What do you do, Jack?

I've got 5 windshields - what to do, what to do? Get another one, of course

I'll try out a cal-sci this time. In my defense, two of the five are unusable: The stock one and another one that has no identifiers at all. I can't recall for sure where I got it but it doesn't fit the bike because there isn't nearly enough curvature to fit around the brace between the windshield mounts. Otherwise it looks like it should fit, but no.

All the remaining 3 are viable, but the one that works best among them is a Cee Bailey I acquired years ago. I know that on some bikes (Honda NT700, e.g.) these things have been known to break clean off, often with no warning, just from wind buffeting. But I haven't heard any such on this forum. I originally went from this windshield to check out others because rain protection was my priority back then. Now it's all about slipstream management. FWIW, CB is now out of the MC windshield business.

I have the Cal-Sci large and can say it is better than the Yamaha Touring screen that came on my Gen 1.

1) Less buffeting. 2) Less vacuum. No more pull on the back of the helmet feeling. When raised a 1/4 way up takes care of 75% of wind noise.

When raised all the way, dead quiet. When all the way down, i can cleanly see over the top. The wider bottom part of screen helps deflect more air

away from hand grip area, helping in cold, rainy conditions, even with V-Strom guards.

Two very slight negatives, the vent holes at the bottom allowing bugs and dirt through to the top of the cowling, making it slightly harder to clean. In continuous hot conditions, it might be too effective at deflecting air.

Hope you find the one you like.

I'm pretty happy with the CB. Mostly it's a smooth, quiet ride behind. But if I ever had to replace it I'd have to find something else, so my fickle self keeps experimenting.

I hear you. I came across a NOS Yamaha Touring shield at a crazy cheap price that I couldn't pass up. Now I have 2 of those.

I was going to use the old one to experiment on. Maybe cut the top off, and make some kind of quick release/adjustable laminar lip.

For the hot summer months something smaller might be nice. One of many projects in my head that probably won't go anywhere.

Coincidentally I have an xtra wide medium CalSci inbound to me right now.

Having done a training course last weekend, I realised the little Puig deflector I'd bought was basically in the damned way a lot of the time. Rather than having one edge of screen to look over, I now have three. I'm hoping the CalSci will be the answer but... as we all know, whether it's earplugs or windshields or gloves or whatever, part of the joy in having these machines is the fact there's always something else to buy that purports to be infinitesimally superior to what you have presently, the purchase thereof immediately transforming the riding experience.

I do wonder looking at my growing pile of odds and sods - some that were obviously crap when I bought them, like the earplugs I tried today, and others which I switch between depending on the time of year and what I had for breakfast - whether motorbikes are a very obviously imperfect way of getting about and the pleasure is to be had in all the little compromises. Think I'd be quickly bored by perfection.

ThwartedEfforts, That extra wide CalSci will help keep the wind and rain away from hand/forearm area. I think your climate is similar to Pacific Northwest, so hot conditions are minimal.

I see your point about the multiple edges to look through. Hopefully your new screen works for you. No matter how much research you do it's always a gamble.

On kamanflyer's comment on the large Cal Sci:

kmanflyer said:

Two very slight negatives, the vent holes at the bottom allowing bugs and dirt through to the top of the cowling, making it slightly harder to clean. In continuous hot conditions, it might be too effective at deflecting air.

Click to expand...

The Gen 3 Cal Sci shields don't have those vent holes. The design of the Gen 3 FJRs allows air to flow under which takes care of the back pressure those holes addressed. I have had Cal Sci shields on all 3 of my FJRs and never found anything I liked as well. The vent holes didn't let anything fly through that I didn't want, at least that I ever noticed. But like everything else, windscreens are 100% a matter of personal taste and what works for you. Good luck.

SacramentoMike, No doubt the Gen 3 windshield design is better and stronger. The Cal Sci Gen 3 shield has two versions: "● Vented for minimum turbulence and back pressure, except for 2013 standard width and all tinted shorties." The Gen 3 extra wide has a small vent hole.

The Cal Sci shield works great, I didn't want to put a negative light on it. It was just an observation I made after I installed it. It's hard to find a negative review on the Cal Sci shield, and for good reason.

I've got a Gen 3 Touring screen that has seen little use for sale now. $100

Received the windshield from Cal-Sci and there's good news and bad news. I now know where that old windshield that does not fit came from - Cal-Sci. I know this because they sent me a new one just like it. The bad news, of course, is this one doesn't fit either for the same reason. It also does not fir the description of what I ordered er the web site.

