Wind deflectors

I whipped up some prototypes this afternoon for testing purposes and the results were very good.

First things first, I made them out of cardboard and attached them to the bike with tape. Believe or not, they held on fine at over 60mph and didn't flex.

The results...

The wind on the modded side wasn't hitting me in the armpit like it was on the other side, actually it was hitting me at just above the waist. Also, if I tucked my legs in there was little wind hitting my legs. Still I had plenty of wind to keep me cool.

As for sound, there was a big difference. It was much much quieter on the modded side.

I went both directions down the road to make sure that the wind direction wasn't an issue.

So at this point I need to refine them a bit and make them out of plastic, phase two.

I'll make a scooter out of this dang thing yet even if it kills me.

Okay, I know everyone will want these so...

For Sale, one used wind deflector, left side only. They look great and are in perfect condition. Only $1 plus $50 shipping and handling...

that's a great price-I'll take it
do you take paymelaterpal?


no conflict when turning?
did you try it with only the lower portion?
if I make some, do I have to use green tape? or will any color work?

I can honestly say that I've never had an issue with paymelaterpal, so okay.

Turning? Who turns? Actually I don't understand, it turns just fine.

I did try the lower by itself, the upper by itself and together. Except when I tried the lower (by itself) I had blocked the wind using the other side of the radiator cover which is more vertical. At that position, I got almost no wind on my lower legs, but it didn't help the updraft from under the tank much. I did feel the heat from the motor more. Since this new lower blocker is angled down more, I'll give it a try and see. I'll let you know. The upper by itself helped, but together with the new lower, it was very nice.

The plan is to make it removable so I can choose between looking good or looking practical/silly.

Only green will work, heh heh.

Oh, I will also try and extend the lower one higher without the higher one to see if that does the trick. It's an experiment after all.

I have a naked so there will be differences since your fairing is a good bit wider. My MRA windshield is narrow compared to yours with the fairing and I get a lot of wind on my shoulders. Right now (summer 90+) I don't mind the wind. I have noticed the wind from the under side of the tank is a lot.

I have fiddled with trying to see where it can be blocked and came to a similar conclusion on where you put your lowers.
Had planned to really experiment this fall. You have inspired me. Like I said, good in the summer. I would like to lessen it for cooler riding.

I only have silver, black, and orange duct tape so it will be a challenge without the green. Hope it works.
At our age, Steven, looking good is a fleeting moment. Looking practical/silly is a given- and it's OK. (kinda like comfortable shoes)

Steve, nice job. I've done basically the same thing with a left over Bakerwing from my Wing. Necessity is the mother of invention is so well applied on wind shields for the CTX. Mine do work, but probably not as much as yours as I only had one Bakerwing I cut in half. The radiator covers are screaming for wind deflectors. Installing very easy, drill 2 holes and use those reusable plastic clips. I think there is a market for wings like this for the CTX if anybody knows a fabricator willing to make 'em.

Just an update...

I removed the top fairing extension and left the bottom on as is and it still blocked the wind, but not nearly as much as with the additional top piece. Also the wind under the tank thing came back. It went back to hitting me in the arm pits.

Now for the good news...

I left the top piece off and extended the bottom piece upwards behind and above the turn signal a couple of inches. That works almost as well as with the top piece. The under the tank wind dropped almost the same amount as with the top piece and like with the top piece, the wind was hitting me just above the waist. Big difference!

Dave, I used thick double sided tape to attach the cardboard to the radiator cover and a zip tie around the turn signal to hold it it place and it didn't budge or flex. The fact that cardboard works means that thin plastic should be enough to do the job.

I suppose that I could try and mount the lowers more at an angle so that instead of facing the wind straight on, it would push the wind away from the bike. Somehow I don't think it would be better, but it might look better.

As for making it so I can easily remove it, I was thinking about drilling some holes in the radiator cover (and similar holes in the plastic fairing add on) putting in two bolts and attach the bolts with nuts on either side of the radiator cove while leaving a little sticking out (I'll call that a stud). Slip the fairing extension onto the studs and use wing nuts on the studs to attach it.

If you use Lexan plastic for the fairing attachment, you can easily bend it with a heat gun to the shape you want.

@Steve
if they were at a slight angle rearward and they may not need to be so wide or long-I think it would be better
I know you'll keep experimenting
I was looking at removing the Honda name from the side cover and using a small angle bracket to hold the deflector at that point.
I'm guessing most of the air comes from the area between the top of the turn signal and about halfway down the side cover and the exaggerated angle of the rear side of the tank just draws the air right up where you don't want it.
Breaking the air flow where you have the deflector is the logical spot.

Edit-just had a thought, what if the lower ran on top of the side cover-full length, only 2-3 inches wide? and maybe a couple inches longer? the air is coming up as much as back-worth a try?

Steve, yes bend try bending the deflector forward on an angle forward instead of just straight. Causes an acceleration of the deflected wind improving the amount of wind being deflected... I think

I'm a little mixed on angling it back because of my experience with my x-creen. I normally keep my x-creen vertical because it seems to do a better job than if I angle it. I guess what is happening is that the x-creen when vertical breaks the wind up. When I angle it, it seems I get more wind lower on my helmet. I really don't know why.

