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► Modify message ( Re: 1500 front end mods )

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The windshield that was on the bike when I bought it was a factory shield, with the pointed top. I wear a full face helmet, and no matter what I did with the  height or the angle, I always got my head shaken like a paint mixer. I tried a national cycle street shield, and that helped some, but I went back to the full size windshield this past year, and added the soft lowers. I'm hoping that the last part of the issue is resolved with the fork mounted lowers. The paint is factory stock for the '01, and I'm having the fenders redone because the previous owner was an idiot. The "drifter" graphic was made by a local sign shop.  I  brought the bike home, and my wife looked at it and said "you're NOT going to paint it".  She's got that right.. only to preserve the original color scheme.  The handle bars and risers are from a 1983 ElectraGlide and a SuperGlide, respectively. I just couldn't get comfortable leaning forward and being spread so wide with the stock bars. I made a 1" extension for each side of my solo seat mount, and siliconed a 1x1 piece of wood on the frame rail to raise the back of the seat just a little.. that helped, too.  Like I tell my rider ed. students.....perfection is a journey, not a place.

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Topic summary

Posted by chief

- January 22, 2011, 17:17:41 PM

Buffeting is a product of seat position and the wind coming up from the engine guard area... so its lessened with good lowers. The wider the lowers the better. A wide screen doesn't hurt. Also if you have a visor on your helmet its gonna make the buffeting worse. I have harley lowers - which replaced my homemade lowers. The wider homemade lowers work a lot better for buffeting than the harley. But the harley lowers are chrome and work ok.

There is a pattern for the lower mod in the mods/tips area of the website.

Posted by Varooom

- January 22, 2011, 16:15:51 PM

Those look very nice and I love your paint and exhaust system too. One thing you mentioned, helmet buffeting, got me looking at your windshield. My Fire and Steel one from 1999 is so wide that it is outside of the hydraulic reservoirs, left and right, so I'm wondering if the narrower width on yours might be the reason you're getting buffeted. You say your bars are narrower than stock so the plexi must be real narrow.
Just wondering,
Varooom

Posted by Troll

- January 22, 2011, 11:47:49 AM

I have installed a set of lowers....Factory accessory for a Nomad, on my 1500. I think they Look pretty good, and only minor mods were needed to make them work. I took a picture of the (semi) finished installation. Please let me know what you think. I am trying to make this bike into a viable LDR touring platform. I also have a set of soft lowers for the guard bar, that I am quite happy with, but they didn't eliminate all the helmet buffeting. Maybe I'm too picky, but I like to be comfortable on a long ride. I haven't picked the fenders up from the painter yet, so the front wheel is just in place to help align the fork. I put progressive suspension springs in this winter, with my old standby fork oil, dexron3 automatic transmission fluid. It's a 7 weight oil that doesn't change viscosity with heat. The factory fish oil was quite disgusting. Just a side note, the windshield is a National Cycle Heavy duty, without the bead, for a Harley, and the handlebars and risers are also for a Harley. I found the original Drifter bars were just too wide for me, and put my back in an uncomfortable position after a few hours on the road.

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