I've been diligently reading as many windshield threads as I can find, trying to make sense of things. What kind, how high, what rake seems to work, and so on. This is actually my second attempt at finding the Right Windshield™, my first being a CeeBaileys 20". If the collective experience here is any indication, I've got a few more windshields yet to try before I give up in frustration.
One of the complaints that I have about the CeeBaileys (that seems to be echoed here) is that it doesn't have enough rake. That is, it isn't tipped back far enough, and produces a lot of noise because of it. I'm actually not 100% convinced it's just the rake, I think there's another factor at play, but I'll leave that for a future post. In trying to come up with an alternative to the CeeBaileys, though, I was definitely looking for something tipped a lot farther back. The best example of that, as far as I can tell, is the Parabellum Sport windshield.
So I called them on the phone to ask a few pre-purchase questions, the most important one being: how is the height above the headlight actually measured? Is it the rise, or is it the surface distance of the plastic itself? They confirmed that the measurements given are surface distance, which given the aggressive rake meant that I could order a taller screen. I'm actually kind of shortish -- 5'8", and I have a low-ish seat on my bike. Still, I ordered the 26" version (the tallest they had) figuring that I could always cut it down if necessary. Hey, I've got a bandsaw!
Fast forward a week or so, and my windshield shows up promptly on my doorstep in a huge box. They were friendly on the phone and prompt with shipping, so big kudos to them for that.
In The Box
The Parabellum Sport Windshield comes with the windshield, four brackets pre-attached to the windshield, two curved top brackets for connection to the headset, and all the nuts, bolts, and washers necessary to mount the windshield. Nothing else but tools and loc-tite are necessary.
Mount
This is where things get a little uglier.
First off, I hate the mounts for this windscreen. A lot. Part of the problem is that I have Moto-Techniques bar backs, and the mounting system for this windshield is pretty much incompatible with them. The handlebar cables which would normally go under the Parabellum brackets interfere in a big way when the handlebars are higher than stock. Even then, though, the mount foregoes a perfectly good BMW mount point in favor of bolting directly to the handlebar clamps, with some huge pieces of curved steel extending from the handlebar clamp to the windshield. With the bar backs, the only way I could get this to work was by flipping over the curved brackets and mounting them so that they obscure the gauges (see picture).
Obviously, if you have stock handlebars, you'll probably be just fine. And I may yet fabricate something that makes this a whole lot better, as I have access to a CNC mill and could probably design something more elegant.
Fit
The next thing I notice about this windscreen is that it doesn't quite allow an unobstructed view of the turn signals. With just a bit more cut out, this would probably be perfect. This isn't a dealbreaker by any stretch of the imagination, just a bit of an oversight that could be easily made better.
Next up on my list of nits is the headlight opening, which doesn't conform very well to the headlight. This causes the edge of the windshield to pick up the light from the headlight and pipe it up to the top, where it's directly in my field of view.
Ride
So with the windshield mounted (albeit in a kind of backward way) I pronounced it fit for a test ride, grabbed my helmet, and took off.
The first thing I noticed in riding is the one thing that you all read this far to find out: yes, it's quiet. A lot quieter than my CeeBaileys 20". This windshield is taller, of course, and that probably has a lot to do with it. At 26", It's almost too tall for me. I can see over it, but just barely. All the wind seems to be pushed over my head, though, and that results in a quiet ride. For the first time ever, I was able to hear my engine at freeway speeds. I understand now why people gush over the boxer engine -- it's a beautiful thing to listen to at 80mph.
The ride was not without problems, however. The aforementioned light-pipe effect was noticeable even before the sun went down, so at night it will probably be very obnoxious. Also, the top of the windscreen flops around a lot. The horizontal radius of this windshield is fairly shallow, and as a result the structure just doesn't have the same stiffness as the CeeBaileys. Couple that with the much better BMW bracket that the CeeBaileys mounts to, and the difference in stiffness between the two is like night and day. The CeeBaileys doesn't move at all. The Parabellum Sport moves a lot. To the point of annoyance, I think.
Summary
So is this the Right Windshield™ for me? Probably not. It's a significant noise improvement over the CeeBaileys 20", but it has several downsides: the mounting, the light-pipe effect, and the lack of stiffness being the three major drawbacks. I can work around the mounting with my own bracket design, and the light-pipe effect can be mitigated, but there's not much I can do about the stiffness.
I'll continue to ride with this windshield for a while and post an update in a few weeks.
