CalSci Windshield

[wb5tty]

Finally made the order. Ended up getting the Med. size. Mark told me the Large would conflict with the Honda Mirror Wind deflectors so I went with the Med. The group sharing information was a major help! I would like to thank everyone for their input. I would have never thought to ask about the Large CalSci clearing the Honda Mirror Wind deflectors. Also the pictures were a great help. I check this board almost as often as I check my email. You also meet some of the nicest people here. :D

When it comes in I will post my opinion on the windshield after I put a few miles on it. Mark is currently out of stock on all sizes except the Large but will have more in about a week. Looks like about 10 days till I get mine. :(

Mark seems like a nice guy who has time for his customers. Even with the slight shipping delay, my buyer experience is sooooo much better than with CB.

[GBN732]

Yea I've got one on the way. I hope to have it by the weekend and hope to test it over the weekend. :03biker:

[Dave Wicks]

:04biker:
I have also appreciated the discussion....I have learned so much about a bike that is still pretty new to me. Wind management is the only issue I have struggled with..I bought a 2nd hand Cee-Bailey 6 wider stock height duct in front from a neat guy in Florida...Perfect shape..no distortion. I'm going to be mounting the Cal Sci under mirror deflectors. I'm hoping that will cure the wife beating that has been happening with stock shield no deflector..Rode to work this morning..just above freezing...ran the windshield just above eyesight level...dead calm and quiet..and I wasn't frozen when I got to work. I like the molded/rounded shape of the Cee-Bailey..Anyway..good luck with the new shield..aren't these great bikes...I love it..

Dave........ :)

[Bribak]

I will really be anxious to read your reviews of this shield. Please include your height so we can get an idea how it might work for us. I am especially interested to see if it helps with the buffeting and if the extra 2 inch width really makes much difference as far as smoothing out the air a little around the shoulder/arm area and for the passenger.
Be looking forward to it, Brian

[Carl_T]

I would like to know if it reduces buffeting on the passenger?

[SteveST1300]

I ordered a Clearview and it is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be good so I hope to be able to get it on the bike and test it out. :03biker:

[Carl_T]

Feedback guys, both on rider AND passenger if possible.

[Talonst]

I'm 5'9" and installed the CalSci Med shield. It made a big improvment in noise and buffeting (did not test with passenger). However, it was too high in the lowest setting. I could see over it just fine but was not getting enough air. Sent the Med shield back for an exchange last week. The small should be here Friday.

[wb5tty]

The FedEx guy dropped off thewindshield while I was at work. When I got home I mounted it on the bike and went for a solo test ride.

Pros: :)
The windshield design is great and highly reduces the back pressure while creating a pleasant cockpit area.

Cons: :(
The windshield I received has a haze to it. Compared to the stock Honda windshield there is a large difference in clarity, the Honda windshield is much clearer. I also found the Medium CalSci windshield hits the Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors causing the windshield to flex outward in the full down position.

I gave CalSci a call and they told me I could have a refund, another Medium and they would check for clarity, or try a different size. The lady I talked to was very nice and totally willing work with me. She did say the windshields are made to fit a ST1300 without the Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors as they sell there own version of Mirror Wind Deflectors which they feel work better. She also advised me they would not cut a windshield to fit a ST1300 with Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors.

I am now back to trying to decide what to do. The search for the perfect ST1300 windshield continues. I think I will sleep on what to do and see what advice my fellow ST1300 brothers have to offer. I will ship the CalSci back tomorrow due to the haze so the week long trip to the Left Coast can get started.

[ssls6]

Did you put in the lower spacers they supplied? I also bought a CalSci medium shield and it was milky.

[GBN732]

Mine had a haze too, I thought this was normal. It works great on the road and in full down does touch my extenders, but just barely. Overall I am please with the shield and my wife is pleased also. I am 5'8", with 30 inseam. :03biker:

[duSTy]

I have the large shield. I also had trouble with it hitting the deflectors, so I took a dremel and carved a notch on each side so it would go down all the way. It turned out very well and when down it looks like it wraps around mirror.

Tom

[GRN]

I just installed the medium calsci, and it doesn't seem to be a problem with the mirror deflectors. The problems I am encountering are that the holes didn't line up well... could sqeek it on without the spacers, but to get it with the spacers it was bending the shield bracket significantly. I modified the bottom holes - extended towards outside 3/16" - and got it to fit pretty well with no sideways stress on the brackets last night. Those spacers should be rubber... the plastic doesn't meet flat with the shield, one of the spacers cracked as soon as I got to resistance when initialy tightening. I'm a little concerned with having to have opened up the holes and the lack of a flush interface with the brackets... less contact area = more stress = ? @ 125 mph?