I'm leaning towards that most of the wind is coming from just where you said. I'm going to shorten the fairing from the bottom up to see what happens. I'm sure that I will get more wind on my legs, but I don't care about that so much.

As for your edit, when I shorten the fairing from the bottom, that should let me know.

I did notice that with the lower fairing in the original position (not extended) and without the upper fairing reduced some of the updraft, but the bulk of the updraft was removed with the part from the top of the radiator guard to above the turn signal. It could be that they work better together, but I'll find out.

The smaller the fairing, the better.

As for using an angle bracket, people sell those to use on Goldwings and they are adjustable (I think). But then those are mostly mounted directly on the Goldwings fairing.

Check out this link

::http://www.cruisercustomizing.com/h...00-valkyrie-interstate/part/HL-08R82-MBY-100F

It also occurs to me that I can make two fairings (lower and upper) and add or remove them depending on the weather.

Randy, that makes sense. It looks good too. I wonder if that was what dave was saying. That might help in getting the same effect from a smaller deflector... Hmmmmm?

Randy, it just occurred to me... How did you attach those deflectors?

Another update... (will this guy EVER stop!) :0

I know some people don't want to know about something until it's finished, and then there are others that like to know what works and what doesn't, I'm of the latter. With that said...

Today I cut off part of the fairing about halfway up the radiator guard. As expected, the wind increased on my legs, but there was also a slight increase in the amount of updraft.

While riding I also noticed that there was one strong stream of air above my diy fairing and the top of the bikes fairing. So I extended the top of my fairing level with the front top of the bikes fairing, just above the headlight.

Result...

It's the best yet. I was getting a strong wind on my lower legs, but everything above that was relatively calm and the wind above my waist dropped down a little. I was also getting some stronger wind on the outside of my arms, but less on the inside. The strong stream of air that I mentioned above was still there, but at a reduced level.

We have a little wind today, not a great deal but enough. The difference between the faired side and the nonfaired side was unmistakenly different regardless of which direction I was going.

I think at this point I have my game plan, but it's far from over.

I think I'll put the lower part of the fairing back on to see what happens...

Is anyone enjoying this? I hope so!

Perhaps my deflectors may be doing the same thing as your X-Creen because when you stop air on the front of a windshield you create a vacuum behind the windshield. If there's any source of air to fill the vacuum it will. That may be the air you feel with the windshield on an angle. At speed when I feel down at the edge of the windshield I can feel an accelerated stream of air moving outward. Resulting in less air coming back from around the knees up. We need a wind tunnel? Got one? I'm with you on the smaller the better. I'm not in the camp of going up the fairing. If you add deflectors up the fairing and you drop the bike it will destroy the fairing and who knows how far the damage will go.

Being able to remove them any time is a good idea. That's why I used the plastic clips that Honda uses all over the bike for removal applications. I wanted to have an easy removal in case I didn't like the outcome. There just isn't places to bolt wind deflectors on the front side of the bike. I didn't see any place to mount wind deflectors with any ease. I've seen after market generic deflectors that bolts to the forks: LINK HERE Drill a few holes on the deflector and radiator cover, easy on easy off. Also if you drop the bike on them they'll pull apart with minimum damage. If you remove the deflectors, place the clips back into the radiator cover and it looks as a factory construction.

Those deflectors on your post are the type I had, but only one. I removed the chrome mounting hardware. I gave using them some thought about the chrome metal hardware. After looking at CTX I don't see how you can use the hardware of the defelctors without some expensive mods to make things strong, reliable and some problems if you drop the bike. Bakerwings made a wind deflectors for my last bike with chrome hardware. I did not buy them because if you dropped the bike the deflectors will crash right into fairing destroying half the plastic on that side of the bike.

Wind is a hard this to control and understand. Myth Busters did a show on pickup trucks with the tail gate removed to decrease drag and increase mpg. As it turned out they got a higher mpg with the gate installed. Their theory was that without the gate a vacuum was created behind the cab which lowered the mpg and with the gate, a vortex of air was created in the bed that reduced the creation of a pocket of vacuum.

Anyway I went for a 100 mile ride with the wind deflector in place and it worked as I have mentioned. Depending on the wind speed and direction, it's usefulness varied, but was always better to some degree. Sometimes when there is no wind, it's really quiet behind the CB shield even without the deflector so it wasn't much different then and when the side wind increased the deflected side was always quieter, even at slower speeds.

The real news is that the cardboard deflector stayed in place (even up to 75 mph)and didn't flex the entire journey. I'm beginning to think I should have made my windshield out of cardboard instead of getting the CB shield. Of course rain might be a problem.

Steven, necessity is the mother of invention and you took her to school. Nice job. Yes I read about that pickup with it's tail gate down getting less MPG than with the tail get up. The laws of physics some times tries to trick mans "common sense"... although common sense may be a delusion we all inherit at birth.