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[ultrafxr]

Met up with a friend who has a 2015 CVO RG Ultra with about 25k on it.  He has had a couple disturbing problems with the vent system on the new fairing. First he struck a bird and the bird's head wound up on the rider side of the mail slot and the left front speaker grill was clogged with feathers.

Today he told me of another problem.  He was riding in the left lane of a four lane divided highway with a low concrete divider and a narrow shoulder area on the left.  There was an eighteen wheeler in the right lane just ahead of him.  It was not an interstate so there was cross traffic. 

A cage coming from a side street pulled into the right lane just in front of the truck causing the truck driver to have to swerve left.  He went a little too far and got his wheels onto the shoulder where there was debris - dirt and rocks which his tires threw up into the air.  My friend had all three vents on his RG open and he said they acted like a vacuum throwing dirt and rocks right into his face.  He now keeps his vents closed.

As he wondered aloud - doesn't anyone at Harley actually test these designs?  Based on the myriad problems with the rushmores I think we know the answer - not no, but hell no.

[OBB]

Simple enough to make some screens out of perforated aluminum. Keeps the crap from hitting ya.





Klockwerks also makes them for around $70.

Last pix shows one I made for the  top but I haven't perfected the fit yet. Does wonders for keeping the small stuff from hitting me in the forehead.

[ultrafxr]

Last pix shows one I made for the  top but I haven't perfected the fit yet. Does wonders for keeping the small stuff from hitting me in the forehead.

Good one!

But on a $40k top of the line vehicle you shouldn't have to make accommodations for their lack of design and testing.  Oh wait, what am I thinking?  This is a Harley after all, lol.

[grc]

Yup, we can't expect much for $40k from Harley.  Maybe they have a scheme where they put out a half-azzed design and then when people complain they will offer a Screamin' Eagle part as an upgrade, at a nice profit of course.  I can see it now, SE vent screens to keep birds and boulders from blowing straight through to the rider, $299.99 plus tax and installation.  Kind of like all the profits they made selling SE compensators all those years before making them stock, and then still selling a ton of replacements because the SE version also was a POS, Harley always seems to have a way to turn poor design and quality into more profits for them.

Jerry

[kojak]

Not to rain on the parade but I had a dam duck hit my helmet once riding on I90 in western Mass. Its a bike, your friend rode 25k miles in one year (I'm jealous!), chit can and will happen. Its a motorcycle for pete's sake, not a cage.

[FLSTFI Dave]

I have 25K on mine.  Luckily I have not hit a bird.  I did make screens for the lower two vents.  My three vents are never closed.  I get less debris in my face off this bike than I do off my 13 CVO King, or any of my previous road glides. 

Air management is far better on this Road Glide than my last two CVO road glides. 

I actually think harley did well with the vents and new design other than the head unit which still has bugs and has been in production two years.  My wife hated my previous road glides.  To much wind, to much buffeting.

She loves the 15 Road glide and has over 25K on her Special.

Sorry about your friends luck with the vents.

[ultrafxr]

Not to rain on the parade but I had a dam duck hit my helmet once riding on I90 in western Mass. Its a bike, your friend rode 25k miles in one year (I'm jealous!), chit can and will happen. Its a motorcycle for pete's sake, not a cage.

Understand and agree. Chit can and does happen but obviously some feel that screen over the vents is a pretty good idea and I think the moco should have provided them.

Not a put down but just a heads up to those who have Rushmore road glides so they are aware.   

[CVODON]

I don't see a need for screens, and I definitely do not see a reason for bashing the motorcycle maker in this situation, whether a HD or Honda. What if he were riding like most of us started out with no windshield? This regardless of what anyone else says seems petty to me.
I have the same bike and can honestly say it has the best air management of any motorcycle I have ever rode and if your buddy wants to close his vents because of potential for debris coming thru, does he really want to ride a motorcycle?

[fastfreddy]

its happened to me to me also on my OLD RG, peppered by rocks, and have hit birds...have to say the birds just bounced over my head the rock shower sux and jacked the paint too  chit happens

[MrSurly]

I'm at a loss to understand this.
Where are all these rocks coming from? Does the RG come with rocks?
Many thousands of miles on non-fairing and non-windshield bikes and I don't understand  this complaint.
Is the RG somehow picking up rocks more than other bikes? Are you guys riding adventure trails?

