Just Fitted a MRA Vario Screen

My new MRA Vario screen arrived today, so rushed out to the garage, fitted it and took it out for a test ride. Thought I'd share my initial assessment with you. I'm 6'5" ish (1.9m) and find the buffeting and noise at motorway speeds on the standard TDM hard work. I tried a few different settings on the adjustable 'blade' and found a click down from the highest setting seemed to work best for me, but there's still more experimentation to do. Buffeting around the helmet/shoulders is greatly reduced and wind noise is reduced by a lesser amount. I wear a Shoei Raid II lid which I think is noisey anyway, I've got a 'whisper kit' for it which will reduce wind noise further, but makes getting the lid on & off hard work. Anyway, I'm looking forward to a bit more high speed comfort in future.

Well in !! Is that on a standard 900 screen ?? I've yet to fit mine but can't decide whether to extend the screen first.

You seem to experience the same as I do. The Vario on my bike is best for me three clicks from lowest setting. And I'm 1.84 cm tall...

I also have a MRA double bubble (racing) screen. It looks better on the bike, buut I'm not convinced yet if it's better or worse than the Vario.
I have to use it a little bit more to find out...

Fact is that I have three different screens for my bike. The third is a stock Yamaha touring screen that was fitted on the bike when I bought it last year.
I put on a Vario spoiler on top of it to see if it would help getting rid of the buffeting. No, sir! Didn't help; made it worse, in fact, except at low speeds.

Then I decided to cut it short. I cut in in a straight line a little more than 10 mm (1 cm) above the top of the fairing.
Fitted it on the bike and got a more even wind flow, less noise but unfortunatley a lot of buffeting when riding in traffic behind cars. Alone on the road with no cars in front most of the buffeting went away...
Weird...

So now I use the MRA racing screen. For how long I don't know. I looks better than the Vario, but is it better? I don't know yet...

The stock low screen is the most quiet solution for me, but is also provided too much shoulder (upper arms) and helmet pressure when encountering strong headwinds on the freeway. That's why I installed the vario screen, since it had the vario flip and was wider (I didn't want it to be higher actually). At 1.90 meter, the lowest setting is the most quiet one. The highest setting I only use when riding high speed against the wind on longer rides. It makes the noise slightly more (it isn't that much anyway, it was much worse with bigger screens I had on the GS and T-max etc), but prevents a sore neck (or makes it slightly better at least).



Currently I got a BMW evo 4 flip up, but after 4 years / 120.000 km it slowly needs replacing. Still doubting between the Schuberth C2 and Shoei Multitec, both very quiet helmets even though they are flip ups (more quiet than a lot of full face ones as well). I'm even thinking whether the Schuberth J1 might be a suitable replacement, but I'm afraid it's too open on the bottom for me (and it will probably fog up too much without the pinlock).

Currently I got a BMW evo 4 flip up, but after 4 years / 120.000 km it slowly needs replacing. Still doubting between the Schuberth C2 and Shoei Multitec, both very quiet helmets even though they are flip ups (more quiet than a lot of full face ones as well). I'm even thinking whether the Schuberth J1 might be a suitable replacement, but I'm afraid it's too open on the bottom for me (and it will probably fog up too much without the pinlock).
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How did you get to try the above helmets without buying one? I am currently looking at the Shoei Multitec but have heard differing views re the noise.

I should have said that this is a complete MRA screen, not the blade part bolted onto another screen.



Interesting, I didn't try the lower settings in my brief test ride, reasoning that they'd be less effective. I'll give them a try out E-njoy, on the basis that your knowledge of aerodynamics will be better than mine. At least I hope it is for the sake of your passengers

Especially with your length the lowest possible setting should be more quiet (take into account the wind direction, speed and possible gusts which can greatly screw up any objective comparison). To truly compare the effect of the screen and effectiveness of your helmet simply duck down and rise up to stand on your pegs. If you dug down completely behind the screen, it should be quiet. If you stand up on the pegs, it should also be relatively smooth (depending on the helmet) and quiet. What you do with the screen / varioflip is to move that layer of turbulence higher or lower (I can adjust it while riding):



