Cee Bailey's Windscreen and Hepco Becker Skidplate reviews

[skidmark]

Just mounted these items up yesterday and wanted give my perspective on fit, finish and opinion of product. Sorry, no pics. You can see the product on line as well as if I was take to the pics.

First is the Cee Bailey windscreen. I went for the 20" light grey as the 22" would have been too high for me even in the low position. For reference I am 5'9" with a 29" inseam for whatever that's worth. Fit up was perfect with the tapered spacers and hardware mating up with stock rubber well nuts without issue or binding. I set mine in the low position. Stainless bolts with stainless domed, rubber backed washers. The domed washers flatten out once the correct torque is reached.

The finish of the screen is typical Cee Bailey high quality. I have had four Cee Bailey screens for different bikes and they all have been very high quality as it should be from a manufacturer that makes aircraft windscreens. Screen is thick acrylic and all edges are polished. Clarity is perfect with no distortion that I could see. Beautiful double compound radii flows with the lines of the bike perfectly. In my opinion the best looking screen out there. Not a wide ass barn door like some others but far more substantial than the stocker or say a Puig. There are cutouts on both sides of the screen for the mirrors at full lock and they center up well with screen in the low position. I would assume they would be ok in the upper position as well. BTW, I am not running handguards.

I went on a 150 mile ride after mounting it yesterday. Light winds and lots of grasshoppers!! The stocker for me was a miserable, unacceptable screen. It put windblast at about midchest and up under the chinbar. The windroar above 60 was deafening even with 33dba foam earplugs and a well fitting Shoei Qwest helmet. The flow was fairly clean but deafening.

With the new screen the wind flow hits me above the visor where it is managed better by the helmet to create a nice linear flow from screen to helmet. The upper edge of the screen has a reverse lip that lifts the air a bit to get a shorter screen to act like a taller screen and lift the airflow over your helmet. That's their theory and it seems to work. The side flows don't collapse on the side of the helmet so no real buffeting even at speeds up to about 85. Certainly there is some buffeting, especially behind another vehicle but no windscreen will stop that. The grasshoppers are out in the bazillions and you can see them come right at you then get deflected by the airfows up and over. My visor and helmet had no splats when I got home so I was impressed.

In clean air this shield manages the wind very well, better than I expected. More seat time will provide a better overall opinion but it's a keeper and really transforms the bike into a true touring platform, not just a low speed commuter.

Next is the Hepco Becker skidplate. I bought this as there are only two options for skidplates that are available. This one and HONDABIKEPRO's beautiful piece of work. My choice to buy this one was purely from a financial point. While Dale's plate is most likely leaps and bounds better this one was in my immediate budget. Maybe some day I can afford Dale's plate but for now this one will have to do.

The plate is very lightweight with the aluminum thickness miking out at 3mm. Not sure what grade it is but feels more malleable than most skidplate material. Finish was standard sheet aluminum cut, bent and welded to form the skidder. The welds at the angles were not full length welds for some reason. Time will tell if cracks will develop here. Depends on how bad I abuse it off road. The size of the unit was correct but the right side wing had to be manipulated out a bit with a crescent wrench for clearancing of the engine case. Same thing for the front of the skidder where it covers the exhaust cat.

Fit up of the mounts were a bitch. There were several of the mounts that I had to modify. The left rear mount is attached to the tranny sump with original bolts and didn't have enough clearance to get around the sump bosses. I could get one bolt in but the other hole would not line up because of the interference with the bosses. So, out came the grinder. Two minutes of grinding on the mount and problem solved. Same deal with the right rear but even worse. More grinding but again problem resolved. Luckily the front mounts were no problems.

Fitting up the plate required some manipulation of the mounts to get the holes lined up. This will make oil changes a bit more complicated than just removing the two bolt factory cowl. But that is to be expected with a skidplate. The mounting bolts are stainless with flush, beveled heads with nice beveled flush mount washers. Very clean. I already mentioned I needed to manipulate the plate a bit to get proper clearances off various engine components.