Should "on a 40,000 dollar bike..." be tattooed somewhere?
Remember that old saw "well, if we can put a man on the moon, we oughta be able to -whatever-."
Apparently, "on a 40,000 bike" we should expect ~whatever~to be included or were getting F-ed again.
Armor? Air bags?
Padded tank? Cocoon?

A simple jacket could go a long way to eliminating some of these, I'd guess.
You're traveling 60mph in a T-shirt, what would you expect?
Pebbles hitting your forehead? Just close the visor, silly.

Oh, wait.


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[MrSurly]

BTW, those aluminum screens that were shown look like a great fix.
If the MoCo had installed similar, you can bet that:
1.) someone would complain that they restrict air flow
2.) the hot fix would be 'how-to's on removing them to get more air and
3.) someone would post that "it's unbelievable that we have to do this" on a 40,000 dollar motorcycle."


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[GregKhougaz]

I too don't understand this claim nor is there any "vent problem" with the CVO Road Glide.  Since the original post is a second hand rant, there must have been something lost in translation.  My nearly 12k mile experience on the CVO RGU has been wonderful.  I believe the wind management of this motorcycle is the state of the art.  As well above legal speeds, there is only a soft breeze coming through the vents.  I have never experienced anything resembling a vacuum and feel no need for screens.  It seems the bird incident was a freak incident and the motorcycle acted and performed just as it should.  Cleaning out of the feathers behind the speaker grill would take all of about 10 minutes.  Heck, that bird could have been a deer. 

The claimed second incident makes no sense to me as described.  Was the rider tailgating the truck?  Did he not hit the brakes?  I'm not feeling the "vacuum" claim at all.  I have only closed any of my vents once and that was in very heavy rain.  Based on that experience, I just have a tough time with this claim.   Sorry but the Harley bashing, at least this time, Jerry, is misplaced.   

[OBB]

BTW, those aluminum screens that were shown look like a great fix.
If the MoCo had installed similar, you can bet that:
1.) someone would complain that they restrict air flow
2.) the hot fix would be 'how-to's on removing them to get more air and
3.) someone would post that "it's unbelievable that we have to do this" on a 40,000 dollar motorcycle."


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Funny chit there. 

[OBB]

My first test ride on a demo bike last year, I had a huge bee get sucked into the right side vent and it shot right by my ear. It was one of those that was just kinda floating out in front of me real lazy like. If my wife had been on the bike with me and in her normal slightly looking over my right shoulder position, she would have gotten nailed right in the face. WITHOUT a fairing, it might has just slid past on the right or bounced off my knee. Better safe than sorry.

Just an example of why I like my screens



Another, all those little bugs and SMALL rocks that may come through that vent are stopped



So there's my reasoning on why I made screens although I really shouldn't have to explain a damn thing. It's my bike, you don't like it, I really don't give a phuck.

[Bubba]

Well Mikey,,, I LIKE your screens and I don't even own RG  . 
I think the two side ones you made looks great and part of the bike. 
Again two  
You are like me a technician and you have to fix what was ENGINEERED and suppose to work.
YOU know what they say about engineers.....
"An ENGINEERS DREAM IS A TECHNICIANS NIGHTMARE!"     
  Lord please forgive me for that.....

I don't want to be negative here as I think you made an AWESOME improvement but if the top grill was made out of the same material as the speaker grill it would probably look better as that way your dash would match. JMHO But that is why it's called a prototype so you may want to sent it back to R&D (Gives you a chance to drink more    ) to where you can charge more money when everyone else starts wanting one.

Just my 2¢…

[kojak]

Screens do look like a good idea, probably wouldn't have helped with a bird smashing into it with enough force to get sucked into the fairing. Sorry, didn't mean to be testy but riding for 40+ years, bikes are so much better equipped today.

[OBB]

Screens do look like a good idea, probably wouldn't have helped with a bird smashing into it with enough force to get sucked into the fairing. Sorry, didn't mean to be testy but riding for 40+ years, bikes are so much better equipped today.

Not ranting on your post by any means. Yup, it's a bike, yup, chit happens. If I can do something to improve my bike to MY liking, I will. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bubba, the top vent is this winter's project to get it to fit better


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I don't know of anyone on here that rides a stock bike. Exhaust gets changed because "it doesn't sound like a Harley". Shocks get changed because "I like the way these shocks feel", seats, bars, windshields get changed all the time.

How boring would it be if we were all built the same and had the same taste in bikes? Moco could build only one bike and everyone would be happy. That way nobody can bitch that "it shoulda come that way".

