windshield and handlebars

tired teamster said:

my friend eldon has a 09 spyder and loves it, but the windshield is to low
and the handlebars are to low and to far forward. he is 80 years old and
does not like to lean forward so much. he did not feel confortable on his
yamaha royal star venture anymore (they are heavy,i have one) and he does not use a computer, so i told him i would try to find out how changes could be made. thanks tt.

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There is a thread below this one - "High Rise Handlebars" which should adress one of your issues.

Regarding the windscreen.If you follow the US forums you will find that no other subject seems to bring so many different opinions than that windscreens.

In my opinion we are all different sizes and have different riding positions so for a windscreen to be "all things to all people" it really needs to be completely adjustable in angle and height.

There are many manufacturers but only 2 to my knowledge make adjustable Spyder Screens. CHAD is made by Industries 7 in Canada, I have tried these and they are OK. However I now run A Madstad screen. Mark from Madstad Engineering in the US has just released a very reasonably priced Spyder windscreen system that is adjustable to the extreme . This idea is not new as Madstad have sold thousands of their adjustable bracket sets for the Suzuki V-Strom over the past few years and people swear by them.


I thorough;y recommend Madstad RoboBrackets- see also Australian Spyder Ryders

ladyspyderz said:

I bought the adjustable windshield where I can lower it when riding around town, and extend up for highway riding.

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I assume that's one of Marcels "sliders". It adjusts up and down but not in angle as does the Madstad one.

Also Madstad (and CHAD) has a gap between the body of the Spyder and the screen to eliminate the negative pressure that causes much of the turbulence. You will see BMW screens are also spaced above the fairing and screens like the Calscience Spyder screens actually have a hole in the centre to try and stop the negative pressure behind a solid screen.

Many people have tried bigger and bigger screens on their Spyders trying to stop turbulence and buffeting only to find a smaller screen that adjusts completely can do a better job (and look neater IMHO).

While I am on it also be aware of what the screens are made of. Polycarbonate will scratch more easily than acrylic but acrylic may shatter into sharp pieces in an accident. You will see that some screens like CHAD actually have a DOT approval stamped onto them. I have seen on other forums photos of one of Marcel's screen shattered into sharp pieces.

You just have to decide whats right for you.