Windshields on the KZ?

Nevco48 wrote:

:laugh: That IS a very stylish luggage rack. I need one of those, I could use my bike to do my Sat. morning dump run...

Hey buddy, I got yer dump right here!!


:dry: :S: :sick: :pinch: :blush: :blink: :silly: :side:

Yee haw, I feel better now. . .

Yeah Baby! You could pick up some chicks with wheels like that!

~DW~ wrote:

. . .The area behind the windshield/fairing is soooooo still, I have watched a fly buzzing around in there at 70 mph.

I decided I might take a road trip. . .so to deal with the flies. ..I might need to pick up this guy first. . .



After I pick him up, we're gonna get this passenger to keep everybody calm. .



And if any bugs get past either of these two, I have a secret weapon normally kept inside the luggage box. . .



:woohoo:

Nevco48 wrote:

Yeah Baby! You could pick up some chicks with wheels like that!

Yeah really fat, smelly, hairy, chicks. No thanks:sick: :sick: . This thing looks like an Iron Curtain pimpmobile.

The Gringo wrote:

. . .
Yeah really fat, smelly, hairy, chicks. No thanks:sick: :sick: . This thing looks like an Iron Curtain pimpmobile.

Just think about how many you could carry though, and how easy it would be to dump, er, drop them off. Now, if you want to just carry just one or two in pimp style, check out this ride. . .



bump and hump

I had a big vetter fairing on my 900 and I'll tell ya, no semi ever moved me, no cross wind ever effected me, and It was quiet and no wind at all. I took that sucker off and I could swear it slowed the bike down dramatically. The handler bars were hard to hold onto and the noise was very loud. I'm a baliever, fairings make a bike faster and more comfortable.

And I'm talking about a 40mph cross wind!

I have ridden several bikes with the full size Vetter fairings on them, and I just don't like them, makes the bike feel to big and clumsy. I have a Vetter Quicksilver on my 79 750 twin, and it's not to bad, but I still like the handlebar mounted clear fairings the best.

I will admit though, that when I put the Vetter fairing on my brother's 82 1000 CSR, it did make that bike more pleasant to ride (but anything would have been an improvement), I could cruise comfortably at 100 mph after I put the fairing on.

Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/03/06 01:24

I can't make any comments on comfort of a fairing or not. I just bought my KZ in January and have been fixing it up. It had the large Vetter Fairing on it and I just really disliked the look. I may be forfeiting comfort and even some performance but... I just couldn't have my first bike look like that.

I'll be riding this summer and see how it treats me. I think I'll try one of those clear windscreens I've seen here before I go back to the Vetter though... I do want to do some long trips, if the fairing I have was easier to install/remove I'd save it for those, ah well.

The fairing I'd like to try out is RStnick's

Kind'a low bars for my taste (my bike will use the stock superbike bars).
I've scrounged what seems to be a fairly rare Vetter Windstar (a fairing that Craig Vetter accepts no responsibility for!) that is quite a bit smaller that a Windjammer or even a Quicksilver.
The Project
However, it is still frame-mounted, which was a requirement for me. I don't like what a bar-mounted fairing does to the handling, and I don't like the weight a 'Jammer'sized fairing adds to the bike.
But I vaguely remember a fairing like Rstnick's, only larger, that was written up in a magazine back in the late '70's that I'd really like to try. Does that ring a bell for anybody?

Well, I went ahead and slapped a "Givi" universal A600 on my KZ. After a 250 mile ride up from winter storage, I have a couple of comments, maybe useful for others?

- Crosswind: NOT a problem with this handlebar-mounted windshield. I hit some heavy ones and the effect of the wind on my body and the bike as a whole was much more than on the windshield (which was negligible as far as I could tell).

- Helmet noise - was substantially reduced IF I hunched over behind the plexiglass and looked through it. At 6'2", my head was right in a buffet-zone if I sat up straight, and I can't say whether the noise was any less than without it at all. Maybe a little, especially at higher speeds.

- View -- not too bad if I sat up straight and looked over it. It didn't really seem in the way that much, but I'll have to do some comparison riding to be sure.

- Chest pressure: this was the big win -- basically gone. MUCH less riding fatigue and soreness, and much warmer. The last hundred miles or so was at 40 degrees (major screwup by the weatherman), but in my raingear (another screwup) I didn't really notice it.

Adding it all up, I guess I'm going to keep it on for now, though I'll probably take it off for short rides around here.

Chest pressure: this was the big win -- basically gone. MUCH less riding fatigue and soreness

This is the biggest benifit I find. As well as no sore neck, etc.
Maybe I'm too used to having a fairing, but when I started without one two seasons ago, I put it back on after my first long ride.

The fairing I'd like to try out is RStnick's

The rickman fairing is nice. It's frame mounted, so doesn't affect the steering at all. It is also very light, but offers no storage.
I can tuck my legs and upper body behind it and get lots of wind carving aerodynamics.
I usually look over top of it though, so do get what I consider a lot of wind noise. This may be because I have a cheap full face helmet as well.

This Hannigan fairing weights a lot more and has some storage similar to the Vetters, and claim to give very good wind protection. I havn't tried it yet. Not in a hurry to remove the Rickman at the moment.


Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2007/04/01 22:01