169 replies to this topic

[dmmsta]

Nah, that's just bolt on chav bling. Lots more of it seen here

OK, so I choose a bad pic, but the Evo's do come out the factory with them on the rear of the roof...

[MCBodge]

I raised the lower edge (and sides) of my screen further yesterday.
The leading edge is now about 15mm away from the fairing.

Climbing the motorway slip-road I noticed that I could hear the exhaust more than usual which suggested less wind noise.

Riding at motorway speeds I was getting a bit more air hitting my chin than before so my neck warmer was being blown about a bit, but it did feel smoother and more comfortable sitting up at 'keeping up with the traffic' mph for 15 minutes or so.

I'm hoping to try a standard screen and maybe cut it to see if it is any better.

Edited by MCBodge, 15 September 2009 - 02:55 pm.

[dmmsta]

I raised the lower edge (and sides) of my screen further yesterday.
The leading edge is now about 15mm away from the fairing.

Climbing the motorway slip-road I noticed that I could hear the exhaust more than usual which suggested less wind noise.

Riding at motorway speeds I was getting a bit more air hitting my chin than before so my neck warmer was being blown about a bit, but it did feel smoother and more comfortable sitting up 'keeping up with the traffic' mph for 15 minutes or so.

I'm hoping to try a standard screen and maybe cut it to see if it is any better.

Weather & time permitting I'm going to try raising the leading edge on my std screen this weekend, so will report on findings.

I did read on another screen thread that lifting the screen all the way round did start to have a negative affect, so won't go too far...

After that it's "Tool Time", and I'll start drilling holes to see if that has any affect...

[pnb]

I am not very good at using forums! I started a seperate topic called screens and I guess i should have used this one. Thanks to everyone who replied.

I see that MRA do a touring screen for the TDM900 (not the Vario one) which is slightly longer and more upswept than the standard. Has anyone any experience of this screen, it looks a little like the Eagle screen which I have heard mentioned. I have already spashed out £80 for the tallest Yamaha accessory screen which doesn't seem much better than the standard one, and I am hesitant about splashing out more money on a screen which again may not work for me.

Unfortunately I am also not very practical so I don't think I would be great at cutting a screen down or drilling a load of holes!

Thanks for your help

PNB

[dmmsta]

I am not very good at using forums! I started a seperate topic called screens and I guess i should have used this one. Thanks to everyone who replied.

I see that MRA do a touring screen for the TDM900 (not the Vario one) which is slightly longer and more upswept than the standard. Has anyone any experience of this screen, it looks a little like the Eagle screen which I have heard mentioned. I have already spashed out £80 for the tallest Yamaha accessory screen which doesn't seem much better than the standard one, and I am hesitant about splashing out more money on a screen which again may not work for me.

Unfortunately I am also not very practical so I don't think I would be great at cutting a screen down or drilling a load of holes!

Thanks for your help

PNB

Simple test would be to put spacers on the bottom set of screws (closest to the headlamps) on the screen, and see if that makes any difference.
It has the same effect as the hole drilling, but is a lot less intrusive.
You may find that this solution goes a long way to helping solve your problem.

[Matt101]

I have already spashed out £80 for the tallest Yamaha accessory screen which doesn't seem much better than the standard one, and I am hesitant about splashing out more money on a screen which again may not work for me.


Thanks for your help

PNB

Find that strange PNB. I have borrowed a Yamaha tallest screen and find it bang on. So much so I am going to order one (unless e-bay turns one up first!).
Hope you find what you need to be comfortable. Can be annoying with the wind blast in the wrong place

Matt

[kiko]

I took two pieces of Lexan, each piece is about 6" x 8". I mounted the first Lexan piece at the bottom half of the fairing. The top of this Lexan piece terminates about 2/3 way up the fairing. Then I overlapped the bottom screen with another piece of Lexan screen on the top. The top piece begins about at the middle of the fairing and terminates about 30mm about the plastic fairing tops. I have a 15mm gap between the two pieces of Lexan that is fixed with spacers. It is like a Lexan sandwich with a 15 mm gap that is scooping air flow between the two screens. The scoop inlet is about in the middle of the fairing and it terminates about 3 inches beneath the top of the upper Lexan Screen. The top Lexan piece does not have the OEM lip. I think the most benefit came from eliminating the OEM lip.

