Larger Screen for 1300. Will electric motor cope?

Hi,

I've bought a larger screen for my '03 1300. I'm now wondering if the electric motor will cope with the extra weight?

Thanks

You might avoid adjustment while at higher speeds......More loads with wind pressure.

ToddC

Jackboy said:

Hi,

I've bought a larger screen for my '03 1300. I'm now wondering if the electric motor will cope with the extra weight?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Yes (short answer), and I adjust my windshield regardless of the speed (not exactly true, but I generally ride w/ the windscreen up all the way above around 55, and down below that speed. So yes, I do move the shield while the bike is moving. After 4 years of ownership with no problems at all, I'm pulling the tupperware to clean and lube the raising and lowering mechanism. I have a Calsci windshield that is wider and taller than stock.

On second thought, perhaps I should have asked how large your new windshield is? If it's a 4' x 8' piece of plexi, then the answer has to be a qualified 'maybe'.

Great, thanks for the reassurance both. It's made by Skidmarx specifically for the 1300, so I'm now comfortable that it will be fine.

Thanks again

I put a V-Stream on mine , but I lubed everything extra well , motor gear , cables , & slides

I have a big screen I've mounted a few times in winter. Mine balks at speeds over 60ish trying to raise it so I don't without giving it a hand.

A big killer on these "older" windshield mechanisms is raising and lowering (mostly raising) at speeds I would say are greater than 50 to maybe 60 mph. That's how I knocked out the one on my 2005 @ 125K. Covered under warranty!

I also knocked one out because one of my FARKLE wires got tangled up in the cable/slide. That one I had to fix myself.

The more the miles (and depending how much you raise and lower them) you need to not abuse them.

A light cleaning and lubing never hurts.

Thanks. I've given everything a good lubing, so I'll just take it easy at speed. Thanks again

I have raised and lowered my stock screen at 125+ with nary a scream of pain from the lifting motor . . . so far.

I'm pretty convinced the mechanism is on borrowed time if you operate it at speed. 4 years? No problem. Mine went 9 years (60K miles?) before it went out. But I believe they will all go eventually if you use them underway.

I used to operate it quite frequently, especially traveling in hot weather. Down for the breeze to cool off the sweat, back up to quiet the ride, until I got too hot again. Repeat.

Now? I mostly leave it up. I'm worried about how long before a replacement is no longer available from Honda...

I put mine up if it rains or it gets cold. Otherwise its all the way down. MPG drops the higher it goes.

These gizmos are too $$$ to operate at speed.

Jackboy said:

Thanks. I've given everything a good lubing, so I'll just take it easy at speed. Thanks again

Click to expand...

Can things be lubed without disassembly? I thought the fairing and even the dashboard had to come off to get to the windshield mechanism. If not, I'd love to know how to get lube to the right places.

Trump said:

These gizmos are too $$$ to operate at speed.

Click to expand...

You can, it just needs some physical assistance. WARNING! Not recommended to be done in heavy traffic.

ddemair said:

Can things be lubed without disassembly? I thought the fairing and even the dashboard had to come off to get to the windshield mechanism. If not, I'd love to know how to get lube to the right places.

Click to expand...

Yes, fairing has to come off. Not too terribly difficult. If you're not familiar use the tupperware worksheet.

I agree fully. I have just shy of 119K and 12 yr. with the stock windshield and it is still running. I don't adjust at speed much and when I do I just slow it down to 45 or so and adjust it, in saying this I should probably just pull over and then adjust it. C'mon its mechanical and plastic. It just makes good sense that the larger shields have more resistance and obviously more pressure on the gears, certainly a bit more than stock shields.

This could be an interesting poll if setup correctly. The real variables would be your speed, how often you adjusted it. Considering speed, I usually travel at 65MPH while on the road, at that speed there is less resistance than someone say traveling at 80MPH or even 70, those are measureables. I would bet there are more failures in usage while on the road at higher speed than at lower speed, but that would be very difficult to prove unless you knew of how many adjustments were made to the windshield and I am certain that the length of the adjustment whether that be 1" to 6" of travel would also become a factor. Anyway I am happy with most of the OEM everything on this bike and its not that big a deal to slow down or just pull over when an adjustment is needed.

Just for the record, I bought a brand new unit when I was re-storing my 2010 four years ago. I have put over 60K on it myself and most of those miles are from commuting. I constantly change the height while moving through traffic, but it is only an inch or two and anyone time! Pull regular maintenance on them and they should be good for a long time.

I adjust stock shield up or down 4" or so and try and do that at 60 mph or less. It's still going strong at 170,000 miles. I read about too many failures and so try to exhibit mechanical sympathy toward the mechanism. I've greased it twice in 11 years.

I'm still looking for the button to run my ST11 shield up and down.

paulcb said:

I'm still looking for the button to run my ST11 shield up and down.

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Keep looking, I'm sure it's there someplace!

So far, the only 3 I have had to replace, two of them had larger shields, and one of them tried to modify his shield by tilting it with spacers....did this cause the problems? Hard to say, however, I have not seen a motor crap out on a stock unit so far.
If or when my 07 ever craps out on me, I will simply convert mine to an 03 model without the motor, as I only ride mine with the shield down, as I like the wind taking the pressure off my arms while riding. YMMV.

SupraSabre said:

Just for the record, I bought a brand new unit when I was re-storing my 2010 four years ago. I have put over 60K on it myself and most of those miles are from commuting. I constantly change the height while moving through traffic, but it is only an inch or two and anyone time! Pull regular maintenance on them and they should be good for a long time.

Click to expand...

I would appreciate more information on "regular maintenance". I have a 2010 ST1300 and I haven't yet done any maintenance on my windshield, but lately, it's starting to chatter on its way up and down so I was hoping to lubricate it to get some more life out of it. I don't have a clue as to what I should do.