End of my rope: unbearable noise and/or turbulence

[Andylaser]

I don't get it with all these "too windy, cant handle the buffeting" threads.
Its a bloody motorcycle, if you cant handle a bit of wind in the face, go and buy a car.

What do you think people did before there was the option to buy huge sheets of perspex the size of a fridge door and nailing them to your bike? Yeah, they just got on with riding the bike. As someone that rides all year round, I still dont know what you mean by buffeting? I wouldn't call normal "wind in the face" buffeting. The only thing I would put down to buffeting is trying to ride in a storm with 40mph gusts of side wind that send you all over the place. Anything else, isn't really buffeting.

Apologies for the rant, but really guys, isn't this a bit silly?

 

[Dogdaze]

I don't get it with all these "too windy, cant handle the buffeting" threads.
Its a bloody motorcycle, if you cant handle a bit of wind in the face, go and buy a car.

What do you think people did before there was the option to buy huge sheets of perspex the size of a fridge door and nailing them to your bike? Yeah, they just got on with riding the bike. As someone that rides all year round, I still dont know what you mean by buffeting? I wouldn't call normal "wind in the face" buffeting. The only thing I would put down to buffeting is trying to ride in a storm with 40mph gusts of side wind that send you all over the place. Anything else, isn't really buffeting.

Apologies for the rant, but really guys, isn't this a bit silly?

This is the first 'faired' bike I've owned that I have done long days in the saddle with, had a V Strom for a short while, now that was a nightmare with wind management. The buffeting I think people refer to is like a pinball hammer hitting your helmet at 180 beats per minute. I have always ridden naked bikes, including cruisers that I rode from the UK to Switzerland in one day and although zero wind protection, that in itself is fatiguing, never had wind noise issues, and never worn ear protection either, but my first experience of wind noise was on the V Strom, cured with a Calsci tall, and then the S10, again cured with a Calsci tall. Normal wind and head shaking is okay, as I ride a bike, but found ultra smooth air and quietness in my BMW car.

 

[Don in Lodi]

The 'pinball hammer' (perfect) effect is the curl of air off the top edge of whatever size shield you have hitting around the edges of your helmet. You get noise and the pressure waves that beat your ear drums silly. As noted, get the air flow below those edges, ultra short=smooth air, or get the air flow at or over the top of the helmet, ultra tall=quiet air. Air at the top of the helmet can get the pressure wave drumming through any top vents. My Shoei, which is the noisiest helmet I've owned, gets a fair bit quieter with the top vents closed.

 

[TeneRey]

Sell the bike. Buy a hard top car. This may not be your cup of tea.

 

[dietDrThunder]

I don't get it with all these "too windy, cant handle the buffeting" threads.
Its a bloody motorcycle, if you cant handle a bit of wind in the face, go and buy a car.

What do you think people did before there was the option to buy huge sheets of perspex the size of a fridge door and nailing them to your bike? Yeah, they just got on with riding the bike. As someone that rides all year round, I still dont know what you mean by buffeting? I wouldn't call normal "wind in the face" buffeting. The only thing I would put down to buffeting is trying to ride in a storm with 40mph gusts of side wind that send you all over the place. Anything else, isn't really buffeting.

Apologies for the rant, but really guys, isn't this a bit silly?

Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it silly.

You're right, normal wind in the face has nothing to to with buffeting. Buffeting is when your head is shaken by the turbulence of the air coming off the screen. If I use the V Stream screen I have, for example, my head shakes so violently at hwy sped that I cant read the huge green highway signs as I pass them. If it's silly to you that I'd like my head not to shake that hard when I ride on the freeway, that is what's silly.

 

[dietDrThunder]

Sell the bike. Buy a hard top car. This may not be your cup of tea.

Ya you might be right. I've only got about 30 years and a little under 500,000 miles of riding under my belt. I guess because fo rthe first time I have a bike that is taking some effort to make comfortable I should just give up bikes.

Thanks for the helpful input.

 

[dietDrThunder]

I have to assume guys with complaints of noise and turbulelence have been riding for a while? It's a motorcycle, no way to eliminate noise 100%. Anyone remember or owned a Yamaha FJ1200 back in the 89 era? The super tenere is like a cadillac next to that bike in turbulence and noise. I think some guys are looking for the impossible in wind management. We're on a motorcycle out in the wind, expect wind noise or go in a car.

My FJ1200 was an 86, and ii was 100% turbulence-free. The later models starting in 89 had larger fairings that introduced increased protection, and turbulence (and a 17" front wheel which was a worthy exchange).

Alsso could you point out where anyone mentioned getting rid of 100% of noise?

 

[Bryn]

I know where you are coming from regarding buffeting.... it is down to wind management and its never easy to get it right. I remember just after I got my Gen 2 Super Tenere I did a quick swap with a mate who had a 650 V Strom with a Givi Airflow which he said was excellent.....

So after 5 minutes at motorway speeds I'd had enough of it.....like a high frequency hammering on my helmet... it was the worst I'd encountered. Experiences are so subjective

I reckon my Russian spoiler with the standard screen is as good as its going to be 8)

 

[dietDrThunder]

I know where you are coming from regarding buffeting.... it is down to wind management and its never easy to get it right. I remember just after I got my Gen 2 Super Tenere I did a quick swap with a mate who had a 650 V Strom with a Givi Airflow which he said was excellent.....