Anyway, I'm sort of short at 5'6", but now the noise/turbulence is gone except for some wind smacking the tops of my shoulders. When I removed my rather large aftermarket mirrors, much of the shoulder wind is reduced. But I need my mirrors, so I may look into handlebar mirrors. My air pocket is now much cleaner. With a full face Caberg helmet, I am catching clean wind from the chin up now which isn't a problem for me at most speeds I normally ride.

Here is a bad photo, I stuck a piece of rubber between the two fairings in this photoshot only to give you an idea of where the gap is.



Here's a photo of the gap at the bottom of the sandwich:



Can't help but laugh at this photo, because when I see all of the bugs splattered on my fairing I am reminded of going to Harley rallies in the US of A and seeing the vendors who sell Bug Spray in aerosol cans to give your Harley the real poser image.

PS: I just love my TDM. It is the Ultimate Hooligan Bike, even for old farts like me. I jump curbs, ride up stairs to hotel entrances, and slash across roads that are really no more than goat trails.

Edited by kiko, 19 September 2009 - 01:21 am.

[Geordie Guy]

Kiko

Brilliant work, there are a lot of interesting ideas put in to practice there.

Never thought about the mirrors and I like the double skin effect.

Its obvious that the opening is quite big, bigger than my drilled pattern.

The spanners are coming out again.

any chance of a few more pictures.

Cheers, Ivan

[kiko]

No I did not try the cut down lip screen only without the lower Lexan sandwich in place. Part of my fairing has been repaired with some plastic epoxy and I noticed that it was beginning to crack up again after I installed my revised screen so I really don't want to mess with the screens and fairing anymore.

The reason I suspect that cutting off the lip is the most bang for the buck is when I test rode the bike with both screens in place, I placed my ungloved hand into the gap between the two screens at a speed of about 120km and I did not feel any rush of air coming up from the gap. Some air is coming thru the gap but not nearly as much as I suspected would be coming up.

So I really do not know if the gap is doing anything. Either way, it is a real relief to be able to ride fast again without all of that noise/turbulence blowing all over me.

[Geordie Guy]

I think you have cracked it Kiko.

I had a think about your idea of another skin and of course it makes sense.

The second skin channels the air up to where the eddies ( buffeting) is made.

On my screen I have the holes drilled in which did help.



But by adding a second skin the effect is dramatic. I used a tough black polythene to stretch across the back of the screen before screwing it down and cut off the surplus, so it was tight like a drum.



From the top you can see the gap.



Been out for a ride and its smooth as silk ......

I took it up to 75 mph and the ride is much better, at 55mph its like your just rolling along with no effort.

Obviously it is temporary, but it proves your point.

I will keep my eye open for something more ridged, but as an experiment.......

Its Brilliant.

Cheers, Ivan

Edited by Geordie Guy, 19 September 2009 - 06:34 pm.

[TimH]

I found my bike earlier than I had expected, so all my new riding gear hadn't come in when I had the bike home. As a result I ended up riding around in my old dirtbike gear for the first couple of rides. The wind noise was bad (peaked helmet and goggles ), but I assumed a new helmet would make it bearable. Was I in for a disappointment! New HJC helmet is just as bad. But on a ride yesterday I stood up at about 110kmh to stretch out a bit, and surprise! - It's nice and quiet up there! Just a faint whistling (I had foam earplugs in) from the sides of the visor, which is no doubt partially due to the cheap entry level helmet I bought.

So the plan of getting the head above the effect of the screen that a few here are using seems very sound, however I prefer the look of the stock screen and don't want to cut it down unless I absolutely have to. I'll be watching Ivan's latest experiment with interest - it looks close to stock but if it reduces the noise it will be a great fix. I've only had the bike a bit over a week and it's too soon to start drilling holes in the screen unless I'm sure it will work.

Made me get to wondering - what exactly is the point of the fairing/screen on the TDM? As far as I can see it just keeps the weather off the instrument cluster. If it's just cosmetic, there are plenty of (non-TDM) riders out there who might think that Yamaha missed the mark there too ... I'm surprised that Yamaha could get it so wrong to be honest, especially on a bike where they got everything else so right.

[AzzA]

I found my bike earlier than I had expected, so all my new riding gear hadn't come in when I had the bike home. As a result I ended up riding around in my old dirtbike gear for the first couple of rides. The wind noise was bad (peaked helmet and goggles ), but I assumed a new helmet would make it bearable. Was I in for a disappointment! New HJC helmet is just as bad. But on a ride yesterday I stood up at about 110kmh to stretch out a bit, and surprise! - It's nice and quiet up there! Just a faint whistling (I had foam earplugs in) from the sides of the visor, which is no doubt partially due to the cheap entry level helmet I bought.

