Yamaha Clear Double Bubble - not impressed

[whatever]

about 2 weeks ago i was on the highway with the ninj 250 , some rider with zx12 was rding with me for awhile and when i looked over he had a smal plastic windshied attached to the stock one maybe something like this would help with the yamaha,

it looked like it was about 4 to 6 inches high and was attached some how about 3 or 4 inches from the top of his stock windsheld..

 

[Superzoom]

I think that's called a Laminar Lip. I've heard they can work well.

I still haven't tried the cut down windscreen. I'm really hoping that I get very clean air hitting my helmet now. It was so bloody turbulent before.

I can't recommend this for safety reasons, but if I'm out on the highway, I will sit right up or stand on the pegs until my helmet is completely clear of all windscreen turbulence. It's kind of surreal how smooth and quiet the air is, even going 130 kph. I'm really hoping my windscreen chop will accomplish something like this.

 

[whatever]

would you say the wind off the screen is worse if your tall or shorter......, im abot 5 8' ?

 

[Bigevildoer]

I can't recommend this for safety reasons, but if I'm out on the highway, I will sit right up or stand on the pegs until my helmet is completely clear of all windscreen turbulence. It's kind of surreal how smooth and quiet the air is, even going 130 kph. I'm really hoping my windscreen chop will accomplish something like this.

I see you're in Ontario like me -- be absolutely certain that a cop doesn't see you standing on your pegs while riding down the highway. You *WILL* get pulled over and lose your bike according to the Racing/Stunting laws.

This happened to a friend of mine on his GSXR-750. He was simply stretching his legs out when coming home from a long ride. Passed under a bridge with a cop on top of it (didn't see it) radaring traffic and radioing ahead to parked cruiser/pursuit cars.

Got nailed with the Stunting law. Had to call his wife to come and get him (an hour from home) and watch as his bike was put on a tow truck and impounded. $3500 in fines and lost his license for 6 months.

Keep it in mind!

 

[Marthy]

Crazy Canadian laws!!! My buddy is selling his zx6. He live in the suburb of Montreal and the license plate fees went off the roof! (I'm from Montreal too, been living in the US for about 10 yrs.

 

[Superzoom]

would you say the wind off the screen is worse if your tall or shorter......, im abot 5 8' ?

I'm 5'10" and the wind hits me right at the base of my helmet, which makes things very noisy. So I guess if you're a lot taller or a lot shorter than me, you might be able to avoid some of the turbulence. At 5'8", I would guess that you would get hit right at helmet level, but if you tuck a little, you can get into still air.

 

[pyrocpu]

I see you're in Ontario like me -- be absolutely certain that a cop doesn't see you standing on your pegs while riding down the highway. You *WILL* get pulled over and lose your bike according to the Racing/Stunting laws.

This happened to a friend of mine on his GSXR-750. He was simply stretching his legs out when coming home from a long ride. Passed under a bridge with a cop on top of it (didn't see it) radaring traffic and radioing ahead to parked cruiser/pursuit cars.

Got nailed with the Stunting law. Had to call his wife to come and get him (an hour from home) and watch as his bike was put on a tow truck and impounded. $3500 in fines and lost his license for 6 months.

Keep it in mind!

That SUCKS. I was doing the same this morning, just to stretch. One curve right after I sat down... here comes a cruiser. I wondered what would have happened if I had continued my standing stretch a few seconds more... damn!

As far as the Yam DB W/S... I went clear since it's higher, and the airflow hits the top of my helmet juuuust right to ram air into my helmet's top vents!

 

[francesca005]

Even though I am a new rider, I, too bought the Double Bubble and found the wind turbulance possibly even worse! I just bought a better helmet, the Shark Evoline, and have noticed a BIG improvement. Definitely don't regret spending the extra money, even though old helmet only 3 months old.

 

[Superzoom]

Francesca, I wonder if the double bubble is pushing the air higher and therefore hitting you right in your helmet.

 

[Superzoom]

Ride report with cut down windscreen

So I finally took the bike out for a highway ride with the cut down windscreen.

As mentioned previously in this thread, I got sick of the massive turbulence caused by my Yamaha double bubble windscreen. I got out my original windscreen and used a jigsaw and hacked off the top five inches.

The difference is profound. I think I cut the exact right amount off for my height, because the air around my helmet is very clean. The windblast now hits me right across the shoulders and chest.

My head is no longer buffeted from seemingly random air currents and the wind noise is reduced. The wind used to be a low frequency roar, and now it is a higher pitched, quieter whistle. I rode without earplugs so I could compare before and after. I suspect with earplugs, there will be very little noise indeed, as I find that low frequency sound penetrates earplugs much more easily.

Overall I am very happy, and I'm going to stick with this lower windshield for the time being, while my double bubble sits on a shelf. I've come to the conclusion that whatever windscreen you chose for any bike, you're making a compromise. You can chose a naked bike or one with a tiny flyscreen, and you will have nice clean air, but you will also be exposed to the elements, and also big blasts of wind. You can have a medium sized windscreen (a la FZ6R), and be partially protected, but subject to a fair amount of turbulence and noise. Or you can choose a full coverage fairing and windscreen, but roast in the summer and miss out on the exposed feeling of being on a motorcycle.

I encourage anyone who has a double bubble to cut down your old windscreen and give it a try. If you don't like it, post to this thread and give me a good bashing (but please give details on why you don't like it too).

 

[Diluted]

What about cutting holes in the screen like on the BMW S1000RR windscreen?

 

[Superzoom]

Interesting. I don't know nearly enough about aerodynamics to guess what it might accomplish.

By the way, I test drove the cut down windscreen at speeds between 60 and 75 mph, and while it is quieter and less turbulent at all speeds, it is downright sedate at 60 mph.

 

[Diluted]

Interesting. I don't know nearly enough about aerodynamics to guess what it might accomplish.

By the way, I test drove the cut down windscreen at speeds between 60 and 75 mph, and while it is quieter and less turbulent at all speeds, it is downright sedate at 60 mph.

I might be willing to give that a try...anyone know if altering the rim around the outside will reduce the strength/integrity of the plastic?

 

[JonKerr]

If you look at an F1 car they have slots and louvers like that all over the place to do various things. Usually to allow some air through to stabilize a low pressure area. My guess for that particular application is to let some air in under the wind screen to stabilize the vortices created behind the screen by the air being pushed up and over and creating a negative pressure area under it. That's why sometimes you can get a lot of buffeting just behind your wind screen. I'm imagining doing this and allowing some air to flow in under the screen would smooth out the buffeting when tucked in with your head on the tank.

 

[francesca005]

To Superzoom, I think you may be right, I was thinking about putting back the original windscreen.

 

[toddjcruz]

this is common on sport-touring windscreens. It does reduce the low pressure that build behind the windscreen and allows for the 'bubble' you ride in to be larger with less turbulence. The more common approach for sport-touring bike is to have the windscreen suspended away from the fairing of the bike to allow the air to flow under it and through. The goal isn’t to remove ALL the wind from you, but to limit the wind that hits you. By placing the holes in the windscreen near the bottom, you can keep the bubble larger and with less wind-noise.

See the V-strom winscreen attached.

 

[JnT4Life]

There is a gap at the bottom of the Yamaha DB.