than $5.

Geoff Kegerreis

Any pics :?: I will be adjusting the tilt this week-end when I get some time. May save some coing for additional farkles :D

[p7m8jg]

I ran the bike naked (without a windshield) last night & the buffetting was gone. Clean air - lots of it at 60 mph, but clean. So I put the stock windshield back on, raised the lower bolts with washers, & drove it to work today. More air, but less buffetting.

Now I'm really wondering what the deal is..........should I just cut it down? Or leave it alone??

[water warrior]

True4ster

Are you saying you moved the bottom of the shield out half an inch ? And what do you mean by spacers ? I would be thinking a stack of washers as a starting place. I would love to get rid of the buffeting and noise.

[true4ster]

The method with the spacers is the best way I have found to work with the stock windshield. I think it appears ugly, but suprisingly, it draws less bugs into the inside part of the shield and yielded far less buffetting (for me anyway, 5'11" w/33" inseam) or noise than the stock setup in any position. Pics...
The parts (all purchased from home depot):
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/Radsport2er/Secura005e.jpg
A side view looking from the fairing:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/Radsport2er/Secura002e.jpg
...and finally the finish on the bike.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/Radsport2er/Secura004e.jpg

FYI, I am not even close to resolving this windshield issue. IMO, the stock windshield not only works poorly, it is a poor aesthetic addition to the bike as well. The fairing flat out looks great (the stock windshield being the only exception). I played around with cutting an old windshield I had lying around with various dremel implements and when I put it up there, it looked a bit better than the stocker, except that it wasn't quite wide enough for the fairing. What this bike needs is a windshield very similar to a ST1300. Then, it would look (and probably work) very cool - like a sport-tourer with long legs - sexy!

[true4ster]

Also, I forgot to mention this- I used the longer 8mm screws/washers/spacers only in the bottom windshield-fairing bracket and the stock hardware in the top. My advice would be to NOT put too much pressure on the stock hardware, as because of the 1/2" gap, the threads are at an offset angle from the fairing, which could cause some cross-threading if you use too much torque on the fasteners. This modification is at your own risk.

[water warrior]

True4star

Thanks for the pics and description. I think I will try that as an experiment and see what happens for me. I find the wind buffetting and noise to be quite tiring after a while. Ride On, Ride Safe.

[MIstrom]

I'll give it a shot, thanks for the pics!

[buus]

And it is a definite improvement, but I still get buffeting at 65MPH and above. I used rubber washers to raise the mount so I will probably try and raise the front a bit more later this week and if that fails, it's on to cutting 3" off the stock shield.