Fitted a Puig screen to the SH300
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:44 am
I bagged a Puig screen off of Ebay at the weekend and it arrived yesterday. I opened the packaging and was immediately disappointed in the mounting set up. It was two simple brackets which mount under the mirrors and then the screen mounts to them via two slim bars. To me this just isn't substantial enough for a scoot that will hit 90mph. Maybe okay on a moped etc but not a 300. The wind force is too great for such a feeble mounting and on my Leonardo a similar set up snapped twice and I had to weld the brackets back up. It really should have gone under the handlebars and into the Honda mountings as this would have double braced it.
Anyway I fitted it in about 20 minutes and it couldn't be simpler to fit. Now I'm starting to like it a bit more. It sits about an inch or more higher than the mirrors and doesn't look half bad and has a nice light tint to the screen. Sitting on the bike it looks like its low enough down to not give brake light glare in the rain at night, but high enough to afford me some protection.
So I ride to work with it this morning. First thing I notice it has (of course) put some turbulence at head height. I'm 6'2" so it may be less for smaller people but its there for me. I open my visor and its not as bad and I'll be interested to see what its like with my open face which I normally wear in summer. Anyway I expected some wind noise with a screen and its certainly not as bad as some I've had so that's a plus point. I can feel the wind around my shoulders but nothing anywhere on my chest and it appears to be deflecting wind around my hands too which is another plus point. The biggest plus point though is removing the wind from smacking me in the chest has made the scoot much more usable at higher speeds. I quite often found I was only riding at 55-60mph which was due to the wind hitting me square on. I'd hoped the screen would improve things and it has. I came into today at my ideal cruising speed of 70-80mph. So its made the scooter a much better bike for me. Hopefully the increased aero dynamics will off set the reduced mpg but i'll probably not worry too much about that anyway.
So if the brackets hold up it looks like it was a good buy and it was certainly something the SH300 was crying out for!
Anyway I fitted it in about 20 minutes and it couldn't be simpler to fit. Now I'm starting to like it a bit more. It sits about an inch or more higher than the mirrors and doesn't look half bad and has a nice light tint to the screen. Sitting on the bike it looks like its low enough down to not give brake light glare in the rain at night, but high enough to afford me some protection.
So I ride to work with it this morning. First thing I notice it has (of course) put some turbulence at head height. I'm 6'2" so it may be less for smaller people but its there for me. I open my visor and its not as bad and I'll be interested to see what its like with my open face which I normally wear in summer. Anyway I expected some wind noise with a screen and its certainly not as bad as some I've had so that's a plus point. I can feel the wind around my shoulders but nothing anywhere on my chest and it appears to be deflecting wind around my hands too which is another plus point. The biggest plus point though is removing the wind from smacking me in the chest has made the scoot much more usable at higher speeds. I quite often found I was only riding at 55-60mph which was due to the wind hitting me square on. I'd hoped the screen would improve things and it has. I came into today at my ideal cruising speed of 70-80mph. So its made the scooter a much better bike for me. Hopefully the increased aero dynamics will off set the reduced mpg but i'll probably not worry too much about that anyway.
So if the brackets hold up it looks like it was a good buy and it was certainly something the SH300 was crying out for!