ride enjoyment with/without a windshield?

Hey all!

How much more effort is required to withstand the wind when
riding without a shield on the bike? Is it tiresome? How much buffeting
is there at city and highway speeds? Does the wind create extra noise
around the helmet? What are the advantages/disadvantages of a shield,
if any?

I've got my eye on the Yamaha Virago 250 cruiser and it doesn't have
a shield. I think I'll be riding alot on the highway at high speed,
will a shield improve comfort?

Cheers!

Buck

 

Yes they do, but try buying the bike and riding without it. The baby
virago doesn't have heaps of grunt and pushing a barndoor into the wind
sucks HP

JL

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:29:31 +0800

Advantages - less buffeting of the body, which is important on a sit up
and beg bike.

Disadvantages - heaps of wind drag which means a 250 can have trouble.

It probably will, but it will decrease speed.

Try it without. Then try the smallest one you can find, it's amazing
how much difference even a small screen makes.

Buffeting around the helmet can be a problem, you have to experiment
unfortunately.

Zebee

 

Interesting post. I have just removed the shield from my BMW 1150 to allow
me to clean the headlight chrome ( and the autosol did a great job ) and
have been riding around town without the shield and am finding no change to
the comfort factor. Not even sure if I will put it back on as I like the way
it looks now

 

I found the small original shield on the BMW caused the wind to slam mid
chest and it annoyed me so much that I ended up buying a larger one. And at
the moment I have none

 

naked bikes the wind holds you up, so you dont have alot of weight on your
arms, pushing down, lot easier

faired bikes give you more heat, and put your weight on the bars..

they make the bike like that, so why go changing it

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:23:58 +1100

depends on the bike shape.

A forward leaning bike, yes.

A cruiser style, no.

My XT is fine with no fairing, the wind holds me up and it's
comfortable. The GT is awful with no fairing, I feel like I'm blown off
the back.

Zebee

 

if i bike was not good, then nobody would buy it, so bike companies,
although are not all knowing gods have to do the best they can to stay in
buisness.

never thought of those peaks like that

 

I agree. If a bike company purposely(or not) makes crap bikes, and people
end up paying extra to have them fixed, then people are not going to buy
from that manufacturer again.

 

The shield on my gpx250 barely keeps the wind off my cock. You'd have to be
a jockey to make use of it.