Tulsa extra tall shield revisited

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dingdong wrote:

I just returned fron a 4,500 mile trip through 10 states. The Tulsa shield has to go. The only (pro) for this shieldis that it is very nice sitting behind, really cuts down buffeting on rider and passenger. On a dry day on the highway it is great.

Cons:

1) Acts like a sail in the wind. More buffeting of the bike.I could live with that though.

2) The reflection from the dash (caused by the extreme rake) causes vision confusion riding through the mountain twisties when there is a combination of sunlight and shadows from the trees across the road. Very dangerous.

3) I didn't ride through a hard rain butlight rain a couple of times and the drops just sit there making it difficult to see through. Not safe in the mountains. Probably impossible at night. A hard rain has to be even worse. Need to be able to see over.

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I put a tall Slipstreamer on my 82 Aspencade this winter. Like you, I found the huge reduction in buffeting for rider and passenger is a huge bonus. I did not find any "sail" tendencies however - if anything, I think the whole front end (fairing) is MORE stable, particularly at higher speeds, than with the original windshield.

The reflection, while not as severe (the rake on the Slipstreamer is not as extreme) I do notice. I thought the nighttime glare from instruments etc. would be the worst, but I actually hardly even notice that. The glare is not horrible however, and it certainly doesn't cause me any confusion when riding.

The rain: I have ridden through rain once, and it was at night. It started out as a light mist, then changed to a steady rain. I clean my windshield religiously with Pledge, and I think this saved me: The water, even just the fine mist, instantly beads up and runs off, and I had NO problem seeing through it. This was at highway speed, and I might have something different to say if I was riding slower, but honestly, my biggest fear was rain, and it turns out there is no problem at all.

My biggest complaint is cleaning. My bike is for riding, not for cleaning - I leave that to the Harley crowd. My bike is usually dirty and full of bugs, and I'll clean it when it's nasty riding weather. That said, I really have to clean the windshield each and every time I take it out. That's a bit of a pain in the ass, but I've gotten used to it, more or less.

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I too have a tall Slipstreamer that I mounted 3 years ago.

This is the tallest windshield I ever had and I was planning on cutting it down.

BUT, The plus's outweigh the minus's.

The Buffeting experienced by both Rider and passenger are reduced by a factor of 5.
The difference is truly amazing. The wife loved it for that reason alone.

What really sold me is the tracking has improved so much I no longer fear passing a tractor trailer on the interstate. Before on a windy days it was kinda iffy feeling, and the buffeting was tremendous. Even trucks in the oncoming lane were a concern. The sudden blast of air would lean the bike right over and you had BETTER have both hands on the bars.

On Windy, Gusty days while riding the interstate Highways I have had the stock windshield actually fold down and almost slap me as the windshield bent and flexed so much.

Now the bike is much more stable riding and tracking is no longer a concern.
I can again ride one handed while passing at speed trucks in any direction.
And gusting wind no longer concerns me.

I have ridden for hours in the rain.
With the slipstreamer, the rain beads up and runs to the top at any speed above 30mph.
In a pouring rain I have beads of rain going up and coming down on the near side of the shield.
It has been discussed elswhere on the forum about adding tubing to the edge of the windshield may shed this rain at the top. I need to test this to see if it works.

There has been only once in the last 3 years where I was affected with fogging of the shield.
I was coming off a mountain and entered a fogged in valley. The windscreen fogged up limiting visibility. I just stood on the pegs and kept riding for the 3 or 4 miles I was in the valley. I'm quite comfortable riding while standing, and everyone should practice this for numerous reasons. I do it to give a butt a rest at times as I hate to sit too long.

Now this windshield has no Coating of anything on it since new as it is still so clear.
I use pledge on other windshields and I love Plexus on the crappy windshields.
But I have kept this one clean as a test.
So Fogging may not be an issue if I had used something to prep the screen.

But standing is still a quick fix in my book and I urge everybody to try it and get comfortable with it.