For your height to really get below it, you'd need a screen the size I had on my ST1100ABSTCS (that's not me sitting on my bike):



or on my PC800 (pre-digital era):



Only with a screen like that was I (1.90m) able to get the air over my head. But it also created a huge backdraft the faster I went and plenty of other rumbling noises. Be aware that rising the screen 30 cm will not lift the airflow 30cm, but more like (for example) 10 cm or so, depending on how tall the total screen length was and is, the angle, shape, width etc etc, because the airflow will only want to come back down even more the higher you go. I personally like the low screen setup best, having found out that it's so much more comfy (and less convertible-car-like) and quiet, as long as you have a good helmet. Disadvantage is that you will get more windblast which can be colder (depending on your helmet and riding gear) and more tiring. I don't mind a clean blast of air on my helmet so much, I do mind my arms / upper body being pulled back. For me the perfect screen is low enough to be quiet and turbulence free for my helmet, but wide and just tall enough to keep my upper arms and torso out of the blast. My Triumph did that very well:



The TDM does a pretty good job as well, although I might have wanted it just a few cm shorter. So stand up higher on the pegs, and hear / feel what it does (simulating no screen). Hanging way off from the bike to the side will be similar.

About aerodynamic knowledge for pilots, that's one thing you don't need to know that much about. Pull the yoke to make the houses look smaller, push against it to make them look bigger. Getting down is no problem either, so far aviation has a perfect track record (unlike submarines and boats). We never left anybody behind . Actually, I think more than 90% of all pilots don't even know the correct theory for lift. They did learn a theory, but usually it's the wrong one (the one that's also in most kindergarten books is also in aviation and pilots books). It doesn't really matter though, as long as you know where the panic button is located .

Edited by E-njoy, 12 April 2007 - 11:50 am.

I know! I should grow up...

TAM

I'm 6 ft 3 (1.89?) or thereabouts, and agree with E-njoy that lower to middle settings are better. I also left off the silicon rubber screen trim to reduce any edge effect - I think that may have helped.

I tried them out in several shops and on the intermot, as well as trying out the C2 and Multitec of a friend. I haven't ridden with them yet, although the last shop will let me try it out for a short ride. Won't buy them there though, online is about 80 euros cheaper for both those models. I got a lot of info from other mc fora, a Motorrad review that came out two weeks ago and these reviews as well, keeping in mind the tester has a more round head:

http://www.webbikewo...shoei/multitec/
http://www.webbikewo...chuberth-c2.htm

Motorrad put the Multitec on first place, then the C2, then the N102, then the new HJC FS-max (from memory).

Edited by E-njoy, 12 April 2007 - 06:57 pm.

Took a few shots of my TDM with MRA Double Bubble (Racing) screen this evening. They're to dark to put up here, but I will take another shots tomorrow and post one or two of them here.

I have ridden a week or so now with the new DB screen fitted. I think it looks good on the bike and it seems to take away most of the buffeting and noise. There's still wind hitting me in the upper chest area, but it's clean and predictable and seems to stabilize the bike noticiably more than when I used the stock Yamaha touring screen, a screen I'd say is dangerous with all that buffeting and turbulence it caused!

I will also put up photos of the shortened Yamaha stock touring screen as soon as I have cut it down a bit more to align it to the top of the fairing. The photo will show you what I mean...

A couple of photos for those who haven't seen TDM 900 with MRA Double Bubble screen...







The DB Racing screen looks good on the TDM, if I may say so... and it works OK also. Best effect (flow of clean air) if you don't have any traffic in front of you is my experience so far. It seems that turbulence from other vehicles cause some buffeting behind the screen.
The air still hit me in chest/armpit region, but not as much as it did with stock Yamaha touring screen (the one I have cut in half - photos of that one later...) and clean air a little higher up, on the helmet.

Windnoiz? Well, don't know actually as I use EARFoon earplugs, especially made for my ears (take a look here...).