Squished bugs inside the windscreen?

WTF?  How dis happening?   Our bikes have the little scoop at the bottom of the windscreen with about 3/4" space between it and the upper cowling until the dash 'falls away' and leaves the windscreen all alone above the instruments. My bike seems to collect squished bugs on the INSIDE of the windscreen down in that space where you can't easily wash em off.   That makes no sense to me....how the heck do they get squished against the backside of the windscreen, away from the direct airflow?   Anybody else have this happening or does my bike exist in an alternate universe where aerodynamics work backwards or something?

  On another note, I rode a fun twisty ride with a fellow on a 6th gen and I have to admire the bodywork on that bike..his was a 2002.   He was somewhat less effective in the slower tighter sections with his V-tech coming into play.  We two VFRs were getting coveting glances from the 996 Duck guy towards mile 150 and the Hayabusa...that was slower than us except flat out.   The big Suzuki twin was deafening with it's piston slap clatter and not so impressive in the hands of it's relativly new to the bike rider.    I found the Dunlop Q2 Sportmax rear tire to be a real pleasure to ride, compared to the Shinko Stealth I just used up....much 'smoother' side to side and lighter feeling...I think it has a more supple carcass..Three of the five bikes on this ride were on these Sportmax tires..coincidence.

Edit:  Just noticed you posted in the 5th gen section.  I was thinking about my 6th gen.

The bugs bounce and stick to both the screen and the dash on my bike.  I take a wet rag, stick in there, and let it sit there while I work on other stuff.  When I come back, the bug juice usually comes right off when I pull the rag back and forth a few times.

I've got to where I stuff a rag down in there when riding.  It lowers the height of disturbed air and helps cut wind noise.  Without the rag stuffed in there, I have to hold my head up unnaturally high to lower wind noise.  As a secondary benefit, I don't get as much bug juice with the rag stuffed in there, but it does look a little redneck.

BTW, at one time Rivcyko was making little bug blocker screens that mount on the nose.  Don't know if he still makes them.
Here's one on Kanadian Ken's bike.
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Hmm, I shall try blocking the 'slot' and see if the air flow around my head and shoulders is better, then.  If so, I'll devise a clean way to fill the gap and keep the bugs off.   It didn't matter when the bike was so ugly before I cleaned it up...in fact, squished bugs enhanced it's looks before, but now, with it's fancy new dark gray metalic paintjob....those ugly yellow and off-white bug innards stand out  a lot more.   The wet rag while doing pre-ride maintainence, that is a good idea too.
  Don Hanson

[image: View Post]gnarly928, on 20 May 2012 - 08:03 PM, said:

Hmm, I shall try blocking the 'slot' and see if the air flow around my head and shoulders is better, then.  If so, I'll devise a clean way to fill the gap and keep the bugs off.   It didn't matter when the bike was so ugly before I cleaned it up...in fact, squished bugs enhanced it's looks before, but now, with it's fancy new dark gray metalic paintjob....those ugly yellow and off-white bug innards stand out  a lot more.   The wet rag while doing pre-ride maintainence, that is a good idea too.
  Don Hanson
It may or may not help on your bike.  I didn't notice you posted in the 5th gen section.  Give it a shot and see how it does.

I dont have the bug zapper, but have thought of wadding up some screen or something in the hole, you say it actually quietens the wind, Im going to give it a shot. I assuming the hole is to reduce buffeting, so not sure if that will increase, reducing the airflow on the underside of the screen. Course a Rag is pretty straight forward, does it ever blow out?

[image: View Post]spud786, on 21 May 2012 - 06:25 AM, said:

I dont have the bug zapper, but have thought of wadding up some screen or something in the hole, you say it actually quietens the wind, Im going to give it a shot. I assuming the hole is to reduce buffeting, so not sure if that will increase, reducing the airflow on the underside of the screen. Course a Rag is pretty straight forward, does it ever blow out?
I'm speaking of the 6th gen bike.  It doesn't reduce buffeting, but changes where the buffet zone is located.  When I stuff the rag in on my bike, it lowers the bulk of the buffeting zone down below my helmet.  I'm 6'2" and I think the bike was designed to be ridden by somebody 5'4" where the air would go over his head.   :tongue:   I've had a rag blow out a couple times when I didn't stuff it in good.

I clean the bug guts out with a soft brissle bottle brush with a long twisted wire handle.  Much easier than removing the windshield.