It's also noticably asymetrical in the shape/curve - the distance from outside edges to the mirrors is noticably different. The fact that some folks have the same shield and it interferes with the mirror deflectors, and some not leaves me with ?'s about QC in manufacturing in general... mine aren't even close. This one may go back...

I have yet to roll with it... waiting to talk to Mark before I do.

[duSTy]

I also had a difficult time putting on the shield. The holes didn't seem to line up for me either. I did manage it get it on, but sure wouldn't want to do it again. I also had trouble getting the rubber gasket to stay where it should due to the tweaking I had to do to get in on. Other than that, I like it.

Tom

[Fireball18]

I just installed the medium calsci, and it doesn't seem to be a problem with the mirror deflectors. The problems I am encountering are that the holes didn't line up well... could sqeek it on without the spacers, but to get it with the spacers it was bending the shield bracket significantly. I modified the bottom holes - extended towards outside 3/16" - and got it to fit pretty well with no sideways stress on the brackets last night.


I don't have a CalsSci shield. Mine is a Cee Bailey. I also had an alignment problem with mine, to the extent that when I tightened the mounting screws down, it created a crack in the plastic off one of the mounting holes. Needless to say, I was an unhappy camper. :mad: I decided to put the stock w/s back on and discovered, lo and behold, that the mounting holes didn't exaclty match up either! :confused:

I removed the upper fairing and checked the mounting brackets and found that they were significantly misaligned. I re-aligned them and tightened them down and voila! The w/s mounting holes on both shields now line up properly.

If you have a similar problem, check out the mounting brackets. They may be off. Perhaps assemblers at the Honda plant get in a hurry and fail to take care to line things up right. The Honda shield sort of lined up because it is thin. The Cee Bailey shield is 1/4-inch thick and just doesn't bend well.

[wb5tty]

It seems the Medium CalSci may be made from a type of plastic which has a haze to it since I am not the only one to notice it. If you like to adjust the windshield where you are looking over the top the haze would be no problem. I like looking through the windshield so the haze is a slight problem. I think I will try a Large CalSci since it is a different thickness and made from different stock. Hope the large CalSci is clear. If the Large CalSci is clear I will try DuSTy's Drimmel cut to custom fit the windshield.

I would like comments from Large CalSci Windshield owners on the clarity of the material the windshield is made from.

Again let me say the design of the CalSci windshield seems to be very good and works well to produce a comfortable ride. One other negative issue if I have noticed is there are sharp edges on the windshield. It appears the edges are not polished or sanded after the laser cut. I don't think I will be using the plastic washers on my installation. The lady at CalSci told me they include those because they have had requests for them but are not required. Mark's design looks to be very good, he just needs to make a few minor improvements to have the perfect ST1300 windshield.

The quest for the perfect ST1300 windshield continues.

[sportridervince]

I bought the shield because I will be riding 2 up a lot and wanted to make it as comfie as possible for my partner. My preference is to look over the shield and at 5'10" it is a bit more of a strain for me to see over this one ... mind you that's sitting on my bike in the garage. It was a bit of a struggle getting it lined up as I had to bend the bottom to get the lower bolts in. As well there are stress lines or fissures (not cracks, but they look like fine cracks) in the upper part of the shield. I'm going to speak with Alison at CalSci today and may pull it off the bike tonight. We are planning our first long ride this weekend so was hoping to have it for that, but I don't feel right riding with it if I'm going to return it.

I also purchased the lower mirror deflectors which are really supposed to help ease updraft turbulance on the passenger. Haven't installed them yet ... little hesitant to drill into the mirror covers. I would like to try other things first with that as a last resort.

Would also like to add that Alison and CalSci were very good to deal with and I received my shield within 4 days after my order, which is great considering it was being shipped to Canada.

Vince
Calgary Alberta Canada

2005 ST1300
2000 Road Star 1600

[sportridervince]

just received an email from Alison at CalSci. She was very apologetic and has asked me to return the shield as it appears they have had a bad batch. She said she will credit me the cost as well as the shipping back to them.

I will buy another as soon as they have a new batch as I like the design/concept and would like to give it a try.

