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How much wind noise ????

D

dhescheles

Guest
I'm a new owner. This is my first road bike. I ride a r1100 rt with new Cee Bailey windscreen.

I find that I get a lot of wind noise especially during highway riding. Yesterday I rode from Ann Arbor Mi to Toledo OH (about 60 miles).

I found when I got off the bike after about an hour that I had a bit of a head ache and pressure on my sinuses.

I ride with a good quality modular helmet and use earplugs for rides of this length.

Is this just how highway riding is?

I compare the noise level to riding in a top down convertible car. After a while the noise gives one a headache.

Thanks for any suggestions or insight.
 
www.saeng.com sells a product they call microswirl edging that does a great job.It's not cheap,$12.50 a foot,min order 3 ft., but,it does do a good job of moving the air up and over your helmet.
 
Is there any room for adjustment of the windscreen? The CB on my 2005 RT has a sweet spot, when I raise it just high enough to see over and things suddenly get much quieter.
 
With a good full face helmet, and a quality earplug placed right you shouldn't have any problems.

Also sounds like you may have a sinus infection.

Easy:german
 
What causes the noise?

My opinion is that turbulence is the problem. I have have ridden Electra Glides, LT's, RT's and have found (for me) that the turbulence from a large windshield causes much more fatigue than a much smaller screen that allows clean air to the helmet.

Unless you want to look through a windshield you won't get away from noise.

I have a GL1800 with a big honking windshield and it is a much louder ride than my
90/6 with a Natl Cycle sport shield.

But the big windshield wins the bug squashing contest all the time!!!
 
I agree with the sweet spot. I have the CB on a 99 r1100RT and when the screen is all the way up, the noise is minimal. I also noticed that my helmet vents create some disturbance/noise. You might see how much of a difference that makes.
 
Turbulence from the windshield will cause more vibration on your head than noise, the kind that makes your eyeballs shake and contributes to fatigue over time. Put the windshield up and the vibration and noise is less because the wind velocity on your helmet is reduced. Basically experiment with good earplugs and keep your windshield up.

I read a short tip in ON several months ago (last year?) in 'Touring Tips' where a guy said that noise comes from wind traveling over sharp edges, like on your helmet visor. He suggested placing string along the top of the visor to smooth out the edge.

That concept makes a lot of sense to me. I experimented crudely by placing my hand over the top of my visor at highway speed to block the air and it made a difference.

So just last week on a 120 mile ride I put scotch tape all along the top of my visor and rode for a few hours. What a difference! Now I am convinced! But tape won't cut it since I can't crack my visor open when I stop to let some air flow or tip the whole front up at gas stations to talk with buddies.

So my next step is to find some kind of weatherstripping that will somehow attach to the top of the visor securely and let the visor tip up or the front of the helmet tilt back. Needs to be sticky to the visor yet pliable to curve with it, with a smooth edge to lay back on the helmet. May not be easy to find but I think this is an idea that someone could run with.

Anyone have any ideas?

Jerry
 
Those of you having trouble with noise are probably all relatively tall - like me (6' 3"). The turbulent blow off from the top and from the side of the windscreen impacts the top of the helmet near the forehead.

The result is the helmet bottom vibrates mostly in a narrow band random noise in what I call the bell mode. in which the ear areas go in and out together, while the mouth and back-of-the-neck areas go out and in together (read that again carefully). That resonant frequency is on the order of about 70 to 80 Hz or so. The ear drums really catch it, and the vibration mode (going in and out together at the ears) is such that it sort of feels like the noise is originating in the center of the head.

The helmet-ear system is also sensitive to lateral vibration induced from that same turbulent blow off.

I don't have an answer except sometime I want to drill a bunch of 1/4" dia holes around each earpiece in an old helmet to see if I can get a reduction in dynamic ear pressure.

Rapping the helmet forehead area with a finger tip with the helmet on is interesting in that taps at the very center sound differently from taps on either side.

My trouble though, I had a virus last January that took out my hearing in my one good ear, so any more diagnosis is impossible.
 
get some earplugs!

go to the drugstore and get yourself some foam earplugs. they may take just a little bit of getting-used-to, but not as much getting-used-to as hearing loss and tinnittus. They're far far less expensive than hearing aids. Heck, they're less expensive than hearing aid batteries! I speak from experience. You can still hear all you need to hear quite well. It's a lesson I learned too late.

Plus they come in handy on lots of other occasions, like trying to sleep at rallys when others are up later or earlier than you. :ear
 
If you had ear plugs in the sinus issue may indicate allergies, I have the same issue starting when the leaves begin to fall and it continues until November.
 
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