'Fly screen' for £60?? pff

[blade023]

So I've been looking on t'interweb since I got my bike, for accessories and such. I've asked for some heated grips for Christmas, which have been ordered, but another thing I wanted was a small screen to go on the front of my bike (cb500).
https://s6.postimage.org/j8zdl4r0x/cb500_3.jpg
While talking to my brother about it, he said he had some spare perspex I could have, and it's easy enough to shape it using a blow torch.

So I set to work making a template for a simple screen design, using the following as a guide.
https://www.bikermart.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=SCRU001

And here's what I came up with.
https://s6.postimage.org/vden243wx/IMG_20111119_140808.jpg

Since the last picture was taken I've bought a blowtorch from B&Q for about £11 and shaped it. It took me a while to get it looking the right shape, and I spent about an hour practising on off cuts to make sure I could do it reasonably well without burning or bubbling the perspex.

By the time I finished shaping it, it had gotten dark (damn these short days) but I persevered and managed to fashion a couple of mounting brackets out of black brushed metal. It was origionally a blanking plate for a 5.25" drive bay on my Lian-Li computer case, made from aluminium. If anyone is curious, Lian-Li are a Taiwanese company that make high spec computer cases (not wanting to boast) and are some of the nicest cases you can get, visually and functionally (in my opinion).

Now I've got it mounted on my bike it looks sweet. As I said it was dark, and I tried taking a picture with my phone, but it has no flash and wouldn't have come out very well even if it did. The screen still needs some finishing round the edges, and I'm planning to spray it black and finish with some laquer to make it match the rest of the body work.

So.. what do y'all think? I'll get some more progress picture up tomorrow to show how it's going.
____________________
Current: VFR800 2008 13.7k and rising rapidly!
Sorn: 2003 FZS1000 30k(ish) looking to sell.

[neatbik]

I think its ace mate, well done.
Looking forward to seeing it on the bike.

[lllN30lll]

Not easier?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fly-screen-Naked-Honda-CB-1-CB-450-S-CB-500-black-/400256349683?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item5d312335f3

[blade023]

Thanks beatnck2, I'll be posting more photos tomorrow, then when I get to spraying it I'll update.

N30: yes it would be a heck of a lot easier to buy that from ebay, but I enjoy making things. Always have. And in my opinion that screen doesn't look that nice. There are a few others that I've seen that look ok, but not great. What I've made looks, to me, better than most screens I've seen online. And it's an origional one of a kind 'Kendo' product! Dirt cheap too, which is good seeing as I'm currently skint XD

If I had the skills and equipment I'm the sort of person who'd be tempted to make my own rat bike. Never heard of them before reading through this forum, but seeing especially the posts about a guy's rat being written off (smidsy) and him ratting a new bike, I thought what an awesome idea!
____________________
Current: VFR800 2008 13.7k and rising rapidly!
Sorn: 2003 FZS1000 30k(ish) looking to sell.

[blade023]

First: apologies for the delay in updating, I had an 'off' day on Sunday. I took some more progress pictures earlier today, and also went for a test run to get some parts. Then I had to go for a 30 minute ride with Dannymahooosive because he wanted to get a new helmut. Which is very shiny!

Here are some more pictures of the screen mounted:
https://s6.postimage.org/m8bc5d6tt/IMG_20111121_095941.jpghttps://s6.postimage.org/p3ofc8att/IMG_20111121_100005.jpg
https://s6.postimage.org/bba0glk29/IMG_20111121_100025.jpg

The third picture shows the front gate of my bike shelter in the background, which I'm still working on. It still needs more panels all the way up, so if anyone has any spare pallets they want to offload, they'd be most welcome! (I'm into salvaging and recycling things )

Overall the screen works pretty well; going from 40-70 mph there's a noticable difference in wind resistance and it's much less of a strain on the arms. The only thing I've noticed about it though, is the area of wind which gets baffled. I can just about duck down to look through the screen and there's no wind. But in the normal riding position the wind seems distinctly more baffled and generally confused about what it ought to do, right where my noggin is.

While this isn't really a problem per se, it did take a lot of getting used to at first. I've also noticed a slight increase in handlebar movement at higher speeds. While this took me by surprise it didn't feel unsafe, just a bit of a rumbling.

So basically, those of you who have ridden a naked bike with and without screens; I'd appreciate some feedback on what sort of differences it made to the handling at higher speeds. I'm thinking of maybe changing the angle of the screen a bit, or possibly adding more curve to it, though I'm not sure if it'll lessen the wind resistance protection too much, which I'd rather avoid. As it is I prefer it to without, but if I could lessen the handling difference a tad that would be nice.

Maybe I'm being too fussy? Thanks for reading folks, let me know what you think!

Oh and by the way; I'm either going to spray it dark smoked, or most likely gloss black to match the body work of the bike. Should look better than clear.
____________________
Current: VFR800 2008 13.7k and rising rapidly!
Sorn: 2003 FZS1000 30k(ish) looking to sell.

[mysterious_rider]

It actually looks alright! definitely get it smoked though, would look pretty cool.

[blade023]

Thanks do you think smoked would be better than black then? I'm still not sure which I'll do. I'll have a look at what I can get to spray it smoked with, hopefully it's not too expensive compared to normal paint.
____________________
Current: VFR800 2008 13.7k and rising rapidly!
Sorn: 2003 FZS1000 30k(ish) looking to sell.

[mysterious_rider]

Yeah I'd try the smoked route pal. Completely blacked out is a bit pointless. You can buy a smoking spray.



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-TECH-LENS-TINTING-SPRAY-SMOKE-LIGHT-TINT-LENSE-Black-/260834650557?pt=UK_Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item3cbaf4e9bd



that's what you want I think. I believe you can add multiple coats to get the effect you want.

[dannymassive]

Cheers for the ride today! And, yeah, I love the new Helmet!

Screen's looking good - def try the smoking spray - seen it used many times on car light lenses - some good examples and some bad - but with a bit of practice on your off-cuts (If you've still got them?!) I'm sure you'll get it looking good.
____________________
Previous Ride's - '01 Aprilia SR125 (Sold) '08 HONDA CBF600n (Sold) '96 CB500 (Sold) '01 FZS 1000 (Sold) '06 CB1300SA (Sold) '07 CB600F Hornet (Sold) - '93 Suzuki Savage LS400 (Sold) '98 Honda VTR1000 Firestorm (Sold) '05 CB600F Hornet (Sold) '01 FZS1000 Fazer (Sold) 2016 Harley Davidson Street Bob SE (Sold) '02 Kawasaki ZX9R (Sold) '98 CB600F Hornet (Sold) '04 Suzuki Bandit 1200s (Sold) '13 Yamaha FZ1-N