Vince
Calgary Alberta Canada

2005 ST1300
2000 Road Star 1600

[GRN]

yup, got one from Mark about that a little earlier... I'm going to hold off a bit to replace it as they have only been doing this for a few months there are always some bugs to work out - and I'm sure they will... Mark has been a great resource for us in the information he's made available, and the product development he has done.

[SteveST1300]

I have had my clearview on for a week or two now and I like it. I used to run the stock shield at full height. I run the clearview at the center postition mine is +3 tall and +6 wide if I remember correctly. I am just under 6'2" and I still look just over the shield. The lip seems to help with the wind my wife has had no complaints so I am happy with it. My shield is not electric. :03biker:

[wb5tty]

I sent the Medium CalSci windshield back. I am leaning toward trying a Large and shaping the bottom to clear the Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors. Looks like they may have had a bad production run. I am more than willing to work with the people at CalSci and give them the time they need to get things worked out. I do wish CalSci would make a large windshield precut to fit a ST1300 with the Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors even if it was a special order since there are many of us who have installed this Honda option.

The quest for the perfect ST1300 windshield continues.

[wb5tty]

Just got off the phone with Alison at CalSci and my Large windshield is on the way. They are even giving me credit for the cost of shipping the defective Medium windshield back to them. Great customer service from CalSci!!! :D

I think I will use a drimel tool or saw to notch the bottom of the windshiels to fit the Honda Mirror Wind Deflectors. You get some good info off of this users group.

[duSTy]

Here is a pic of my cutout with the windshield in the lowest position.

Tom

[Austin city limits]

That looks Cool DuSTy!!!

Me???

What did I do???

I used my dremel and cut 1 inch off the bottom back of the shield,,, tappering it to cutting 0/nadda/nothing at the bottom front... Quick,,, easy,,, painless,,, and I still have calm air at my hands...

[NormanPCN]

duSTy, that is one seriously slick cut! :bow1:

[wb5tty]

DuSTy thanks for the picture, that looks too cool! Hope I can do as good of a job on mine. You should send the picture to Mark at CalSci as a hint he might sell more windshields if the optional cut was available. With his fancy laser cutter I doubt if it would be too hard to do.

[Dave Wicks]

:04biker:
After reading all the posts on this..Especially Cal T...wind management seems to be a big problem..it's been my only issue with this bike. My wife who is an experienced passenger and good sport has really struggled with the wind on this bike..She loves everything else.. I have a Cee-Bailey 6 in. wider and stock height with electric adjuster...That has been a marvelous improvement. Very well made shield...I have the CalSci under mirror deflectors..they also helped but were very poorly made....spent alot of time sorting them out..I think CalSci is struggling with QC...The windshield and deflectors have helped but not cured the problem....We may deal the bike off if we can't fix it..That would pain us both as we love the bike. I may install some deflectors down behind the engine outlets...I have made some 13 in. long out of plastic that matches the black plastic on the bike...Actually a pair of Neon car mudshields I never put on...My wife and I have spent alot of time thinking and trying to figure where the wind is coming from..It seems to be kind of an updraft flowing into the 8-12 inches between us. I have a Stealth backrest..I may modify it to move my wife forward some...I'm also considering handlebar risers that sit me up and back a bit to try decrease the gap between us..I'm 5'7" 160, wife 5' 105...When she tucks up behind me..dead calm..When I put my left hand on my hip with armed bowed out at my side..just about dead calm...Norm had talked about air rushing back into vacum created by windbreak...I think that's basically it...Any other ideas...feed back..All winter I kept posting this..I think most guys ride alone..no problems..but we double all the time..big problem...As I mentioned this winter check out all the little deflectors on high BMW's...Sorry for being so long :confused: :)

[duSTy]

I happened to find a trick that someone else could use if they wanted to do something like I did. I first did one side so it cleared by taking off the opposite mirror for testing and then running the shield down. Once the first side was done, I took an white envelope and cut open the top and one side, and slipped over the lower corner of the shield. I then was able to trace out the cutout and then reverse the envelope and put it on the other side and mark it. That way both sides cut the same. I figured this out by accident, but it worked pretty well.

I'm leaving for the Black Hills tomorrow, so I'll see how this windshield works. So far I like it. It will probably come off when it gets hotter and then I'll do the bottom of the shield fix or get a small one from CalSci.

Tom

[NormanPCN]

DuSTy thanks for the picture, that looks too cool! Hope I can do as good of a job on mine. You should send the picture to Mark at CalSci as a hint he might sell more windshields if the optional cut was available. With his fancy laser cutter I doubt if it would be too hard to do.

