Windshield mod

This is something I've been curious about, so I decided to take the plunge. I've been trying to find that sweet spot of quiet and airflow in hot weather. A while back I spoke with a gold Wind rider who had high praises for his windshield vent. I had a Yamaha Touring screen laying around unused and figured it would be a good test subject. That way I wouldn't ruin my Cee Bailey (which is my favorite screen).

Here are the pics.



The disassembled vent.



The assembled vent.



Marked out on the screen.



Installed in the screen



Open



Closed



Overview

This went remarkably easy (about 30 minutes), There are a few stray Dremel marks (that thing has a mind of its own sometimes), but overall I'm pleased. I'll get around to trying it tomorrow.

Very interesting!! Would like to read a full review of that mod. It might be all the rage!!

Cool idea....pun intended, and looks good too. My only reservation, would be cleaning the bugs from it. :grin:

Looks like it'd be easy enough to unscrew and pop into the dishwasher

I did the same thing to a rifle windshield. It significantly reduced the backpressure and provided some extra air flow.

jblanken64 said:

There are a few stray Dremel marks (that thing has a mind of its own sometimes)

Click to expand...

I had to cut a simple small square out of a panel on the bumper for my car for my trailer hitch.

It in no way resembles a square and is much too big.

I feel your pain.

My compliments for an excellent write-up with excellent pics. I am also impressed with the fact that you took the initiative to tackle this. I would have been a bit nervous about the whole thing.

Getting the air flow Just Right on the Gen 2 is a bit of a challenge. I found the GoldWing vent to be very useful during a summer ride on an '08 Wing. It allowed a surprising amount of air into the still air pocket of the 'Wing.

Although I admit that I sometimes feel like a sissy when I cannot get happy sitting behind an electrically adjustable windshield.

Very nice!!

We waiting for your impression!

Very interesting, and will wait to hear your opinion after riding with it for a while.

A Cal Sci will do the same thing. I think you will be pleased.

I have a CalSci and it sits in the basement. I never noticed any improved airflow behind it and the head level noise was worse than the Cee Bailey reverse contour shield that I usually use. I actually thought about using the CalSci as the donor for this project, but since it's the more expensive of the extras I had laying around, I let it sit. I'll probably end up just selling that one eventually. Hopefully today, I'll get a chance to ride. The temp will only be in the 80's,but I should still be able to see a difference, or not.

The air behind any of mine is far from still. Miss the pocket. But as RFH said, sometimes you realilze you complain too much. Great writeup.

First ride with it this morning, about 75 degrees. I can definitely feel a significant airflow with my hand near the vent, but I wasn't really noticing any more flow on my chest. My main reason was to get more flow in the near 100 degree days that we tend to get and I think that any improvement will be welcome. So when it gets hotter, we'll see how it helps then. I think more air will be more noticeable at that point.

You might want to consider doing something like this on your second gen to allow the shield to tilt further back and down.

That is the best way I know of to get the wind in your chest hairs...

Fred W said:

You might want to consider doing something like this on your second gen to allow the shield to tilt further back and down. That is the best way I know of to get the wind in your chest hairs...

Click to expand...

I posted some pics on my "spacer mod" somewhere on this site.

Made a BIG difference with the CalSci windscreen.

Very smooth and quiet now.

A tip of the hat to the OP -- I contemplated doing the same thing to try to get "the pocket" of clean air on my Gen III, but decided I lack the skill/tools to cut the windscreen. I'm curiuos whether it reduces back pressure/buffeting at speed. Please post a report when you've put some more miles on it.

I saw this Sunday at the checkpoint in person and it's quite impressive! Looks like it was always meant to be there....except.........got to have him signed up for Dremel 101 fall semester!

I can't say that it really helps back pressure or buffeting all that much, but there does appear to be noticeably more airflow behind the screen. Putting in 300+ miles yesterday and then commuting today in 90'ish heat makes it seem like it was a good idea.

Ditto from ericboutin's comment: the vent looks good aesthetically and functionally.