Cut Madstad down?

[nemesis98]

For those of you that may recall, I am the owner of probably the biggest Madstad windscreen in the world - when I ordered, I was told that a whopping 24" size would be best for my height - so I ran with it and had it shipped to me.

I installed it, and it worked great - except for the glowing edges and the reflective headlight in the bottom portion of the screen. But this thing is huge! (see pic)

Since then, I have removed the Madstad (I just couldn't take the glowing/reflection, plus it's butt ugly and gigantic!) and replaced with a Puig, drilled to fit the Madstad brackets, so it's still adjustable. I like the Puig, and it looks fantastic, but yesterday I was thinking - could I cut down my Madstad, make it look a bit sleeker, and still maintain it's awesome wind protection?

I was drawing up a few mock-ups, and the basic shape of the Puig seems to look the best (to me)

Do you think having a bit larger Puig shaped Madstad would still work well?

 

[ST13Fred]

My Parabellum is 26" (I'm 6', 33" inseam) and works fine for me. You have the tallest Madstad but I have the tallest..........period!
I extended the handlebar cutouts and used a black magic marker to 'paint' the entire shield edge, which ALL shields should have, to eliminate the 'glow'.

 

[mreric]

you can use flat black spray paint , spray the bottom part.

 

[hojo]

Before painting it, how bout a tint, do they sell tint at Auto Zone or Advanced Auto?

 

[670cc]

I suggest drilling a new set of holes about 1.5 inches higher to lower the screen. I think it looks better lowered. Then paint the back side of the bottom 2 or 2.5 inches Rustoleum Textured Black for Plastic. You also need to black out the edge so it won't conduct light from the running lights and headlight. If it's still too tall then you can cut down the top.

I first tried tinting the lower part with Night Shades spray tinting for light lenses. Maybe it was my technique, but the result was horrible. I stripped it off.

 

[kpinvt]

I suggest drilling a new set of holes about 1.5 inches higher to lower the screen. I think it looks better lowered. Then paint the back side of the bottom 2 or 2.5 inches Rustoleum Textured Black for Plastic. You also need to black out the edge so it won't conduct light from the running lights and headlight. If it's still too tall then you can cut down the top.

I first tried tinting the lower part with Night Shades spray tinting for light lenses. Maybe it was my technique, but the result was horrible. I stripped it off.

I did the same thing on my 20" Madstad shield. 1.5" (or 4 cm) higher holes, Plasti-Dip Matte Black to the bottom three inches of the shield. I had some over-spray from painting the bottom edge that lightly tinted the upper part of the shield. I did that to block the light from the headlight that would radiate from the top edge of the shield at night. It looks OK so I'm leaving it as is. Pictures:

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-mods/8722-painted-madstad.html

I painted the underside of the shield, the side that faces the rider, so it would wear longer, look nicer from the front of the bike. Sort of like how Apple paints their laptops, white paint on the underside of the clear plastic.

 

[MichaelJohn]

My Parabellum is 26" (I'm 6', 33" inseam) and works fine for me. You have the tallest Madstad but I have the tallest..........period!

Ha! A "mine is bigger than yours" post...and I thought this forum was above that. On a serious note, I know that most say that the Madstad is the best but I just don't like the look of it. I'm 6'1" with a long torso (32" inseam) and have found mid-sized windscreens lacking. I would rather have nothing than have that damned helmet buffeting. I would imagine that a 26" screen would eliminate buffeting, right? Could you post a pic of your bike with your "tallest of all" Parabellum? I would love to see what it looks like.

 

[nemesis98]

Ha! A "mine is bigger than yours" post...and I thought this forum was above that. On a serious note, I know that most say that the Madstad is the best but I just don't like the look of it. I'm 6'1" with a long torso (32" inseam) and have found mid-sized windscreens lacking. I would rather have nothing than have that damned helmet buffeting. I would imagine that a 26" screen would eliminate buffeting, right? Could you post a pic of your bike with your "tallest of all" Parabellum? I would love to see what it looks like.

I second the post for pics of the Parabellum - would love to see what that looks like - and I though mine was tall - 26" - whew!

 

[echo15]

I kept cutting down my Triumph Tiger 1050's windscreen till the buffeting finally stopped. It was kinda ugly, but I cannot stand feeling like someone is slapping the sides of my helmet.

 

[ST13Fred]

I've drilled a 2nd set of mount holes and have it as tall as possible. Notice the huge hole (s) 2 1/2" above originals.
I'll be calling Brenda @ Parabellum this week. I asked for the 26" tall and have a 24" 'tall'? But I have this one as tall as possible for my frame. I look over it at about 2-3 car lengths ahead.
The top of the shield is 28 1/2" above the seat, that is also jacked up 1/2" above factory.

 

[nemesis98]

I just drilled new holes in mine, maybe 2" higher than the originals, lowers the shield at full adjustment down so the bottom is at the top of the headlight, this give me lots of upwards movement to make it as tall as I want (it's pretty tall now) as well as angle back and forth movement.

But in doing so (and possibly even before hand, not sure as I did not have hand-guards then) I can no longer have my hand-guards on - they touch and push the windshield at full left/right lock (and even before that)
That's what your nice cut outs eliminate. Maybe I'll make some cut outs in mine similar to yours...

But for now, will see how it works tomorrow on the ride to work. And I might have to do what you did to the edges - paint or mask over black to get rid of the glow (haven't seen that yet either - still light out)

 

[nemesis98]

Here are pics of the newly drilled Madstad shield
Looks a bit better now (I think - still a big shield and very wide - but looks a bit better)




I hated the way it looked before - always thought it looked like one of the Queens Guards in England:

 

[hojo]

Are you saying the Queen Guards are ugly?

 

[ST13Fred]

still a big shield and very wide - but looks a bit better)

That shield is a monster, for sure, because of its' width.

A 26" Parabellum on an NC is curved much more than yours' and looks smaller for that reason. I had 26" Parabellum on an ST800ST but looked bigger because it had less curve.
Air rolling over the top of a shield is the noisy air if it hits the helmet and is the area of concern. Less frontal area is OK as long as its' tall enough.

My Motus has a KTM style front end but the Parabellum KTM 1190 shield has a different mount setup. I'll probably send them my OEM shield w/lots of pictures to get a tall version.