Motorcycle Update

I've been riding since early September now. So far it's been really great. I've been easing into this thing fairly slowly, steadily increasing the complexity of what I attempt. Last weekend I took it on the highway to my parents' house (55 miles), which was by far the biggest challenge I've taken on with the motorcycle.

Highway riding was interesting. There was a lot of wind buffeting, which is to be expected. The ride itself was amazingly smooth, none of the shaking and vibration that a lot of V-Twin riders complain about (the Magna is a v-four sport bike engine). In speaking with a friend about the experience, he suggested that switching to a smaller windshield would get rid of the win buffeting, at the expense of more wind pressure on surface streets.

On his advice I pulled the windshield off and took off on some of the local back roads. Without the windshield the ride was amazingly smooth. There was a good deal of wind pressure, and I definitely felt the effects of cold more, but nothing unbearable, or even particularly uncomfortable. Speeds up to 60 miles per hour were fine.

Seventy-five and eighty miles per hour was more interesting. It took a noticeable effort to hold on to the bike. It could definitely be maintained for a short period, maybe ten or twenty miles. After that I have to imagine that it would start to get uncomfortable. I may try it out the next nice day we get.

Based on my experience with this I'll probably be getting a fly shield this fall or over the winter. These are little windshields that don't cover much more than the instrument cluster, but at highway speeds they deflect enough wind that most of the pressure is off the torso. The other alternative is a cafe fairing, which are slightly larger and wrap around the headlight. The friend who recommended taking the windshield off has the cafe fairing, and promised to let me try it in the spring when his bike comes out of storage.