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Hey all, I love riding this bike and going by what I have read windshields made it even better so I took the plunge. I bought the genuine Honda Boulevard screen and I have also bought the Gustafsson 15" Euroflip screen.
It should be noted I never had a problem without a shield. Smooth quiet air and no dramas holding on regardless of speed. It was normal and no issues for me but if it makes the ride better then hey lets give it a go.
Disappointed was an understatement. The quality was very nice of both kits but the problem was with turbulence. I tried everything including cutting the mounts of the Gustafsson so I could mount it at different angles and different ways then they show in their videos. While I could get some improvement the experience ranged from ok but the thing is almost flat to appalling and my vision was literally blurry from the turbulence in the recommended mounting position. The horrendous noise that came with that was amazing... and very bad.
It slowly dawned on me that screen setups are subjective to individual riders and what works for one may be a total disaster for another. Height, sitting position, helmet type, etc, etc. etc. Something I did not think of when I took the plunge. I never had a shield before so I didn't see this coming and I was just going with people saying they were great and not factoring in the differences between all of us.
A quick run down from my perspective.
Genuine Honda Boulevard
Good:
Looks good.
Wind pressure went from say the base of my sternum to around the top of it.
Bad:
Price, omg for what it is Honda!
The noise in my helmet went up considerably to the point I did not like it.
Some high frequency vibrations from the turbulence shook my helmet. Not unmanageable but why would you want that?
Gustafsson 15" Euroflip
Good:
Looks good
Wind pressure went at least half way up my helmet. Immediately noticed the lack of pressure on chest and knew there was something to this.
Bad:
While it looks good the logo isn't centered so that messed with me trying to center the screen.
The supplied mount wobbles.
The turbulence was so bad my vision was blurry at 100kph.
Horrendous noise.
I had just spent considerable money to make my ride worse. I couldn't understand how some of you guys could say how good it was when for me it was clearly ranging from worse to appalling.
However I had also seen a glimmer of something with the lack of wind pressure so I decided to throw a little bit more money at it to see if I could salvage the situation. I then started looking at spoilers. The MRA one is $200+ AU for me and by this time I was a little gun-shy about throwing that much more money down this hole.
While I was looking I came across what I thought was a cheap and nasty little number from China. I have done this a few times, buy a cheap knockoff and if it works buy the quality item.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Universa...375025?hash=item4191c36171:g:UtIAAOSwmLlX8yRQ
This thing turned up something like 10 days early and the seller has some nasty feedback so I was kind of surprised. I was also surprised at the quality of the aluminum components. I got a thing for CnC machined stuff, I love the look of it so I was immediately impressed. The shield itself looks more like a wing then a shield because it has edges where it is bent as opposed to the MRA one which is a nice smooth curved shield.
I tried it on my Gustafsson screen and alas I could not get a sweet spot. It improved the situation but I did not want it improved, I wanted it fixed and I did not want any turbulence so off it came and with only a little bit of hope I put back on the Boulevard.
This little spoiler can be adjusted up and down by about 45mm by hand with a little cam to lock it in place and the tilt can go considerable forward and back just by pushing and pulling it while you are riding. It stays where you leave it.
I slid it to the top, locked the cam and went for a ride. As I was riding I adjusted it forward and back many times and while it did improve the situation it didn't make it as smooth as it was without the shield so I was resigned to the fact I just wasted considerable money and was going to bin the idea. I then remember the up and down adjustment so I flipped the cam and dropped it down maybe 15-20mm, locked the cam and started adjusting it again.
Music from the heavens! I hit the sweet spot! Joy of joys!
I now have the wind pressure at the base of my helmet and no turbulence. The vibration and noise vanished and I have finally got exactly what I wanted. I can ride with my jacket unzipped and get a nice cool breeze instead of being inflated like the Goodyear blimp while keeping high speed airflow into my visor (Yeah I like that haha, real shatter proof glasses btw) nice, quiet and smooth. I did around 500k's yesterday and I was very satisfied with the experience.
It is a pity I couldn't get the Gustafsson to work but that is no fault of the screen. It is the fault of my choice which is what the post has a lot to do about. I didn't really think of this when I was purchasing. I just read other people posts and how it worked for them and I am not them so this needs to be considered if you are taking the first time plunge yourself.
If you can find a setup you want you can test first then that would be ideal. I couldn't so it was hit and miss and burned some money. In the end tho I am very happy with both the result and the look and this might help people new to a shield experience realize exactly what they are getting into before they pull the trigger.
