Hand Guards and turbulence

[skiphunt]

Hi,

I'm a new nc700x owner and user on this site. I'm still trying to figure out which windscreen I want to upgrade to, but wanted to share a bit of info I just discovered. I'd recently put some Trackside handguards on my bike to take a bit of the wind of my hands on the highway. In Texas, the temps get really toasty and the wind can feel like a hair dryer on high heat. I also like to take a bit of wind off when it's cooler out.

Anyway, I tried some cheap brush guards that wouldn't mount due to the location of the brake reservoir, so I got the next hand guards up which were the bark-buster style with more adjustments. They mounted fine, but they pointed downward some and I couldn't adjust the angle out of it. A friend tried also and then suggested rolling back the handle bars a bit.

At the same time I'd mounted the hand guards, I'd also moved my stock screen up to the upper mount. At this point I noticed a great deal more turbulence with alternating wind on each side. I'd assumed that it had to do with the new screen position. However, after I rolled my handle bars back about an inch I think, so that the handguards where now parallel with the ground instead of canted downward, the strange turbulence went away. I confirmed this with plenty of riding this weekend.

So, for those of you trying to fine tune your wind deflection... if you have hand guards installed and are getting weird buffeting/turbulence, try checking your hand guard mount angle as well.

 

[dog]

Good to know -- wouldn't have thought of it, but it makes sense.

 

[Nortwestrider]

Yup your right on the money!!.
I found that straight ( level to the ground ) with my Tracksides works best .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Naked_Duc]

I concur with NWRider. If you can manage to mount it straight on, the wind off the upper handguard would be redirected to the wind stream off the mirror, creating more protection. It would work quick well. As for mounting it straight on, I've found that by either taking off the bar-end (what I did) or grinding off half (NWRider), it would help move the handguard inward a bit and help you find a better mounting position. Give that a try.

On rotating the handlebars though... after you rotate it, make sure you rotate the controls back to its original position. Let's say you rotate the handlebar back, because the handguard is pointing down. Now your brake and clutch levers are pointing way up, which makes for an awkward/unnatural ergo, or even dangerous. Make sure you rotate your levers back down to it's original position. my 2 cents.

 

[ron700]

I can't seem to mount them straight due to the brake reservoir. If / when rotating the handlebars, it would defeat the purpose of rotating the controls due to the location of the reservoir. The brush guard mount also makes contact with my Honda tall screen mounting bracket/frame in full lock on both sides. The conclusion I've come to is to install 2" risers and rotate the bars a bit.
You mentioned removing the bar ends. Did you notice extra vibration or anything else unusual? That also may be an option for me, though I have the factory heated grips and not sure if they'd get damaged with the force of the brush guards pushing against the grip ends without the bar ends.