| Author | Message | ||
     Zynthaxx |
After my Norway trip last year, I purchased the Palmer brackets to add some height and angle to my Zero Gravity tall windscreen. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this solution - it makes cold weather riding a lot more tolerable - but it has reduced the hooligan capability of my bike a great deal. Somewhere around 90-95 mph I get a steering wobble which I can't seem to compensate for. Does anyone here know any possible workarounds I could look at? I'd like to avoid switching between screens regularly if possible, but I guess I could have overlooked some variables. Is there, for example, a difference with windscreens which point "up and away" from the rider rather than slightly towards them? Can the shock setup or the tires mitigate the behavior? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Airflow is odd and something that work for one guy won't do anything useful for other people so here are some odd things to try: Remove the handguards. Try experimenting with blocking the air that comes up from below. Like handlebar-armpit area. Other experiment to try is leaning forward more. I used to hate the stock windshield on the highway due to the buffeting. Then I leaned forward and found a sweet spot. Voice of your mom: "Don't drive so fast! You'll poke your eye out!" | ||
| Uly_man |
I have had this with both my 06 and 10 bikes. On Scorp rubber you can dial most of it out with a good suspension set up and drive through whats left. It is worse on PR2s which I think is due to the more "pointy" tyre profile. The bike has a VERY steep fork angle as well. Taking the guards did it for me and it also stopped my hands getting cold. I think air curls under the guard due to the shape of them. Anyway it worked for me. I am 6ft 7in and the air with the std screen hits me in the shoulders and my head is in the air stream. With a good helmet I get no buffeting at any speed. 80 mph cruising is easy so no need for a big screen. As said you need to try things out to see what works for you. It may, as others have done, be worth taking off the screen altogether. It should also be noted that cold and/or heavy air can make this worse. Which is why some days it feels worse than others. At least thats what I find. (Message edited by uly_man on June 18, 2013) | ||
| Hughlysses |
As the old joke goes: Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." Doctor: "Well, DON'T do that!" Do you really ride 90-95 MPH that often? | ||
| Uly_man |
"Do you really ride 90-95 MPH that often?" I do but mostly at "12 o,clock high" which is 80 mph. | ||
| Zynthaxx |
Thanks for the tips. Interesting note on the PIlot Roads, perhaps I'll try to switch back to the old Scorpions. I'll try the hand guard thing this weekend. Re speed: what can I say - my riding buddy switched from a GS to an S1000RR...  (Message edited by Zynthaxx on June 18, 2013) | ||
| Uly_man |
"I'll try to switch back to the old Scorpions." No need as the PR2s are better all round. No matter what anyone says this is a sports bike and the tyre pressures are critical for fast riding. Re-fit the OEM screen, remove the hand guards, set the tyre pressures and adjust the suspension to your ride style. If you get head buffeting you need a better helmet other wise once you get it right the bike will handle like a demon even at 110 mph. Mine does. Of course you will not beat a S1000RR but you WILL scare Him once in a while. | ||
| Zynthaxx |
@Uly_Man: Yeah, if speed is the main question, that's the way to go; I was just curious if anyone had managed to make their ride stable with a larger/higher-set screen. The helmet won't be an issue - I bought myself a Shoei GT Air, and it cuts through the air beautifully - on the S1000RR it was rock solid at all speeds I dared try. | ||
| Glenn |
How is the tread on the PR2? I found that when they get close to worn out, that they affect stability. It seems like it is from the front but actually from the worn out rear tire. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
The Ulysses already has pretty steep steering for quick handling. Not a lot of stability cushion is built in. Riding with a taller windshield, set higher and flatter, transfers weight off of the front wheel at speed. The result is less stability. Try increasing the rear ride height (only available through higher preload with the stock shock) or lowering the front. | ||
| Zynthaxx |
@Glenn: Haven't worn my PRs out yet (they're actually of the 3rd series, not the second), but yes, I got this "tip-over" feeling when cornering on both the old D616s and on the Scorps once they were worn down a bit. I too figured it had to do with the rear wheel getting flattened out from wear. @Mark_weiss: That's sound advice. I'll look into it. | ||
| Zynthaxx |
UPDATE: I tried some of the tips I got here. Removing the hand guards made a difference. Inflating the tires to spec did too. But what really made a difference, was - perhaps counter-intuitively - to raise the screen as high as possible and setting it in its most upright position, creating a larger "bubble" of still air. The front wheel still gets a bit floaty at high speeds, but the wobbling has practically disappeared, and highway speeds are a completely acceptable experience now. The bike was comfortable to ride up to about 100 mph and still behaved tolerably at 110. | ||
| Zynthaxx |
Thread necro: I've done some more experimenting round this, and found a solution that seems to work pretty well: I kept the tall windscreen on Palmer brackets, but I've added a Laminar Lip to the top of the screen. For my frame, having the screen in the lowest/farthest away position seems to be a good compromise. It doesn't look bad as touring setups go, and I've tried it up over 110 mph (I backed off at 180 km/h) with no adverse effects except for some (OK, a lot of) flexing of the screen. That's far enough from the speeds I hit even when overtaking that I don't worry about the flexing for regular use, and that means that I have a lot more of a security margin than I had earlier. I can definitely recommend this solution for early/late-season riding, and I think it'll work fine for longer rides too, even if I haven't tried it for that yet. For close-to-home hooliganism, I think I'll just buy a second flyscreen/windscreen combo. It's literally a matter of minutes to swap, and then perhaps I'll see if the bike goes faster in black. :-) |
