Headlamp Fairings and Shoei FM 2

90% of my riding is open country, little or no town or traffic , I like a screen / fairing to keep the wind off my chest, i only ride in nice / warm weather here in western Canada, so ridiing season is short ! 

My average speed is 60 MPH +, my 1982 1000 KZ came with a generic almost vertical black screen that couldnt stay in position above 50 MPH and made my head dance around, I removed this and tried various screens and fairings, some i had, some i bought and still have, none of them cured the excessive wind / helmet noise at or above 50 MPH.
I found a Shoei FM 2, fairly local for sale at a great price and bought it, no mounting brackets, but all original, 7 inch tall screen, i dont think it had actually been on a bike, this is it on my KZ (S4)

The wind noise was so bad i couldnt believe it, because it was a Shoei i was expecting far better results.
Researching Shoei fairings    i found out they are an aftermarket  Japanese fairing produced for any bike,the fairing also gets a lot of reviews about wind noise and helmet blast, my KZ has the stock hi rise bars, i am an average build, 5-10
The Fairing is of really great quality, finish is amazing, totaly solid and so much better than the acrylic stuff you buy today, so i wanted it to work, it looks great and is period correct for the 82 KZ 
Different screen heights are available from aftermarket suppliers as i assume they were back in the mid 80,s, For me in Canada to order a new shorter screen,from the US with delivery would be approaching $400 plus imprt duty and tax.
I had an old cafe style fairing that had tried on the KZ with no improvemnt in noise, the one corner was broken off the screen, i took this screen and cut it down to fit the lower Shoei fairing base, total reduction was around three inches in overall height.
The results are fantastic, can now ride up to 90 MPH with just the usual helmet wind noise, with lowering the screen height my helmet is now in clean air, my chest and hands get very liitle wind, its a day and night difference for both the bike and me !
To get to this point has been a lot of trial and error, wind and aerodynamics are a science, i think i just got lucky to get the results both visually and riding comfort, im happy with how it is now, This winter will be paint and pinstripe to match the bike.
some pics after cutting the old screen down.. 
 

interesting. I tried an old shoei clone like that and it was noisy. so removed it. got it off eb as kind of a kit as there were several shells and I think maybe 2 windscreens. no hardware or anything. installed the best shell with a slipstreamer ss-28 mounting kit. may have to revisit the thing. or maybe not. ha ha.

   There's a fiberglass shop in Oz making repros of the original Z1 bikini fairings from the cult classic 'Stone' movie.  Cost might be prohibitive.  The 'Stone' fairings aren't on their website yet, but if a googly search is done for "fiberglass shop austrailia stone bikini fairing" it's on their fakebuuk page.

handcraftfibreglass.com.au/gallery/

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

There are a lot of different bikini fairings available these days. I’ve been using an EMGO headlight fairing myself for two years and am very happy with it; there’s no annoying wind noise or adverse effect on handling, even at higher speeds.
(I have to admit, though, that I didn't install it for weather protection, but rather because I really like that "Stone" movie look—I previously ran a similar BMW R90S-style fairing on my Z900 Z1B for a long time and was very satisfied with that, too!)





 

Went out yestreday, 100 mile ride, the shorter screen is excellent !
GP Cycles offer a shorter screen at 5 inch tall, which is about what mine ended up at, all the way up to a 14 inch tall, stock is 7 inch, different heights for different bikes / riders i guess
Had to add a GPS speeodo, my original is very optimistic at 60 MPH 
Before and after pics of stock screen and cut down version.