[image: View Post]Bad Boy, on 21 May 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

I clean the bug guts out with a soft brissle bottle brush with a long twisted wire handle.  Much easier than removing the windshield.
Run a wet rag in there and leave it to let the bugs soak while you're doing other maintenance, chores, watching the game, etc.  When you come back out you can wipe them away with the rag or the brush with zero effort.  I clean my face shield the same way.  Just lay a wet rag across to let it soak, then wipe them away without any scrubbing.

I blocked-off the slot at the front of the screen ....not happening....It put the airblast right into my helmet....My neck got a real work out.   It was a windy day, but I took out the air dam and went back out and the screen then did it's job,  much better.  Honda engineers knew what they were doing when they put the opening above the headlight.   I'll use the wet towel method now...just clean the bugs out...but still, it just doesn't compute how those bugs can come through that slot and then reverse direction with enough force to splatter themselves on the backside of the windscreen....

[image: View Post]gnarly928, on 24 May 2012 - 02:33 PM, said:

I blocked-off the slot at the front of the screen ....not happening....It put the airblast right into my helmet....My neck got a real work out.   It was a windy day, but I took out the air dam and went back out and the screen then did it's job,  much better.  Honda engineers knew what they were doing when they put the opening above the headlight.   I'll use the wet towel method now...just clean the bugs out...but still, it just doesn't compute how those bugs can come through that slot and then reverse direction with enough force to splatter themselves on the backside of the windscreen....
Your 5th gen front end is shaped so different from my 6th that I figured it wouldn't work out the same.  The Honda engineers that worked on the 6th gen were obviously shorter than me. :tongue:

[image: View Post]gnarly928, on 24 May 2012 - 02:33 PM, said:

I blocked-off the slot at the front of the screen ....not happening....It put the airblast right into my helmet....My neck got a real work out.   It was a windy day, but I took out the air dam and went back out and the screen then did it's job,  much better.  Honda engineers knew what they were doing when they put the opening above the headlight.   I'll use the wet towel method now...just clean the bugs out...but still, it just doesn't compute how those bugs can come through that slot and then reverse direction with enough force to splatter themselves on the backside of the windscreen....

That hole acts as a vacume, if you watch it will suck bugs right in from 10 ft away, but yeah I have to screen both sides of the screen also,  It also launchs bugs at you at a high rate of speed.

[image: View Post]tbzep, on 21 May 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

[image: View Post]spud786, on 21 May 2012 - 06:25 AM, said:

I dont have the bug zapper, but have thought of wadding up some screen or something in the hole, you say it actually quietens the wind, Im going to give it a shot. I assuming the hole is to reduce buffeting, so not sure if that will increase, reducing the airflow on the underside of the screen. Course a Rag is pretty straight forward, does it ever blow out?
I'm speaking of the 6th gen bike.  It doesn't reduce buffeting, but changes where the buffet zone is located.  When I stuff the rag in on my bike, it lowers the bulk of the buffeting zone down below my helmet.  I'm 6'2" and I think the bike was designed to be ridden by somebody 5'4" where the air would go over his head.   :tongue:   I've had a rag blow out a couple times when I didn't stuff it in good.


I meant the Hole design was to aide in preventing buffeting, also if you run a taller seat , it will put you in better airflow.  Im going to try something in the hole, but not totally block and see what it does, I defintely dont want anything blowing out.

http://www.vfrdiscus...en-bug-busters/

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I use a wet rag wrapped around a paint stir stick to clean the bugs out.

Lemon pledge work great..

I vote wet towel on the whole front fairing and windscreen as well as in the bug slot.
I haven't noticed it to shoot bugs at me at high speed, but if it did, am not sure putting a screen there is such a good idea.
Unless you want bug guts splattered on you at high speed. :laugh:

I tried the rag in the relief hole, wind 3 to 5 mph conditions 80 mph Both directions, and removed it and installed while on the move and didnt detect a significant difference. I did another run and no conclusive difference. In total about 3 or 4 times I tried removing and reinstalling the rag.  The pressure does seem to drop earlier as you drop your hand down to the top edge of the windscreen with the rag installed. There may be some difference but there's no solid evidence that I saw. Now I run a slightly taller seat , so my windstream is alittle better than the standard noisey one.   But tried raising my head up and below, and where I sit is about the best as it gets.

Im still running the rag, cause I see no obvious negative side effects, there might be in certain situations it is less noisey, I just didnt see conclusive evidence, yet why did I seem to like the Rag?????????????????


BIke seemed to be fine at post 100 mph with the rag

Beats me, Im going to spend more time with the rag so that im very acustomed to it and then remove again

Second day with Rag installed, wind conditions 10 to 15 mph speeds up to 100 mph and going against Headwinds. I ran with and without the rag a few times and very hard to Prove a noise difference, but some how I seem to like the rag. I think there is a 1 or 2 decibal difference with the rag in certain conditions. I run an ear bud for my RD, and only light cotton in the other ear.