Best of luck
It should be noted I never had a problem without a shield. Smooth quiet air and no dramas holding on regardless of speed. It was normal and no issues for me but if it makes the ride better then hey lets give it a go.
Disappointed was an understatement. The quality was very nice of both kits but the problem was with turbulence. I tried everything including cutting the mounts of the Gustafsson so I could mount it at different angles and different ways then they show in their videos. While I could get some improvement the experience ranged from ok but the thing is almost flat to appalling and my vision was literally blurry from the turbulence in the recommended mounting position. The horrendous noise that came with that was amazing... and very bad.
It slowly dawned on me that screen setups are subjective to individual riders and what works for one may be a total disaster for another. Height, sitting position, helmet type, etc, etc. etc. Something I did not think of when I took the plunge. I never had a shield before so I didn't see this coming and I was just going with people saying they were great and not factoring in the differences between all of us.
A quick run down from my perspective.
Genuine Honda Boulevard
Good:
Looks good.
Wind pressure went from say the base of my sternum to around the top of it.
Bad:
Price, omg for what it is Honda!
The noise in my helmet went up considerably to the point I did not like it.
Some high frequency vibrations from the turbulence shook my helmet. Not unmanageable but why would you want that?
Gustafsson 15" Euroflip
Good:
Looks good
Wind pressure went at least half way up my helmet. Immediately noticed the lack of pressure on chest and knew there was something to this.
Bad:
While it looks good the logo isn't centered so that messed with me trying to center the screen.
The supplied mount wobbles.
The turbulence was so bad my vision was blurry at 100kph.
Horrendous noise.
I had just spent considerable money to make my ride worse. I couldn't understand how some of you guys could say how good it was when for me it was clearly ranging from worse to appalling.
However I had also seen a glimmer of something with the lack of wind pressure so I decided to throw a little bit more money at it to see if I could salvage the situation. I then started looking at spoilers. The MRA one is $200+ AU for me and by this time I was a little gun-shy about throwing that much more money down this hole.
While I was looking I came across what I thought was a cheap and nasty little number from China. I have done this a few times, buy a cheap knockoff and if it works buy the quality item.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Universa...375025?hash=item4191c36171:g:UtIAAOSwmLlX8yRQ
This thing turned up something like 10 days early and the seller has some nasty feedback so I was kind of surprised. I was also surprised at the quality of the aluminum components. I got a thing for CnC machined stuff, I love the look of it so I was immediately impressed. The shield itself looks more like a wing then a shield because it has edges where it is bent as opposed to the MRA one which is a nice smooth curved shield.
I tried it on my Gustafsson screen and alas I could not get a sweet spot. It improved the situation but I did not want it improved, I wanted it fixed and I did not want any turbulence so off it came and with only a little bit of hope I put back on the Boulevard.
This little spoiler can be adjusted up and down by about 45mm by hand with a little cam to lock it in place and the tilt can go considerable forward and back just by pushing and pulling it while you are riding. It stays where you leave it.
I slid it to the top, locked the cam and went for a ride. As I was riding I adjusted it forward and back many times and while it did improve the situation it didn't make it as smooth as it was without the shield so I was resigned to the fact I just wasted considerable money and was going to bin the idea. I then remember the up and down adjustment so I flipped the cam and dropped it down maybe 15-20mm, locked the cam and started adjusting it again.
Music from the heavens! I hit the sweet spot! Joy of joys!
I now have the wind pressure at the base of my helmet and no turbulence. The vibration and noise vanished and I have finally got exactly what I wanted. I can ride with my jacket unzipped and get a nice cool breeze instead of being inflated like the Goodyear blimp while keeping high speed airflow into my visor (Yeah I like that haha, real shatter proof glasses btw) nice, quiet and smooth. I did around 500k's yesterday and I was very satisfied with the experience.
It is a pity I couldn't get the Gustafsson to work but that is no fault of the screen. It is the fault of my choice which is what the post has a lot to do about. I didn't really think of this when I was purchasing. I just read other people posts and how it worked for them and I am not them so this needs to be considered if you are taking the first time plunge yourself.
If you can find a setup you want you can test first then that would be ideal. I couldn't so it was hit and miss and burned some money. In the end tho I am very happy with both the result and the look and this might help people new to a shield experience realize exactly what they are getting into before they pull the trigger.
Best of luck
