Best Replacement Shield (so far...)?

[Fred W]

Bought a used Rifle windshield with the tuning blocks from n7myr here on the forum. Some of you may remember that I had previously been messing with a Vstream and home made tuning blocks. I had also made a home-brew laminar lip type shield extension for fiddling with various shield heights without having to buy new ones.

As of right now, the Rifle system is officially my favorite all-around 1st Gen windshield so far. Here's how they stack up for me:

First off, let me qualify this by saying I am 6'2" with a 32" inseam, so I guess I sit fairly tall in the saddle. I also have Heli risers and have been riding on a Corbin Modular saddle. I tend to sit rather far forward in the saddle, which makes me sit even taller.

The stock shield with 1/2" spacers was fine for me in the warm summer months as I just leave the shield nearly all the way down. But if I raise the stock shield even half way the turbulence off the top hits the bottom of my helmet and I get lots of head buffeting. Raising the shield any further only increases turbulence as I can't get the air stream over my head.

Vstream shield is so big that in the lowest position the airflow is already at the top of my shoulders. This makes it unbearably warm in the summer. The coverage was pretty good for cold weather riding, but when raised the shield tended to move around a lot in the wind gusts, which I found distracting. In all likelyhood, this was due to my home-made spacers. It may have been more solid with some Skyway spacers.

Enter the Rifle system. This shield is about halfway between the small stocker and the gigantus Vstream. Mounted with the tuning block, the shield gives me reasonable air cooling in the full down position and the air just barely hits the top of my helmet in the fully raised. I can actually scootch down a bit and get into completely still air on the highway, but that body position would not be comfortable for any length of time. Now, here's the beauty part: Even in the fully raised position, the shield mounting is very solid with no noticeable movement. I believe that this is due to the angle that the tuning block is formed at. It is not a "square" rectangular cross section. It actually has a slight angle on its upper surface, where it mounts to the bracket, to accomodate the angle induced by the added spacing.

I think this one is a keeper.

Rifle website

Just thought I'd report my thoughts in case anyone else is looking for another alternative

 

[steelhead]

Fred, Do you have the Touring or Sport model? I am about the same height as you and have been loking for the end all shield myself. Any pics installed?

Thanks

 

[user 8909]

+10 :good:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=26725

 

[Fred W]

Fred, Do you have the Touring or Sport model? I am about the same height as you and have been loking for the end all shield myself. Any pics installed?
Thanks

That's a good question (not a great one). The shield is 18 1/4'' tall measured from the center screw to the top. The stock shield is 16 1/4" over the same dimension. These measurements don't really jive with the ones on the Rifle web page, but I'm kind of guessing that mine is the smaller sport version. I'll try and get a few pictures later and put them up here.

 

[steelhead]

Curious if either of you had the Yamaha Touring screen with spacers for a comparison? I have tried the CalSci and Vstream and now have the Yamaha screen. None of them seemed to make a huge difference, but the Touring looks the best so that is why I have stayed with it.

 

[Fred W]

Curious if either of you had the Yamaha Touring screen with spacers for a comparison? I have tried the CalSci and Vstream and now have the Yamaha screen. None of them seemed to make a huge difference, but the Touring looks the best so that is why I have stayed with it.

No I have not tried either of those two. As for looks, the Rifle looks like it is the right size to my eye. The stock shield always struck me as looking too small , out of balance, once you put a trunk on the back. I have a color matched V46 that I put on whenever I have a passenger.

 

[user 8909]

Curious if either of you had the Yamaha Touring screen with spacers for a comparison? I have tried the CalSci and Vstream and now have the Yamaha screen. None of them seemed to make a huge difference, but the Touring looks the best so that is why I have stayed with it.

Nope the stock screen is all I've had until the Rifle.

I would suspect the "tuning block" or the spacers is the key. I would also say the stock windshield angle is counter productive..way off... in other words.

Rifle might just sell the block if asked..??

 

[dcarver]

I agree, my Rifle rocks! Then again, I'm biased as I helped develop the 06 prototype.

 

[steelhead]

Curious if either of you had the Yamaha Touring screen with spacers for a comparison? I have tried the CalSci and Vstream and now have the Yamaha screen. None of them seemed to make a huge difference, but the Touring looks the best so that is why I have stayed with it.

Nope the stock screen is all I've had until the Rifle.

I would suspect the "tuning block" or the spacers is the key. I would also say the stock windshield angle is counter productive..way off... in other words.

Rifle might just sell the block if asked..??

