Windshields

It was early March 2005 when I finally bolted on the new windshield, and by the end of the month the snow and salt was at last gone so that I could get out for a ride. Two things quickly became apparent. The first, unsurprisingly, was how much better I was shielded from the wind and the cold. It wasn't perfect as some wind and noise was still making its way to me, but it was significantly improved even over the stock length shield. The other thing I noticed was that I did not have to adjust the angle of the shield to the fully upright position to receive maximum protection. I did adjust it slightly to minimize helmet buffeting.

With the stock windshield or the cut down version, I could easily change the angles of the shield at any speed. It was almost impossible to do so with the tall shield. The pressure exerted on the shield at speeds of about 60 kph and greater made cranking harder than I was comfortable with. Forcing it could well have broken the mechanism. Of course, this applied only to tilting the shield forward.

Since this shield was designed for "tall" riders and I am below average of height, I could not look over the shield like I do with the stock one. I now looked through it. Thankfully, the optics of the shield was pretty good. It was not as good as with a car mind you, but not bad overall. How the shield will hold up to road grime remains to be seen.

I kept this tall shield on the bike for several weeks before reinstalling the cut down shield as the weather improved. As well as it worked, it did nothing for the looks of the bike. Every time I viewed the T-Sport from the front, I kept seeing a decades old BMW emerge. With the stock shield in place the bike looked stylistically dated. Calling it homely once the tall shield was on would be charitable.

Before I leave this topic I have one more experiment with wind protection that I'd like to relate. Of my now three windshields, it is the cut down version that spends the most of the time on my bike, and I have to admit it is primarily because of its looks. In an effort to improve its functionality, I ordered Stealth Edging from Saeng TA Corp (since superceded by a newer version called V.3 Micro-Swirl Edging). Essentially it a contoured strip of rubber molding that slips onto the outside edge of the windshield. Its purpose is to channel the wind flow as if the windshield was up to 5 inches taller.

It is not particularly attractive, but at the same time it is still better in appearance than the stock or taller windshields on the T-Sport, at least in my opinion. But does it work? Well, sort of. Although I can't really quantify the Stealth Edging by scientific method, I can say that it does indeed offer some improvement in rider protection, though not as much as I would have liked. If I had to put a number to its effectiveness, I would say somewhere in the range of 10 to 20 per cent over the cut down shield without the edging. Not a lot you might say, but then again, every little bit does help. The best part is that I can install and remove the edging in minutes. Before heading out on a road trip, I can slip it on the windshield and it will help keep a bit more wind off of me. Once at my destination, off it goes into a saddlebag and no one is the wiser that it was ever there.