Anyone use a windshield?
 

Heya so I know they are apparantly banned from races but for day to day use would a motorcycle windshield help by either improving aerodynamics so that you need to use less energy to go at a certain speed or allow you to go faster on your day to day journeys, eg working as a courier or going long distances.

I ride a motorbike as well as a push bike and with them fairing help a lot with directing the wind around you so wondering if they could be useful on a pushbike as well.

I found this windscreen that weights 1.2 kg which would move my bike up from 9kg to 10kg so still fairly lightweight. But would redirecting the wind make a noticable difference?


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...bmy:rk:27:pf:0

https://www.notechmagazine.com/2013/...l-fairing.html

I used to Zzipper 'thriller' a long bubble of flexible clear poly-carbonate plastic.. I did it for weather more than speed ,around rather than through my jacket..

+ I could hear my cheap earbuds for Books on Tape , played on long rural trips home..

Like Jeff's in post 13, but wheel cut out longer and the brackets to the handlebars differed..






....

If I'm riding fast enough for a fairing to benefit me, then I'm thinking I'm generating so much heat that I need the air flow to cool my body, especially during the 95F plus days that will be here when my miles per week peaks in the early summer. Also would have to wonder about gusty winds. Sometimes the winds coming off the reservoir here can catch my wheel and make me pay attention, would a fairing catch more and turn that into a scare or accident?

Maybe not. Or maybe a plus for cold weather riding?

I know @hotbike has/does.

I have used a windshield. Every car and truck I have ever owned had one.

No aero effect/benefit from a fairing unless you are going at least 15-20mph.

Have a hard time believing aero benefits come into play in any significant way below 20mph. Dork factor at any speed will be way, way up there.

I tried a windshield on my Trek 720 converted to an e-bike, and removed it after one ride. It helped with reducing drag in a straight line. It made the handling in a cross wind TERRIFYING.

Interesting. I've ridden with front fairings on my Easy Racer recumbents for the last 17 years. While cross winds were noticeable, they weren't terrifying. I've been hit by 25mph gusts and been kicked sideways, but it doesn't affect the steering that much. Maybe having all of the fairing in front of the steering axis makes it unstable.

FWIW: I find that airflow around the fairing allows for normal cooling on hot days. My friends who use fabric body socks for additional streamlining wet the sock down for extra evaporative cooling.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c842092533.jpg

That's "MISTER Dork" to you! :)

They do help for aerodynamics if you're going fast enough. My experience is that it starts 'feeling' faster between 12-15 mph, and the net speed increase (on my recumbent) was about 2 mph.

I'm currently saving up for a velomobile. :) Although it's mostly for the wind/cold protection for my winter commute, since my current route is fairly flat, I suspect it will be a bit faster, even though it weighs about 25 lbs more.

The Windcheetah is a very fast machine:
https://media.treehugger.com/assets/...tah_021705.jpg

I use a motorcycle windshield for my faired bike. I'd been curving polycarbonate sheets for it but this was dirt cheap ordered from overseas so why not. It's a windscreen, Yamaha or Kawasaki or something like that, and was around $25.

A handlebar mounted windscreen on your diamond frame bike will help you a little bit aerodynamically but not so much that you'd really see it. If it's really large, like beyond your bar ends, you could get a net loss because of the larger area. It's more advantageous on a recumbent because (main reason of several) we're sitting more vertical on road bikes and we sit shoulders forward which is bigger than feet forward. So it takes a larger windscreen. Also if your surface has edges and angles it will eliminate the aero benefit.

That nails it. Even if it's not on the steering axis and frame mounted, if it's in front of the turning axis you'll get some instability. In my home designs it could get a little squirrelly if I made it too compact with not enough surface rearward.

I think I've seen photos of your velo, a beautiful bike.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...060e5dd5a0.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3911ccd09c.jpg
You might need a fork with more trail angle, lower head tube angle, for better stability, or get a recumbent. Or get longer handlebars, learn to heel into the wind , pilots land in cross winds, sailboats go faster in strong wind , but those sailors lean way over the rail...
Now the charts and graphs , from Douglas Malewicki, ©1983

"That's "MISTER Dork" to you! https://www.bikeforums.net/images/smilies/smile.gif "

Haha. Thanks for making my day!

Saw this team at the Hilly Hundred a decade or so ago - they were blazing fast but maybe that was because of the skeleton garments.

https://i189.photobucket.com/albums/...MG_0150b-1.jpg

Once, long ago, in a galaxy far away...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9ad952e909.png

AM Zzipper http://www.zzipper.com/images/prod_df/Untitled-5.jpg film era, when you could flip negatives & print them..