RE: 1250 RS Windscreen - Loud! - 15

Alcohol and coke? Holy cow! No wonder you weren't bothered by windscreen noise...LOL!

My VStream Sport/Tour arrives tomorrow. This bike is great, but I'm hoping for even better. Wind noise is a fatiguing and distracting element that can turn the best bike into a monster. The OEM screen is almost tolerable, but "tolerable" is not equivalent to "bearable".

Ha ha I could have written that myself, same experience and still trying to lose last few pounds

VStream Sport/Tour screen arrived today. Mounted it in the lower mounting holes and went for a ride. Does it block wind? Yes. Does it improve the noise factor? Not for me, and in addition I was baking behind the screen even in the low position. I was sweltering.

Back to the stock screen. Guess BMW made it that way for a reason. Seems "tolerable" in the upper mounting holes. In the upper position, if I duck down a few inches, its quiet. If I sit normally, the air hits the chin vent on my Shoei RF-1200 and makes a lot of noise...by closing the vent, it quiets down, but the inside of the helmet gets warm. In the low position, I get good airflow without excessive noise, so I guess that's the default for now.

Looks like I need to adapt to the bike, not the other way around.

Sometimes BMW's attitude reminds me of an internal flight in Russia in what must have been the very first commercial jet aircraft, with a stewardess/flight attendant who looked like she was taking a day off from cage fighting: "Salt not required. Alzo pepper. Ze meal in ze box is very gut fur jou, und jou VILL enjoy it!"

Zitat von JtL im Beitrag #214

---

Sometimes BMW's attitude reminds me of an internal flight in Russia in what must have been the very first commercial jet aircraft, with a stewardess/flight attendant who looked like she was taking a day off from cage fighting: "Salt not required. Alzo pepper. Ze meal in ze box is very gut fur jou, und jou VILL enjoy it!"

---

I was being a little flippant, but even so I would have hoped that a firm like BMW could produce a motorcycle with both screens and seats that work. I like BMWs, have mny over the years and have changed seats and screens on all of thm. Actually gave up the 1250R for the RS because I thought air mnaganement was almost impossible on that bike - a wonderful bike up to about 75mph.

Love the RS and the stock screen isnt all that bad for but would like somthing better still. Stock is a bit noisy but not turbulent/blustery so thats a huge plus.

I'm a little confused on the windscreen issue. Seems like some say their Givi screens or the more costly Aeroflow (?) screens work well. Also have read people like the wunderlich for airflow but it rattles a bit. I really like the RS but would get it for comfort in addition to my RR which I ride for short sporty rides or track days.

I think Wessie has a good point - the quest for a quiet ride is influenced by too many extraneous factors to allow one solution for all. I know guys on the F800GT board who swear by Madstad screens. Well, when I had my (noisy) GT, I was desperate for a solution and tried everything before trying that less-than-aesthetic Madstad screen. First of all, the screen's mounting holes were off just enough to make installation a muscular exercise (resulting in a back spasm that kept me from riding for two weeks, but I digress...). Once I got the Madstad installed, I hopped on for a ride, just knowing this was going to be the solution! Wrong. I was miserably hot, the screen looked, um, "plain", to be nice about it, and the noise was only marginally better.

I had an epiphany last night, even if it's not original: I've been looking at this problem from the wrong end of the telescope. The solution is better ear protection. I'm going to try some small foam earplugs meant for smaller ear canals like mine. My custom plugs are pretty good, but they shift while riding and the attenuation goes from good to mediocre...not an ideal situation.

Bottom line: Wessie nailed it...hoping to find that magic windscreen is about as likely to succeed as finding Bigfoot at your dinner table.

Part of the issue is that we all want something different, and often we want different under different circumstances.

Some days I want great wind & weather protection when trying to cover distance fast, other days when it is 300F I want some breeze!

A set of foam 35db earplugs are cheap and effective. Unlike Beaar I have large ear canals so tried a load of different ones before settling on the Oxford ones. But I spend a lot of time fitting them. I read about an ear balm somewhere and getting them inserted properly is the problem. Once they go round the ‘bend’ I’m sorted! They always fit easier after a shower! As is often the case, good lubrication solves a lot of problems. 😄

I came of a set of CBR which haven't got much in terms of wind protection bar the full-tuck position.

Played with RS' OEM screen since December when I got it and in 2500km what I figured was - bottom holes position works best.

Bottom holes low screen provides ample wind for summer rides, clean airflow around the helmet area (5'10 rider, standard seat) one con is that it puts all the flora and fauna in your windshield but bar full air-bubble by the largest possible screen I'm always expecting to do a quick wipe of my helmet when I stop for gas ~300km.

Bottom holes high screen given the best protection-to-buffeting ratio meaning it'll block more insects, push more air around and the airflow past your head has less buffeting than any of the high holes setting. I generally just do highway or long rides with in-ear earphones in for music and they both block out the noise and keep me entertained or 'in the zone'. [come to think of it I need to add Danger Zone to my playlist]

I'm not really keen on a €€€ rabbit hole of various screens to be honest...

If you don't want to go down the $$$ rabbit hole, it sounds like you are reading the wrong thread;))

I started off with the OEM screen mounted in bottom mount holes and screen in low position. Clean air, but still noisy. Then I went top mount holes and bottom screen position, and it's almost tolerable. Expecting some "small" foam plugs in a day or two that will work in my narrow ear canals. My custom plugs are nice, but inconsistent...they shift around and let noise in. Just had some new ones made and they are not effective...wrong audiologist, I guess.

Still working on this puzzle. Hoping foam plugs will go in my ears, with some lubrication. The NRR on foam plugs is higher than custom, so if they work...great.

I also have experience wearing hearing aids while riding my bike. One thing I found really helpful was to purchase a helmet with special channels that are designed to help keep the hearing aids in place while riding. I also wear earbuds or noise-canceling headphones to help reduce wind noise and other background noises while riding. With these in place, I find that I can still hear sounds such as traffic or people talking to me. Hopefully this advice can help you have a more comfortable and enjoyable ride.