NOTICE:  These are tech pages explaining how I did these mods to my bike.  In almost every case -
I DO NOT SELL THE PARTS DESCRIBED.  I do tell you where I got them.  EXCEPTION - I do sell my custom exhaust mods. 

Windshield Tipping
Or
Making Lemonade out of a Lemon

Rationale

If you have a windshield, you may have run into several common windshield issues that can get downright annoying on a ride.  They are:

• Turbulence battering your head at high speed
• Turbulence battering the bike especially from trucks
• Nasty gas cap reflection right in your eyes
• Can't see over the shield
• Lousy mileage
• Poor acceleration at speed
• For the Rifle windshield,
• Cutting of the windshield mount is needed to clear the turn signal stalks.
• Top corners of the mounting bracket need to be bent to adjust.

Most of these problems result from the windshield being set at too vertical of an angle, with insufficient provision for adjustment.

The fix illustrated here is applied to a Rifle SS windshield.  The same fix slightly modified will work with the Hondaline shield, and perhaps others as well.  Basically, what I did was make a bracket extender to move the lower mount point of the windshield forward,  this moved the lower part of the shield up and forward, and the upper part down and back, significantly increasing it's angle.  It also raised the headlight cutout up so it acts as a vent to feed air into the vacuum behind the screen - thereby eliminating head turbulence.  The top edge of the windshield is now well below my line of sight, eliminating the reflection.  The profile of the shield is now very raked, improving mileage, high speed acceleration,  top end and turbulence penetration.  This simple mod will change a lemon of a windshield into a winner.

 

Note the steep angle of the shield and it's height at the top.

Cost

Under $5

Time

A couple hours

Materials

• 1/8" X 1-1/2" aluminum bar stock
• 4-1/4" X 1/2" X 20 SS machine screws and nuts

Tools

• hacksaw
• file
• bench grinder
• drill and 1/4" bit
• allen wrenches
• phillips screwdriver
• 7/16" wrench

Process

Get a friend to help.  Make sure the top bracket is all the way forward, remove the bottom allen screw and pull the top of the windshield to your optimum position and get measurement A to the closest millimeter. Calculate the position of the forward holes so they will be in the middle of the slot at your optimum setting by positioning the forward screw at 3 = (A + B/2 + 10)mm from the rear screw. Cut two pieces C + 30mm long.  Do all of the following to both pieces together. Drill an appropiate hole (sized for the existing allen head bolts into the bottom billet alum fork mount) near one end of both pieces (hole 1). Fasten one bracket in place taking care that the forward screw (3) has equal clearance above and below it in the slot, then mark the middle screw (2) 20mm rearward from the front screw, taking care that the screw is positioned in the slot with some clearance above and below. Drill the holes through both brackets together. Bolts 2 & 3 fix the bracket extension's position in relation to the existing bracket. They also allow for some adjustment WITHOUT bending the bracket.

By The Way.  Two years ago I told Rifle about this mod and they "paid" for it by slightly discounting the brackets I bought to replace the original ones I had notched to compensate for their design not allowing for any adjustment due to no clearance for the turn signal stalks.  Someone else mentioned this mod to them, after I wrote it up on F6Rider; they said they "knew about it, and it's stupid".  If you check their web site now, they are selling a rip-off of this mod to Valk owners as an extra cost accessory.