I'm outta here. gonna go see how many damn bugs I can catch in my screens today

[RGKen]

So what do we expect HD to do about the bikes they make without fairings?  I really think we mostly create issues just to complain about HD.  These sound like very rare occurrences and I really don't see what the issue is.  If he had been riding a Dyna the bird could have hit him in the face and the debris would have still been all over him.   I guess it just comes down to if the glass is half empty or half full.

[grc]

Ah yes, but there again the folks complaining didn't spend $15k on a naked basic bike, they spent $40k on a dresser with a full fairing and windshield.  The purpose of a fairing and windshield isn't good looks, it's rider protection from wind and rain and debris.  DUH!

Yup, it may be a petty complaint to some, or most in fact.  But how hard would it be to at least provide a simple screen for the vents like they did for the radiators?  As a person who has been urging H-D for at least a decade to join the modern era and provide managed airflow on the fairing bikes to fix the severe buffeting common to earlier models, I'm fully appreciative that they finally made that change for 2014.  But like anything else, there is always room for improvement.  Of course if people wear a full face helmet with the shield down, all those bugs and other debris (a bird is pretty rare) wouldn't hit them in the face or eyes even if they did manage to get through the vent system.  But I think we all know the odds of everyone wearing such headgear, especially behind a fairing.

JMHO - Jerry

[RGKen]

It's still a motorcycle at the end of the day wether it 6k or 40k.  The vent screen have been available for a while now and haven't been a secret.  HD is in the business of making money off of us and building a bike that has everything each of us want right from the get go is not going to happen.   It's just crazy to me to hear so many different complaints about HD but yet when someone even mentions jumping ship to another brand they get blasted by those that were just complaining about our beloved brand.  Not hating here as this has just been my observation reading in a couple of forums for a few years.  I guess that's the issue though isn't it.  We read one guys issue and then all of a sudden everyone else thinks they have the same problem.   Ride safe and enjoy. 

[MrSurly]

Ah yes, but there again the folks complaining <snip> spent $40k <snip>
<snip> spent $40k <snip>
<snip> spent $40k <snip>
<snip> spent $40k <snip>

Yup, it may be a petty complaint to some, or most in fact.  But how hard would it be to at least provide a simple screen for the vents like they did for the radiators? 

JMHO - Jerry

Please review post 11:

BTW, those aluminum screens that were shown look like a great fix.
If the MoCo had installed similar, you can bet that:
1.) someone would complain that they restrict air flow
2.) the hot fix would be 'how-to's on removing them to get more air and
3.) someone would post that "it's unbelievable that we have to do this" on a 40,000 dollar motorcycle...


the old complaint was "no air" behind the fairing and helmet buffeting. The MoCo designed vents to provide air and prevent buffeting and they work. How else were the engineers to design them? "Make them flow air... No, wait, not too much(?)" better add HEPA filters! The screens are available aftermarket and they look like a great product for those that want to add them.
The whole industry thrives on fulfilling perceived needs. Big Sucker air cleaners and Ohlins shocks and  BoarZillas are also available, shouldn't our CVOs ALL come with them installed?
I mean, after all, we
<snip> spent $40k <snip>


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[110tHunDer]

<snip>? 

[nytryder]

Looks to me like someones trying to develop a market for screens.

[moscooter]

 
I seem to be viewing what appears to be a problem associated with (just) the RG models with the "vent" or "vents" in the fairing related to the last two or three yr models.  I have a 2014 SGS with the "vent" in the fairing and kinda like it as it does indeed work to eliminate or significantly reduce the wind "buffeting" problems.   But I have not noticed any "vacuum" effect and/or bugs/rocks coming thru mine..............I guess I'm asking if the (Batwing) type fairing "vents" work OK and the RG types create this problem.

[OBB]

Looks to me like someones trying to develop a market for screens.

Klockwerks already sells them as they see there's a market for them. They started making them shortly after the '15 was released. I have no dog in the marketing fight by any means. I do not sell them. I will not sell them. I've given away extra sets that I've made. I guess you could also say that people are developing a market for other aftermarket goodies too. Like exhaust, tuning software, seats, windshields, handlebars, tagalong trailers.........

[OBB]

I seem to be viewing what appears to be a problem associated with (just) the RG models with the "vent" or "vents" in the fairing related to the last two or three yr models.  I have a 2014 SGS with the "vent" in the fairing and kinda like it as it does indeed work to eliminate or significantly reduce the wind "buffeting" problems.   But I have not noticed any "vacuum" effect and/or bugs/rocks coming thru mine..............I guess I'm asking if the (Batwing) type fairing "vents" work OK and the RG types create this problem.