So the plan of getting the head above the effect of the screen that a few here are using seems very sound, however I prefer the look of the stock screen and don't want to cut it down unless I absolutely have to. I'll be watching Ivan's latest experiment with interest - it looks close to stock but if it reduces the noise it will be a great fix. I've only had the bike a bit over a week and it's too soon to start drilling holes in the screen unless I'm sure it will work.

Made me get to wondering - what exactly is the point of the fairing/screen on the TDM? As far as I can see it just keeps the weather off the instrument cluster. If it's just cosmetic, there are plenty of (non-TDM) riders out there who might think that Yamaha missed the mark there too ... I'm surprised that Yamaha could get it so wrong to be honest, especially on a bike where they got everything else so right.

Cypher,

I wear a helmet that's been rated as quiet and I'm still wearing plugs for trips at hwy speeds... if I'm lucky I might be able to get away using some 10-15dB filtered plugs, but they'll have to be custom made, and that means after next payday.

You can emulate what Geordie Guy has done by loosening the bottom screws of you screen, even removing the middle one, and jamming in a small piece of rubber. This will form a gap at the bottom and allow air behind the screen, tighten the outside screws to secure everything. You could even try the twin-skin experiment this way by just making the skin out of duct tape. If you don't like it, you can then put everything back the way it was without any damage done.

Cheers,
AzzA

PS try riding without the screen, just to get a baseline for your helmet noise at normal seating position.

[Stormtrooper]

Might have to try the screen-less run and see how it goes. I don't find buffeting too bad, but I was getting around on a naked SV for a while so anything is likely to be more comfortable over distance.

I can say its no where near as bad as the V-Strom.... after 10 minutes at 100kmh I felt like I was going to need to rinse the inside of my helmet.... (maybe that's why Harley riders prefer open faced helmets....)

Cypher - in relation to the fairing/screen being cosmetic - its actually more noticeable over long distance and at highway speeds. I was exhausted after taking the SV on a 200km trip, mainly because you're constantly being hit with the wind and your arms are working all the time against it. The TDM is an absolute dream in comparison. No pressure on the chest, arms are nice and relaxed.... I'm liking fairings

[TimH]

Might have to try the screen-less run and see how it goes. I don't find buffeting too bad, but I was getting around on a naked SV for a while so anything is likely to be more comfortable over distance.

I can say its no where near as bad as the V-Strom.... after 10 minutes at 100kmh I felt like I was going to need to rinse the inside of my helmet.... (maybe that's why Harley riders prefer open faced helmets....)

Cypher - in relation to the fairing/screen being cosmetic - its actually more noticeable over long distance and at highway speeds. I was exhausted after taking the SV on a 200km trip, mainly because you're constantly being hit with the wind and your arms are working all the time against it. The TDM is an absolute dream in comparison. No pressure on the chest, arms are nice and relaxed.... I'm liking fairings

Most of my riding over the past 10 years has been on dirt bikes - the only bike I have to compare it to was my brothers XJ750 which I borrowed and rode as my primary transport for a while many years ago - it was an armchair on the open road at speed, very comfortable... in fact when I started looking at getting a bike again the first model I looked into was the XJ900 Diversion... however, the do-it-all reputation of the TDM won out (nearly got a V-Strom... glad I kept looking!).

I'm going for a run into SA next weekend (weather being kind) - 300ks there and back, mostly straight open road, maybe return on the dirt on the northern side of the river, check out Lake Victoria. That should give me some experience on the bike to work from ... I might take a few bits and pieces with me and muck about with lifting the edge of the screen....

[Studley Ramrod]

I chopped down a touring screen to around the same length as a standard and it cured the buffeting I was experiencing from using the standard. I even painted it !
Still needs a tad more removing to make it look right, but it aint gonna happen No more bibblybobblynoddying !

[mecrox]

I've drilled the Yam logo in my standard screen (thank you Geordie Guy). Looks great. It does make a difference and things are OK up to about 60, but at motorway speeds or above the wind gets tiring and the noise returns. For longer trips at motorway speeds the MRA Vario does help to keep the wind off quite a bit in comparison even though it is darn noisy on my set up. Next try, the dual screen idea using a polythene sheet or whatever.

[Geordie Guy]

Mecrox,

I used the back of a A4 folder from college in the picture.

I am sure I've seen some semi-ridgid black sheet somewhere, which I will try next.

But it is going to be a perminant fixture now.

Cheers, Ivan