Here is my experience with a Road Glide and wind buffeting. I bought the bike just after the 09s were at the dealer. When I rode it home I was totally happy, except for the head buffeting, which I expected due to the way the sharknose fairing is designed. In order to really get a hold of where the wind was coming from I cut some thin plastic strips about 20 inches long and tied them to the top of the crash bars on both sides. These strips are the same material that you see tied to the front of air conditioners in the stores to show you how much air the machines blow out, you know the ones.
Out on the highway it was very apparent what was happening. If if keep my knees up against the sides of the tank, there was much, much less wind coming up from below. Spreading the knees, if only for a second and the wind was tremendous. I ride with my knees tucked into the tank anyway, so that was not a problem. But, that did tell me where the wind was coming from. From zero speed up to about 40 mph the plastic strips I tied on didn't really show much of a pattern. Once I got past 40 mph and faster it was very apparent what was happening. The sharknose fairing on Road Glides is pretty long and as such it moves a lot of air from the front of the motorcycle and re-directs it along the sides of the motorcycle about where your knees start. This is exactly what a fairing is supposed to do. The problem from that perspective is that the resulting rush of wind will rise up and come up the chest area. This will confuse the bejesus out of you because you were probably thinking that you were getting all of the head buffeting because the windshield was not doing it's think. Actually, the problem involves both the height of the windshield and the turbulence coming up from the bottom of the fairing which rises up the faster you go.
If you are commited to stopping the vast majority of the head buffeting, I would suggest getting a taller windshield. I have talked to lots of riders and some of are the mistaken belief that the wind buffeting will stop if they switch to a lower windshield. Not so. If you want relief you must channel the air over the top of your helmet or head.
My next step was to install a taller windshield. The stock windshield was 12 1/2 tall, measured from the HD logo on top of the speedometer. I ordered one of the recurved windshields you see advertised which was two inches taller than the stock version. This single addition removed the vast majority of wind which was buffeting my head. An added plus was the fact that the stereo and exhaust note are both enjoyable.
If you are still wanting to eliminate all of the wind that is coming up from the bottom you will have to install some sort of lower wind device on the crash bars which will redirect the air. You can buy them from any Harley dealer. The fiberglass lower fairing are about $500.00 for the pair and the much cheaper leather or naugahyde ones are about $50.00 or so. The higher priced ones are the ones you see on ultra classics. I believe they are stock on that version. The higher priced ones have little shield built into them which allow you to pinch off all the air or just some of it. If you ride in a cold climate, you are probably alright with those. However if you are a year around rider in a warm climate, you run the risk of cutting off too much air to the cylinder jugs and running hot. You will just have to decide. I noticed that Harley suggests not running the soft lowers when the ambient air temperature is above 50 degrees, as it cuts off too much air from the air cooled engine.
In the end a taller windshield will probably solve most everyones problem with head buffeting on a Road Glide. But if you want to eliminate all the wind, add a pair of lowers.
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Topic: Wind effect to Road Glide -- HELP (Read 12568 times)