With an aluminum skidplate the sound from the engine is always reflected back to the rider so the bike is noisier. I could hear the engine very clearly. might be because of the windscreen as well. I also noticed I feel the engine vibes a bit more. Especially at about 3k rpm's I feel the engine harmonics as a slight repetitive "thrum-thrum" through the chassis. Probably because of the way the plate is mounted to the engine sump.

I am going to buy a quart of Herculiner and coat the plate in and out to deaden the sound and to keep the plate from getting trashed. Bare aluminum and rocks make for a bad combo so I think the liner material will take the abuse much better.

Overall, if I had the budget I would have bought Dale's plate. Judging by his products on here he seems to fab some very nice kit. But, budget is what it is. The Hepco Becker plate should do what I need it to do for the light to moderate two track roads I plan to tackle. If your intent is to really use the bike to tackle more serious, boulder infested trails then I would think twice about this plate. I think a serious casing onto a boulder would really damage the plate and with it mounting to the tranny sump could cause other problems as well. But honestly, if your boulder bashing with this bike you need to get a real dual sport bike instead.

Hope this provides a bit more info for those on the fence about these two items.

 

[showkey]

One small point the cat converter can and will operate at well over a 1000* F.............depending on close the skid plate is to the converter the bed liner might be small problem?????????

Small point because the stock cover is plastic............

 

[hermesco]

I also purchased the Cee Bailey's screen for my NCX, but my experience with it thus far isn't that great. I bought the 22" version, since the 20" version is recommended for those 5' 9" and less and the 22" for those 5' 10" and greater. Being smack in the middle of the breakpoint (5' 9.5" tall with a 32" inseam) I chose the taller version and mounted it in the lower position. The pictures on the Cee Bailey's web site show the screens mounted in the upper position, so I assumed their recommendations were based on that setting.

I experienced some turbulence at the top of my helmet with the lower setting, so I switched it to the upper setting – unfortunately, the turbulence seemed to get worse. I tried to determine where the turbulent air flow was coming from, and detected a lot of air coming from under the shield, below the handle bars and over the outer edges of the frunk. This air flow hits my torso and proceeds up my chest to under the helmet. When I block this air flow (with my hand), much of the turbulence goes away. It appears that the screen in the lower position blocks some of this air flow, which is why it seemed less turbulent in this setting. To further reduce the turbulence, I’ll need to further deflect the wind coming from under the screen.

Some other things to note:

1. I have a 30 mile highway commute into town with speeds in the 60-70mph range. The turbulence is obviously less noticeable at lower speeds.

2. Springtime along the Front Range in Colorado can be very windy. All of my rides since installing the Cee Bailey’s screen have been with 20-40mph winds. Since I’m riding in the foothills, the wind speed and direction can change drastically along the route. It would be difficult for any narrow windscreen (especially those with an hourglass shape - let alone wide windscreens for large cruisers and Gold Wings) to do well in these conditions.

3. <skidmark> “With the new screen the wind flow hits me above the visor where it is managed better by the helmet to create a nice linear flow from screen to helmet.”
I have an HJC IS-16 helmet (IS = Integrated Sunshield – the main reason for buying this helmet). This helmet is more susceptible to turbulence and noise compared to my previous Shoei Rf-900, so I’m a firm believer that a good helmet helps reduce both turbulence and noise.

Considering all of the above, I’m hesitant to simply purchase another windscreen (or helmet) hoping it would do better. Instead, I’ll experiment with additional wind deflectors (cardboard and duct tape initially) to see what works best to minimize both the wind blast and turbulence. If I find something that resembles a commercially available windscreen, then I’ll consider buying it.

 

[skidmark]

Quartering or cross winds are always gonna suck no matter what. Determining the effectiveness of a screen in these conditions will never be accurate. Just like the buffeting you get when behind other vehicles. The wind comes from every direction and rocks the helmet. Your helmet makes a huge difference. If it isn't snug it's gonna shake unless your behind a barndoor shield. Do you have a windblock for the chinbar of your helmet? Makes a huge difference in the air that gets under your helmet. Good luck in your search. Probably the single hardest thing to get right for enjoying your ride.