So much for giving instructions that the porch was unlocked and it should be left inside.
Anyway, moving on. This looks like an important note - too bad it's been obliterated and is difficult to read. Good thing I've got my trusty razor knife here to open up the box...
Whoa...it looks like someone stuffed a squid in here. Look at all them tentacles.
Ta-daaaa! A windshield! A windshield with a really, REALLY bright red sticker on it...
Oh yeah; this company allows you to do returns, but you have to leave the protective coating on the thing to do so. Yep; they want you to leave the coating on, install it, ride it around with the coating on it...to see if you like it.
Ok, I'll give it a shot. Voila!
It doesn't have as much curve as I'd been expecting from the diagrams and pictures on the website...
It's definitely wider than the stock one, that's for sure. I'm really digging the extra plastic extending out further to the sides. That's gotta help with the wind!
Hmmm...driving with this coating on, is goanna make it interesting trying to see...
But what the hell, I took it out last night and it seemed not-bad. I can definitely notice a huge difference on my left side, there's almost zero wind noise at all. I can still feel/hear the wind on the right side, which is odd - I checked to make sure I had the windshield centered, and it was.
I left the protective film on and rode the bike in to work this morning, and then again at lunchtime, running some errands. I'll probably keep the windshield (meaning I can lose the film!) but I wish it did a little more wind blockage. I think if it were maybe an inch taller, it would be just about perfect, but even one more inch taller and I'd be looking through the windshield, rather than over it - which I can kinda do now.
Something else I noticed is that some of the air that's whipping past my right ear is coming from below the fairing and riding up the body of the bike, as well as up my leg. Before I buy the leather lower covers for the crash bars, I'll rig something up (probably out of cardboard) and see if that helps, or makes things worse. It's always very tricky when trying to figure out wind.
Something else I may look in to are the adjustable side louvers that some guys have. I think King has them on his Ultra, too. Not sure if they exist for the Street Glide but I'll find out.
So there you go; definitely an improvement, but not absolute perfection. I like the increased wind protection but it's going to take some getting used to, looking over this thing. (I can't cut anything off of the top because that would compromise the slight forward curve at the top of it.)
Oh yeah - I still need to get this out onto the highway and open things up to see how it handles the high winds. Maybe I'll do that tonight.
Or maybe I'll just go grab a beer with the boys. It's been one of those weeks.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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