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
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
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