Your Battie is good. It does not have two chutes pointing right at your shoulders and one more at your forehead. The one in yours pretty much makes a sweeping 90* bend (almost) from the front of your fairing to the top of the fairing. I'm sure the occasional bug or small pebble kicked up in front of you has a chance of funneling in the mail slot on yours and hitting you in the face, but the chances are a lot slimmer on a BW as opposed to a Shark.

[nytryder]

Klockwerks already sells them as they see there's a market for them. They started making them shortly after the '15 was released. I have no dog in the marketing fight by any means. I do not sell them. I will not sell them. I've given away extra sets that I've made. I guess you could also say that people are developing a market for other aftermarket goodies too. Like exhaust, tuning software, seats, windshields, handlebars, tagalong trailers.........

Sorry, didn't mean to offend. Trying for comical sarcasm. Guess I should have added a smiley face.

[OBB]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend. Trying for comical sarcasm. Guess I should have added a smiley face.

Gotcha 

[RGlideKid]

For those of us who've owned Sharks or Batwings in the past, I think the vents can catch you by surprise when you go through a dust or dirt cloud, but I don't get any sense of a vortex or suction taking place.  Nor of rocks being "sucked" into the vents. 
The vents just allow the particulates to pass thru the fairing and right at you, and then you become very aware of the directing of air they really do when that air has dust or dirt in it. 
I happen to agree with those who say they think the vent are good and work well.  I like mine a lot and for the most part, I think Harley did a bang up job with them.  Would have been nicer if they had pre-installed screens in all three holes for us, but hey, I'm just happy to have vents on hot days!  I did have a bug channel thru the mail slot yesterday and splatter on my forehead, but that's the first one I've been hit by in that way in almost 2000 miles.  And just like the rest of y'all, it wasn't the first bug strike and it sure as heck won't be the last!
I'm figuring the vents will get closed in colder weather, so I don't see a big deal with it.  I really like the amount of flow-through they provide, and until I end up with bird pieces coming through them and ending up on my chest, I'm a happy camper.   

[CVODON]

I, personally, think the screens look like crap and I am not sure how anything can hit you in the face if your visor is closed. I ride with mine closed and I do not worry about gravel and stones coming thru a slot and hitting me, where does all this rock come from? Do you folks tailgate constantly? Do you live in areas that don't have pavement? This thread just carries no weight to me. And Klockwerks would sell anything that someone would buy and someone will always buy stuff for  a HD regardless if it works or looks acceptable or not, IE: Seen a Mulstad (spelling?) windshield???

[OBB]

I, personally, think the screens look like crap and I am not sure how anything can hit you in the face if your visor is closed. I ride with mine closed and I do not worry about gravel and stones coming thru a slot and hitting me, where does all this rock come from? Do you folks tailgate constantly? Do you live in areas that don't have pavement? This thread just carries no weight to me. And Klockwerks would sell anything that someone would buy and someone will always buy stuff for  a HD regardless if it works or looks acceptable or not, IE: Seen a Mulstad (spelling?) windshield???

Don, please explain to me this "visor" you're referring to.
When I said rocks, I should have said tiny little pieces of anything hard, Same thing to me. Ever pass a semi on the highway that hasn't been through a truck wash lately? There's always crap blowing off of them.

[ultrafxr]

I have no skin in this game as I don't own a Rushmore bike - fixed fairing or batwing.  I was just reporting the news to make folks aware of some possibilities.

My friend never said the vent created a vacuum he was just using that as an analogy to help envision what happened when debris came flying through the vents.  And no, he was not tailgating.  As explained in the op the truck in the right lane quickly swerved left into his lane to avoid another vehicle.  So I guess you could say he inadvertently tailgated the truck.  The truck driver overdid it and got his wheels onto the shoulder where all sorts of junk was waiting to become airborne.  Most roads seem to collect an inordinate amount of debris on the shoulder.  Plenty of chit to get thrown up.

[CVODON]

Visor comes free with every full-face Shoei.

[OBB]

Visor comes free with every full-face Shoei.

Gotcha. Some of us don't have those. We settle for a 1/2 or none at all. 

[MadCVORG]

I had three bird strikes on my '95 Fat Boy--not exactly an aerodynamic success--so, sooner or later, it'll happen. Nature of the business, so adding screens is a smart idea, even if the MoCo didn't install them.