I think even if there's no real noise level difference, there were times I heard higher Pitch levels with out the rag, verses with the rag.  Thus far Ive not ditched the rag, I like it for some reason.

Foam rubber and then makes a great storage area  .......................................

[image: View Post]spud786, on 28 May 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:

Second day with Rag installed, wind conditions 10 to 15 mph speeds up to 100 mph and going against Headwinds. I ran with and without the rag a few times and very hard to Prove a noise difference, but some how I seem to like the rag. I think there is a 1 or 2 decibal difference with the rag in certain conditions. I run an ear bud for my RD, and only light cotton in the other ear.

I think even if there's no real noise level difference, there were times I heard higher Pitch levels with out the rag, verses with the rag.  Thus far Ive not ditched the rag, I like it for some reason.
Results will vary based on your head's location relative to the buffet zone, both head height and forward lean will factor in along with speed.  For general sane cruising speeds, the rag helped lower the louder buffeting down below my helmet.  Without the rag, I could stretch and get my head over it, finding smoother and quieter air flow (6th gen), but that's not a comfortable way to ride.  Since each rider is built differently, even two people of the same overall height may have a body structure and riding style different enough to place the helmet location several inches apart, giving different results.  Helmet style, fit, etc. also comes into play if the buffet zone hits an area of the helmet that is more resistant to noise than another.

[image: View Post]tbzep, on 28 May 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

[image: View Post]spud786, on 28 May 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:

Second day with Rag installed, wind conditions 10 to 15 mph speeds up to 100 mph and going against Headwinds. I ran with and without the rag a few times and very hard to Prove a noise difference, but some how I seem to like the rag. I think there is a 1 or 2 decibal difference with the rag in certain conditions. I run an ear bud for my RD, and only light cotton in the other ear.

I think even if there's no real noise level difference, there were times I heard higher Pitch levels with out the rag, verses with the rag.  Thus far Ive not ditched the rag, I like it for some reason.
Results will vary based on your head's location relative to the buffet zone, both head height and forward lean will factor in along with speed.  For general sane cruising speeds, the rag helped lower the louder buffeting down below my helmet.  Without the rag, I could stretch and get my head over it, finding smoother and quieter air flow (6th gen), but that's not a comfortable way to ride.  Since each rider is built differently, even two people of the same overall height may have a body structure and riding style different enough to place the helmet location several inches apart, giving different results.  Helmet style, fit, etc. also comes into play if the buffet zone hits an area of the helmet that is more resistant to noise than another.


Im really surprised at your Height, your not above the noisiest part of the airstream as a norm, which is about 6 inches above the windscreen, raising my seat an inch took me out of that zone, I didnt do it for that reason , it was a side effect. Maybe you have long legs, verses long upper half.

But yeah, i can stand up squat down , and Im in the quietest area offered.  Back when I was testing wind screens, the taller the winscreen the noiser the ride unless you actually put your head  below the top lip, cause taller screen brought that noise area closer to your ears.


One thing I discovered with the rag, the no airflow zone begins about 2 inches above the top of the screen, verses no rag, you have to get below the lip of the top of the screen before wind flow fades, But my head doesnt spend time in that area.

[image: View Post]spud786, on 28 May 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

Maybe you have long legs, verses long upper half. I do, and that's why we have different results.  I'm also using a Sargent seat, but I can't recall if it's any lower than stock. Thank goodness for tall riding boots and long gauntlet gloves or I'd never find good riding gear. :smile:

[image: View Post]tbzep, on 21 May 2012 - 12:36 PM, said:

[image: View Post]Bad Boy, on 21 May 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

I clean the bug guts out with a soft brissle bottle brush with a long twisted wire handle.  Much easier than removing the windshield.
Run a wet rag in there and leave it to let the bugs soak while you're doing other maintenance, chores, watching the game, etc.  When you come back out you can wipe them away with the rag or the brush with zero effort.  I clean my face shield the same way.  Just lay a wet rag across to let it soak, then wipe them away without any scrubbing.

I too do a wet rag, down into the slot, then pull it out the other side and let the rag get into the places my hand cannot

This is now my second year with the dark windscreen, and what I have been doing since day one is washing it, and my helmet too, with a microfiber and RainX Winshield Wiper Cleaner. I think the RainX is building up as the bugs seem to come off a lot easier

I just pour some of this straight, into a spray bottle, and then wet my rag with the spreay bottle

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