So after 5 minutes at motorway speeds I'd had enough of it.....like a high frequency hammering on my helmet... it was the worst I'd encountered. Experiences are so subjective

I reckon my Russian spoiler with the standard screen is as good as its going to be 8)

Ya there's never one Answer. The idea is just to gather information as points of reference and use that combined with personal experience to try to get a direction to go in...about the best that can be hoped for.

Years ago when I was living in NC, I bought an 83 V65 Sabre with the Hondaline fairing. Amazingly great bike...loved it. Anyway, I flew to Manitowoc, WI to pick it up and ride it home. If you remember that fairing, or the older CBX Hondaline fairing (same basic shape and screen), it had a huge upturned 'lip' or spoiler. My head shook so badly at freeway speed that I had to stop for about 30 min for every 40 I rode...absolute torture. I made it to a friend's house in southern MI, and the first thing I said was 'I need a dremel with a cutoff wheel, a sharpie, and a length of string, right t f now."

# minutes later, I'd made a huge mess in her garage completely chopping off that lip. In the morning we went to an auto parts store and I got some door edging to make it look nice where I cut it, and I rode it like that in peaceful bliss for maybe 50,000 miles. It even looked better without that massive lip on the screen.

Oh, and for 'remember the FJ guy, this is the one I had.

 

[Bryn]

Sometimes I wonder what the road testers are paid for with regards to screens etc. they must be on a different planet than most of us

 

[Dogdaze]

I definitely agree with the 'lip', on any bike that I've ridden the lip cause's the most turbulence, the stock screen on Gen 1 has a lip, went to a straight screen (in this case a Calsci tall) and disappeared, that lip 'curls' the wind and affects the whole dynamics of wind hitting any part of the body or head, with helmet on. to answer Bryn's question, they test in a wind tunnel to see airflow, not with a rider and helmet (with the multitude of variations) so it all looks good on paper!

I learnt something about wind noise working for Audi many years ago, in an effort to make cars more aerodynamic (smoother, to allow to slip past) they shaped side mirrors and contours of the car, this in turn had a negative effect on actual wind noise, now remember, wind noise is not a EPA or similar concern, economy and emission is. The closer the mirrors to the car and smoother lines the nosier the car became, to prove this, we drove cars at 70mph and then folded the mirrors in, the noise level dropped considerably.
The Suzuki Hayabusa is one ugly bike (although I personally love the looks) but the contours and design was to create a slippery bike, once tucked into that cockpit and hunkered down out of the wind, it was the fastest production motorcycle on the planet.

So if you can eliminate some of the sticky out bit or push them further away from you the quite the bike may become, I did the mirror extension, winglets and big ass screen, very quite from where it was when I bought the bike, perfect? not even close, but allows me to ride.

 

[AVGeek]

Remember everyone, one man's calm pocket of air is another man's tornado ride. Since this is a common topic here on the forum, it stands to reason that no one windshield will work for every rider. Let's stay on topic and help dietDrThunder with relevant information.

 

[Davesax36]

I'm gonna try mirror extensions next. I seem to remember it's helping on my fz1.

UT makes me wonder if the handguards have an effect as well. I've never had them on other bikes.

 

[yoyo]

My 06 V-Strom was a nightmate for buffeting, tried an MRA screen but it was the mirror extenders and Aprillia Tuono mirrors that fixed it for me, don't think the S10 would need mirrors as they are fairly aerodynamic anyway where the Suzuki ones were like square sails. The theory goes the wind is deflected off the mirrors behind the screen and creates a swirl, the extenders move the mirrors out so there is no swirl.

 

[Andylaser]

Apologies if I was a bit "blunt". Its just that I have never come across this buffeting you are on about on any bike I have ridden.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Have you tried using your hand to back track to the source of the wind blast that's causing the trouble? ::017::

 

[dietDrThunder]

Have you tried using your hand to back track to the source of the wind blast that's causing the trouble? ::017::

Can't do it because the screen is too far away. By the time I get near anything useful I'm leaning forward which changes all of the dynamics.

 

[dietDrThunder]

I'm gonna try mirror extensions next. I seem to remember it's helping on my fz1.

UT makes me wonder if the handguards have an effect as well. I've never had them on other bikes.

I was going to order some of these, but a quick ride with the mirrors completely removed demonstrated that for my situation in particular it wouldn't help.

 

[rider33]

one man's calm pocket of air is another man's tornado ride.....

'dead on. 'Seats, bars, screens, it's not what's best, it's what works for you. For screens how tall you are, how much of that is in your torso, how long your arms are, how wide you shoulders are, where you sit, how big you head is and even what lid you wear along with likely a few dozen other variables all come in to play. For most people tho, a taller, wider screen along with increased adjustablity can help quite a bit. For me, that was a Parabellum tall & w/Madstad bracket tho YMMV.

 

[Use2btrix]

Are most of these posts referring to Gen 1 bikes or Gen 2 as well? Coming from a v rod and r6's and a r1 it seems great on my gen 2 stock screen at max height. I'm only 5'10 though. However, seeing all these windscreen threads so maybe I'm missing something?

I park the bike under the front of my 5th wheel so I'm cutting it close clearance wise with the stock one all the way up. I was thinking about just getting the 2" taller Yamaha one. Any idea if this would be worthwhile? With how the stock seems reasonable I have a hard time justifying a whole new bracket. I also like to be able to see over the windshield so don't want too tall.