My CalSci needed some muscle to bend/massage for screw alignment. It may give people the impression that it is made incorrectly. Only start the screws by a few turns, working from one to another, and then tighten each a few turns, then finish uniformly. The plastic film squares that were provided to protect the lower paint didn't last very long. I would buy one again. Since I look over the shield, wish they offered a lightly tinted option.

In looking further, I appears that is expected that the cal-sci windshield be bent around the cross-brace. That seems like it would cause undue stress on the shield and the mounting screws. The windshield also doesn't have the width I thought I ordered. Do they measure around the curve?

Definitely did not meet expectations.

Edit: Yep, dimensions are provided based on the size of the windshield lying flat, before the curve (such as it is) is formed.

Really sucks CB quit making bike wind screens, I've always wondered; why?

They're still in business making airplane stuff. They got the plastics, and are all tooled up. Why stop with the moto screens? If it wasn't profitable, just charge more?

RichDoyle, That sucks that your new CalSci shield is giving you problems. Contact them to see if they have any solutions. Maybe heating it in the sun before install?

I thought I read/ytubed just about everything written about FJR windshields and haven't seen/read anything pertaining to ill-fitting CalSci shields. Apparently there is, sullivan being one of them.

If you can't get it resolved to your liking send the sucker back. I would share your concern about having undue tension on those plastic mount screws.

Hope you find satisfaction.

I appear to be in the same boat: when lined up with the OEM shield the Cal-Sci looks to have been designed for a bike I don't own.

Having said that, the fact it's like this does add weight to the belief they're not wrongly made but all like that.

Thing is though, the stress on those six flimsy plastic bolts really cannot be good for them. To get the holes to line up, and for the bolts to drop down, would need medium to heavy pressure to bend the screen into place.

I'm really not sure about this...



Top: standard Yam screen as supplied with the bike. Bottom: Cal-Sci medium extra wide. You can see exactly how much you'd need to distort one to match the other.

Update:

Looking around suggests this is really honestly just how they are, and have always been, e.g.

k-bikes.com from 2010 https://www.k-bikes.com/forums/43-k12-1300gt-next-gen/21823-fitting-calsci-screen-k1300gt.html

Had another go and now sorted - had to compress the screen in the centre to get it to spread a little, then very gradually tighten up each screw.

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spyderlovers.com from 2012 https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?45243-My-experience-with-CalSci-Windshield

The windshield curvature is very different when compared to the stock shield. At the bottom, the curvature is less than the stock shield. So much that when you install it, it first touches the bottom center portion of the windshield support (Part 21), then torquing the bolts actually bend it more into shape so the rubber grommets can also touch the support. The shield comes with a warning to not torque higher than 4ft-lbs, but it seems to be enough to bend the bottom portion. Since the bottom center of the support touches the shield with so much pressure, it is bound to dig into it over time due to vibrations.

Click to expand...

I'm going to give it a crack ......

As I said, I had an older one I never mounted lying around, so I gave it a try and mounted it. The force required to pull the mounting hole up snug is significant, probably something like 7 lbs. each side, though I didn't put a scale to it. The amount of flex per side is about 3/8". The screen has considerable flex, so it does mount. But it does so by being bent across the cross-brace, where CS says to put electrical tape in the brace so it isn't rubbing metal-to-shield.

They do supply stainless steel screws, but the heads actually have a smaller diameter than the nylon ones. Were I to install it for real, I'd put nylon washers under those heads, as this metal-to-plastic area is less than with the plastic screws.

The thing is, whatever force the screws impose on the mounting holes, it is double (actually, the sum of the two side forces) against the cross-brace. I guess it works, though, as others here seem satisfied.

I wanted to check on the ability of the windshield to deal with flexing, so I took that old one and did some crude testing with a hand sledge and jumped up and down on it, curve up, such that it flattened against my driveway. Sprung back nicely every time with no sign of brittleness. But the sledge did make the surface kind of ugly.

Given that this is normal for these screens and I haven't heard anything about these things cracking, I've decided to return windshield one for the wider one. This should give me the width I thought I was getting in the first place I'll just live with the scarring that will inevitably occur where it rubs against the cross brace. But I will mount it with SS screws and nylon washers beneath.

I would have liked to see a video of that test.