Has anyone bought the OEM "wind deflectors"?

[rogueleader_92]

We had a coldish night tonight and on the way home I was feeling the wind across the top of my thighs and the sides of my calf's and I remembered Honda has some wind deflectors I thought might help the thighs at least. Has anyone installed them? How much extra coverage do they give? How big of a pain in the a$$ were they to install (looks like a nightmare of having to pull the radiator side panels, pull the key lock on the left one, drill your own holes, put it all back together, align and glue on the dual lock fastener, ect.)?

[ledany]

It can't be that difficult if some dealers here install these deflectors on their demo bike 

[PAVALKER]

Any updates on these wind deflectors?

[Bill Havins]

Absolute waste of money.  Blow lots of air right into your chest and armpits, then on to passenger.  Increase turbulence.  (All of this with touring windshield in place.

If you install them you will soon remove them and throw them in the trash.  Then you are left with holes you drilled in the rear covers of your radiator cowls.  Then you'll have to buy and install the replacement end caps to restore the looks of your scooter.

Absolute waste of money!

Cheers!

Bill

[PAVALKER]

Absolute waste of money.  Blow lots of air right into your chest and armpits, then on to passenger.  Increase turbulence.  (All of this with touring windshield in place.

If you install them you will soon remove them and throw them in the trash.  Then you are left with holes you drilled in the rear covers of your radiator cowls.  Then you'll have to buy and install the replacement end caps to restore the looks of your scooter.

Absolute waste of money!

Cheers!

Bill

Interesting....   Isn't that what they are designed to eliminate?  Oh well.....  Money not spent is money saved I guess.  LOL

[Robert]

Thanks Bill I would have been pretty upset if I had bought them drilled a hole and had to plug it up cause they didnt work. I am going to design deflector to clip on to the radiator deflector and stop the wind from hitting the driver from the air stream that goes between the black radiator deflector and the painted pod area just above it.

The air that comes over the top of the radiator pods goes down and out the back. I'm trying to come up with a good idea how to stop the air from between the front forks and pods from going up to the driver instead of following the air flow over the pods.

[Bill Havins]

PAVALKER,

One would hope that Honda would do it's homework before offering such an item for sale.  My experience with the wind deflectors was as described above.  And same goes for their Touring Windscreen.  The wind protection components Honda designed for the GL1800 F6C just didn't work for me.

Robert,

My dealer told me that the turbulence coming up past the steering head has been a problem on many models of Goldwings.  He said there were companies that made "foam inserts" that fit around the frame at the steering head; the inserts were purported to block the air coming up from the front of the engine.  The companies don't appear to be around anymore.

As I was building my fairing I studied that area of the frame to see if I could come up with "something" that would seal that area.  And what I came up with was... {insert sound of crickets here} ...nothing.  There is a great deal of "wide open space" there.  But it has to be kept open to receive the fork legs when the handlebars are turned lock-to-lock (e.g., parking lot maneuvers).

The other part of the challenge is the shape of the bottom cowling combined with the front of the engine - it serves as a big "scoop" that directs air up about the steering head of the frame.  Some of the air does flow through the radiators, but the cowling and the front of the engine pick up a lot more air than the radiators need so, whoosh!  Up about the steering head it goes.

Boxing in the forks with my fairing helped a lot.  But, as I have noted elsewhere, I still get a half-soccer-ball-sized dome of turbulence that "does its thing" about the ignition switch area.  Sometimes it gets to my torso but it is never a problem.

So, good luck trying to limit the air coming up past the steering head.  I gave up because it had turned into a real time hole.

Bill
 

[Robert]

Bill everything you said was true and thanks for the information on the foam inserts. But while riding one day I was playing with the air in this area and noticed something interesting. The air that comes in is ok if it stays low to the tank.

Its kind of like water hitting a wall with force, it shoots up and over at the same time. As I was playing I found I could keep the air low and created a pocket of smooth air for the driver just by keeping the air in this area directed low over the tank just about the height of the gas cap. When I did this it greatly improved the smoothness of the air for the driver. My hand was enough to accomplish this and made for a much improved riding experience in heavy, shifting wind.

A few thoughts came to mind a wing like structure mounted on top of the gas door. A thin stretchable piece of nylon mounted like a v from the top of the triple tree to the gas door area. Stopping the wind is not necessary but a redirection works really well. 

I think if this can be accomplished it would give a air pocket for the driver equivalent to the F6B or wing.

[Bill Havins]

As you know the wind dynamics around a vehicle can be really funny.  The Boeing 737, for example, had a number of problems until they added the vertical "winglets" at the tips of the wings ("vortex generators," IIRC).

Try blocking the small grills on either side of the headlight and see how the air pattern changes.  That will accomplish "most" of what I did when I boxed in the forks.  Pieces of poster board cut to shape and wired in place should be enough to test the idea.  And it won't hurt anything on your scooter.

The "wings" of my fairing are angled to create an upward lift to the air that hits them.  And their bottom edges are 15mm "spoilers" that push air down at the bottom of the wings.  I think the wings of the fairing do a lot to manage the airflow about and over the radiator cowls.

So much to consider.  Oh, and get a large bottle of ibuprofen; thinking about all of this for weeks on end tended to give me headaches.

Good luck!

Bill

[Adirondack Bill]

For what it's worth, I feel the Valk provides pretty good wind protection without any shields. My legs fit nicely behind the stock cowling.

[Robert]

For what it's worth, I feel the Valk provides pretty good wind protection without any shields. My legs fit nicely behind the stock cowling.

   

Dont disagree either, most of the time the stock protection is just fine. But there is a bit of room for improvement, if we can just figure out how to do it. 

So much to consider.  Oh, and get a large bottle of ibuprofen; thinking about all of this for weeks on end tended to give me headaches.

Good luck!

Bill

Thanks again Bill glad to know I'm not the only one.  

[PAVALKER]

As you know the wind dynamics around a vehicle can be really funny.  The Boeing 737, for example, had a number of problems until they added the vertical "winglets" at the tips of the wings ("vortex generators," IIRC).

Try blocking the small grills on either side of the headlight and see how the air pattern changes.  That will accomplish "most" of what I did when I boxed in the forks.  Pieces of poster board cut to shape and wired in place should be enough to test the idea.  And it won't hurt anything on your scooter.

The "wings" of my fairing are angled to create an upward lift to the air that hits them.  And their bottom edges are 15mm "spoilers" that push air down at the bottom of the wings.  I think the wings of the fairing do a lot to manage the airflow about and over the radiator cowls.

So much to consider.  Oh, and get a large bottle of ibuprofen; thinking about all of this for weeks on end tended to give me headaches.

Good luck!

Bill

Do you have pictures of this fairing of yours?

[Bill Havins]

Its all in this thread:  http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,92859.0.html

Cheers!

Bill

[PAVALKER]

Its all in this thread:  http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,92859.0.html

Cheers!

Bill

Thanks Bill.  Impressive effort and great post.   I sent you a PM.

John

[Robert]

I reread the original post and remembered kind of key point, Rouge complained about air across his thigh and calf, well at the underside to the rear of the radiator pods just above your knee there is a cold air vent built in. This actually directs the air that comes into the front out and down next to the gas tank and down next to the cowling on the engine. The air essentially would be pointed down and hit your calf and be pulled back to hit your thigh. Its a straight through run for the front air, there is a plastic grated cover only clipped into this area but if you ride you can feel the air coming through this. I would think if you block this off you would feel better.

It would be easy to do since a piece of plastic cut to the same triangular shape as the grate would fit and stay in there quite nicely.