I stress this as I have a couple of buddies that have rode for years and will never stand while riding, They are scared too. They don't feel in control or something.

Maybe we need a seperate post to see how many can, and do ride while standing.

Let me know what you think.

C Ya

Mohawk

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Hey GSMacLean,



Can you please tell me what thelength is from your dash to the top of your windshield andthe height from the top of the windshield to a known point on the bike... say the suspension pressure gauge consoles top edge?



Ever since I put that new saddlemen seat on I have been setting up straighter in my seat AND the seat is higher. I am well out into the jet stream!! The wind is starting to get on my nerves as now I am purposely slouching to stay under the airflow. Also Christine (my wife) is getting really bounced around by the wind.



Thanks,



Tim.

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I have the vented Tulsa but not the tall.

It works well for me in the rain so I wonder why the attack face would be different with the tall. :?

I like the heads-up display from the angle of reflection from the inside. I make sure anything I want to see on the display is mounted well forward on the key bridge or the instrument bezel so that the reflections are all below my normal field of vision.
Works very well with my lighted fog light switch, my black Kuryakyn LED voltmeter and my SmartLight display.

Everything is right there for me, and the passenger can also see it, if she want's to.

Only thing I don't like about the Tulsa is the rain likes to run up to the top from the center of the screen and run over the top.

I cured this and ALL wind off of my passenger by adding clamp-ribbed rubber door molding to the edge of the screen. Works so well that a few times since, the passenger complained that after the last stop she forgot to put on her riding glasses and didn't notice for quite a while.

I thought I would hate the molding being there but it's been fine. In fact, I use it as a small light shield when riding into the blinding sun.

I'll get another vented Tulsa next time and re-do the edge molding as well.

The height of mine is such that I have to hang my buns on the rise behind me to see over it. But at least I can. I would not ride with a windscreen you could not arrange to see over while riding. Fogging up blind coming out of a cold low-land area at speed will get you straight on that problem very quickly.

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I installed the F4 Scratch Resistant SpeedGlass from Wingstuff on my 95 Aspy and frankly, I could not be happier with the product.



http://www.wingstuff.com/pgroup_detail/20047_Scratch_Resistant_GL1500_F4_Windshield_FREE



I have no windwings on my bike at all so there is some buffeting even though I went with the +2 version but it's not bad at all. The main plus is clarity, it's incredibly scratch resistant and flawless as far as bend distortion. As I've written before, they actually recommend using Windex and paper towels to clean this shield. Of course, being a fanatical clear view kind of guy, I would never do this as eventually I would think the ammonia has to take a toll on the shield's super hard coating they use. On their website they set up a wiper system with the wiper wrapped with steel wool. They ran that wiper for ten hours before it wore through the coating. I clean mine with nothing but clear water on a clean rag (mostly bugs only)and dry it with a terrycloth towell. I use Mothers plastic polish only to add the "RainX effect" and it works great. I can't imagine owning any other windshield after owning this one. My next hope is that Kuryakyn comes out with that second windshield (tall spoiler) that goes behind the rider on the trunk for the 1500's. Currently it's only available for the 1800 but in watching the videos and reading the reviews, it's pretty much the slickest thing invented for the wing as far as wind buffeting reduction to date. It sure looks weird but I've read that it's buffet reduction is nothing short of amazing. When I ride I notice most of the wind hitting me is hitting me in the back as the wind curls around in a circle when returning to the bike. I wonder if I could modify my luggage rack to support a copy of that second windshield? Hmmmmm, I've got plexiglass and tools, maybe I'll experiment a bit!

Respectfully,

Ed

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Ed1955 wrote:

... Kuryakyn comes out with that second windshield (tall spoiler) that goes behind the rider on the trunk for the 1500's. Currently it's only available for the 1800 but in watching the videos and reading the reviews...

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Respectfully,

Ed

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Hey Ed,



I vaguely remember seeing that at some place and hearing that it worked quite well for the passenger. Do you have a link to share for that or any more info on it? Thiswould be something I may like to try to build.



Tim.