I now have Skyway spacers on with the touring shield and is no better for me. I actually just put the stocker back on tonight with the spacers. I have bought and tried the CalSci, V Stream and Yamaha Touring. They all perform about the same (turbulence) for me in the "up" postion. I am just looking to stay a little warmer with a bigger screen but am comming to realization that I just may have to leave the stocker in the down position to avoid the buffeting. I am tired of wasting $$ on screens.

 

[user 8909]

Curious if either of you had the Yamaha Touring screen with spacers for a comparison? I have tried the CalSci and Vstream and now have the Yamaha screen. None of them seemed to make a huge difference, but the Touring looks the best so that is why I have stayed with it.

Nope the stock screen is all I've had until the Rifle.

I would suspect the "tuning block" or the spacers is the key. I would also say the stock windshield angle is counter productive..way off... in other words.

Rifle might just sell the block if asked..??

I now have Skyway spacers on with the touring shield and is no better for me. I actually just put the stocker back on tonight with the spacers. I have bought and tried the CalSci, V Stream and Yamaha Touring. They all perform about the same (turbulence) for me in the "up" postion. I am just looking to stay a little warmer with a bigger screen but am comming to realization that I just may have to leave the stocker in the down position to avoid the buffeting. I am tired of wasting $$ on screens.

try to find someone with the Rifle and ride it.

it made a huge difference over the stock screen for me.

hollar if your in the Nashville TN area and you can ride mine.

 

[Jagermeister]

Rifle Rocks!

Added the +5" tall, +3" wide 2 weeks ago. Turbulence, noise, and "oh my aching head" were subsequently eliminated.

The +5 is overkill, unless you're employed by the NBA. Oh well, I just ride at 1/2 height extension.

 

[hoghead]

+100 Fred. Love mine for the Gen 2 model. Went with the 3 by 4 inch model.

Wonderful.

hh

 

[Toecutter]

Woof!

I think I may actually sell my V-Stream soon, almost new, as the Rifle (touring) will do for winter. I have a CB that I'm thinking of using for summer, after cutting off the flip portion.

All with Skyway spacers :good:

 

[twodogs]

Are you guys getting backpressure from the rifles?

 

[Toecutter]

Are you guys getting backpressure from the rifles?

Not with the Skyway spacers, but I haven't tried the Rifle tuning block. Without either, Hell Yeah!

 

[RatoneMuerto]

Rifle is just a solid company.From cruiser to sport touring their products just can't be beat.I have the touring model and rode out yesterday to T-Day dinner in 39 degree weather and I must say wife and I were just fine!Got caught in a surpise weather pattern.Blew the snow and sleet right over our heads without any turbulance.Visibility stayed good.

 

[Jagermeister]

Are you guys getting backpressure from the rifles?

Nooooooo backpressure whatsoever, on the Gen-2. Those tuning blocks are magic. But if you haven't patched the whistling problem w/ the stock bracket the Rifle will amplify it.

 

[stryg8r]

Are you guys getting backpressure from the rifles?

I'm also a big fan of the Rifle Touring model/w tuning block for the gen 1 bikes. I tried the homemade (longer bolts and washers) tuning block on the stock shield and it reduced the buffeting as well.

With the shield all the way down it provides clean airflow that hits around mid torso for good cooling. All the was up and there no buffeting and a still pocket of air. Although there is some slight backpressure, I've ridden many hours with the shield full up and experienced no fatigue from the pressure.

As an added benefit, the shield can be adjusted to provide a downdraft over my faceshield. Very handy for keeping the faceshield clear in misty/raining conditions.

 

[Fred W]

I have the Rifle Sport model and there is no backpressure at all with the tuning blocks in.

To continue my story, though I'm very pleased with the Rifle sport shield, the wind blast with the shield all the way up still hits the very top of my head (just above the eyeport of my helmet) and so my head gets buffeted around on the highway some. I am 6'2, have bar risers and sit up rather straight.

The '05 stock shield is 16" from the center screw to the top. The Rifle Sport is 18 3/8" over that same dimension. So I decided to try the largest shield made by CalSci, the XL. It is 20 3/4" from the screw to the top. It also has the 2 large vents near the bottom. I've mounted the shield onto the Rifle tuning block. The result is that I get almost the same identical amount of wind onto the top of my head. Bummer.

Here's a picture that shows the stock, Rifle Sport and CalSci XL laid on top of each other with the bottom center screw holes aligned. It looks like the upper holes are misaligned, but that is because the stock and Rifle shield are curved convexly from top to bottom and the CalSci is not.

Piccy Clicky

Next stop? Maybe a bigger Rifle for winter?