Problem is that Mark does not build to order and not everyone has the mirror deflectors. He tends to stock items so he can go places.

[MDS_ST1300]

I have had my clearview on for a week or two now and I like it. I used to run the stock shield at full height. I run the clearview at the center postition mine is +3 tall and +6 wide if I remember correctly. I am just under 6'2" and I still look just over the shield. The lip seems to help with the wind my wife has had no complaints so I am happy with it. My shield is not electric. :03biker:

Steve,

I was wondering if you have any pictures of the new Clearview shield. I have an 03 ST non electric bike as well. I have been debating on the Clearview vs Cee Baileys vs CalSci screens. I am 6'1" w/31" inseam so I am close to your height. I was thinking about the Clearview +2" tall and +3" wide version (GT medium) but I think I would like the extra width.

Did you get the vents in the shield? Any thoughts on the effectiveness of the vents.

Thanks,
Michael

[wb5tty]

The Large CalSci windshield came in today and it had even more haze. CalSci told me they think is the heat in Texas. I guess it doesn't get hot any place but Texas. Alison told me they had a different type of plastic they were going to make the windshields from so it wouldn't have the haze. I told her that I would try the new version of the Large.

I did mount the large windshield and it was the best windshield design I have ever used. I will let everyone know how the new windshield (#3) works when I receive it.

[NormanPCN]

Got a pic to show us the haze?

[wb5tty]

NORM - Got pictures but I don't know how to post them here. I can email them to you.

[Mellow]

NORM - Got pictures but I don't know how to post them here. I can email them to you.

If you post a reply, at the bottom of the screen you'll see the Manage Attachments button... click that and you can upload pics from your PC.

[Ken]

Steve,

I was wondering if you have any pictures of the new Clearview shield. I have an 03 ST non electric bike as well. I have been debating on the Clearview vs Cee Baileys vs CalSci screens. I am 6'1" w/31" inseam so I am close to your height. I was thinking about the Clearview +2" tall and +3" wide version (GT medium) but I think I would like the extra width.

Did you get the vents in the shield? Any thoughts on the effectiveness of the vents.

Thanks,
Michael
Joe posted this link in another thread - here is something to give you a taste:
http://groups.msn.com/ST1300US/st1300clearviewwindscreen.msnw

[wb5tty]

Here is a picture of the Large CalSci with Haze. :eek:

[NormanPCN]

Here is a picture of the Large CalSci with Haze. :eek:

*** :eek: That is not a "haze". That is a "fog". What is wierd is the lower right does not have the same fog. I can see a dividing line.

I can't believe something like that would ship.

[Dave Wicks]

:04biker:

I agree with Norm, why would you put that in a box? But, when I recieved the above and below mirror deflectors, I thought this can not be from the neat bike loving guy I talked to on the phone. But in person after person...
I'm still in a wind fighting zone for my wife's sake. I have made some deflectors out of old Neon mud-flaps that were never used, same texture as Honda plastic. I'm adverse to drilling more holes so I'm going try using Velcro.
I've made them 13 in. long to fit along the fairing behind the engine outlet. I'm going to cut the Velcro strips to allow the removal of the little trap doors.
With the Cee-Bailey, stock height, 6 wider and CalSci under mirror deflectors and the Stealth Back Rest pushing wife couple inches ahead hope to make it liveable...If not :( :mad: :confused: touring rig here we come..snuffle, snort...well maybe another deflector..got my Besteem bags..nicely made for the price....got the big ones...don't fill em too full..

[wb5tty]

Turns out the windshield is clear at 85 degrees or below. It was much clearer in my office at 72 degrees. The difference you see in the lower bottom section is due to shade resulting in a lower amount of fog due to lower temp. Mark tells me they were clear when boxed and will be clear again when cooled down. I am glad we here at 95 degrees the day I got mine. Mark told me today the new plastic is on order and is not supposed to Fog below 118 degrees F. I am still willing to give Mark another go at getting everything worked out. As I said the design worked very well.

[Austin city limits]

That is weird...

I will say this,,, Mark is a great friend and if he says it was clear shipped,,, it was clear shipped... If he says the new plastic will not fog below 118 it WILL not!!!

I LOVE my shield from him and have no problems at any temp,,, with any fog...

It must be the material supplier of the plastic screwed up...

[wb5tty]

I think Mark is on to a great windshield design for the ST1300. No doubt he will get the material problems taken care of in the near future. :D I will let everyone know how the new version works when it comes in.