Laminar Lip.

[slybonesjesse]

The short version: Holy Sh*t. The long version: I had a Cee Bailey for years. Last summer I swapped by CB for a Rifle and went for a test ride. I liked a bit better. I liked the looks and the shape. I liked the base, etc. And it was a bit quieter. And the noise there is/was seems more of a constant. Whether 65 or 85 its about the same. Didnt seem to increase all that much, if at all. So I ordered up a Rifle and sold the Cee Bailey. I have had the CB money sitting here on the desk for quite some time. I really like the Rifle, but still wish I could reduce the wind noise. I have been considering spending that CB money on Lexan and cutting my own shields. I have posted here asking about cutting instructions, which 2Linby has some really good ones for those interested. I have been posting, dreaming, thinking, farting around for a bit now. Then doing some google searches I came across a thread on the other forum about the guy fairly recent who did the Laminar on this custom Rifle shield on the Connie, and how much it reduced wind noise. So I finally made up my mind and spent my CB money thats been sitting here for ages. I ordered a Laminar Lip. The guy on the other Forum ordered a GoldWing model, but since he as a wider than stock Rifle, it works for him. For the stock Rifle a 17.5 inch universal is the recommended model. The Fit: The 17.5 Universal is intended for a flatter shield as its curve is not near as much as the Rifle curve. So I called Leo and he says that you can flex it some, but just to mounted where the curve makes contact and that it will not mate flat on the ends. Looks a little strange at first. Wife and I spend about 2 hours on test fits, and marking things up with Masking tape. Huh Oh: I think I got it a bit too high. I am looking through it a bit more that I originally thought I had it set for. I guess I-5 would have been better before gluing on them 3M Dual Locks versus after. Seems the driveway and the drive in our complex was not quite enough. The Noise: What Noise. This thing is more quiet w/o ear plugs that is ever was before with ear plugs. @#$%ing amazing. I have not been this excited after a test ride on the Connie since I installed the Tokico 6-pot calipers a while back. I did a 20mi ride up I-5 being amazed at all the noise. Car noise, tire noise, I could not believe all the noise I was hearing that was NOT WIND NOISE. I pull off at my turn around exit and pop in the ear plugs. Ride the 20mi back home on I-5. Read the short version. In the end I think I will ride looking through the shield versus looking over for a while. Will see how it goes. I love how quiet this is so much I am willing to give it a try. 2003 Concours, 58K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[slybonesjesse]

With regard to height. The Original Cee Bailey was pretty good when I first got it. Could have been a tad higher but seemed fine. And such an improvement over stock. But as time goes on so does the Rick Mayer Saddle, etc. Over time I realize a straight back and proper riding position goes a long ways. I slouch too much. The Rifle was better since I get to buy it after all the goodies. Still with the 19" Rifle I look over the shield ok with my usual slouch, and look over it with only 20-30 feet with good posture. I have to exaggerate the slouch a littke to duck below it. But not much. I wasnt like I had to hunch down or anything. The Laminar Lip in its current position ( probably a bit high ) I have aprox 1.0 to 1.25 inches in vertical height. This is actually quite a bit it seems. Now with my usual slouch I look over the Rifle and through the Lip, with the edge sometimes being right in the way. This is the part I think I wont like. -- However I find with a proper riding position of a straight back and good posture I find I look over the Lip at about 50 feet or so down the road. Maybe 75 at best. Not measured just a WAG. The one thing I notice was no change in Wind noise whether I sit up or slouch. This bit of extra height of my body seemed to make no difference. And the real reason I went to append this comment was about the helmet face shield. With the Rifle and the CB the wind hit the helment in such a way as I liked it with the shield open. It was quieter with it open, versus closing it down. However of course I have had bugs come right over the top and splat on my glasses. But is was notiably quieter. I have seem many comment the same thing. -- And to the point, with the Lip in the current position it does not matter. shield up / shield down. No difference. I did this back and forth many times on the ride. 2003 Concours, 59K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[oldsawfiler]

Sly, I relate to the face shield noise. I do not like looking through anything, but wonder about the noise. Where did you get the lip? "If it hasn't killed me yet, it's runnin out of time" COG # 8062 AMA # 1084053 ROMA or Scarlet harlot acording to my wife

 

[slybonesjesse]

http://laminarlip.com/ 2003 Concours, 59K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[colinp386]

Hey Fred; Nice write-up Looking forward to doing a swap with you to try it out! CP

 

[EddieM]

Hey, Fred. Got any pictures of the installation? I have a Laminar Lip on my old OEM shield and was thinking about putting it on the Rifle I'm using now. Eddie COG Marketing Asst. Sanford, FL 2005 Concours 1969 Triumph Bonneville AMA# 686667 COG# 7073 CDA# 0136 http://picasaweb.google.com/Eddie753

 

[slybonesjesse]

Well I went out for a bit of a ride today. Nice weather. So its a bit dirty. I'll take some better pics later and make a page for the website. Remember they dont make a Lip specifically for the Rifle like they do the Stock Connie shield. For the Rifle they are recommending a 17.5" universal. And the stock Rifle is about 20" at the top. Note above that the 17.5 Universal is designed for a flatter shield than the Rifle. The Rifle has more curve to it. Here is looking at the front. Notice where I have the Dual Locks in on the curvature part and not out on the flat ends. I flexed it some. But Leo at Laminar told me about 1/2" tops on flex and it was ok mounted like I have it. http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/images/IMGP4430.JPG Kind of a crappy one from the side. http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/images/IMGP4431.JPG My vantage point. Although I see over it better than this shot. Just showing the shape and ride from the rider view point. http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/images/IMGP4434.JPG I noticed on the ride today that I was sitting up straight and it was just about right. I really need to leave it and stop slouching in the saddle. I think I can easily adjust to the height and will not bother to lower it for now. What I really have to get used to is the Dual Locks in the view. I do wonder if the height along makes the difference or if there is something to the shape. For my 1" vertical I would probably need 1.5" extra on the Rifle. Any one want to loan me a 20.5" Rifle for a side by side. The dual locks work great. This is now to make an adjustable rifle. Have the Rifle base, and a 16" base shield. With an 8" piece that over laps 50% for 20" total. And Dual locks in places where it could be total overlap for a 16", or partial at 18" and 20" raised. Also on the mounting. The Lip came with a bunch of the round coin size dual locks. I used 4 of them. It also came with a 2 long strips. And some stickers to cover the strips on the outside. The idea being you can mount the 2 strips to the Lip and then hide them with the Logo stickers. On the shield have a set of the Coin dual locks. Then you could move the lip up and down along the strip to raise and lower it. I might give this a try later this summer. 2003 Concours, 59K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[slybonesjesse]

http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieLaminarLip.htm Pics with it clean are here. Deleted the ones above. 2003 Concours, 59K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[oldsawfiler]

OK, Sly, according to other posts you now have over 1000 mikes on the lip. How do you like it for the long haul? "If it hasn't killed me yet, it's runnin out of time" COG # 8062 AMA # 1084053 ROMA or Scarlet harlot acording to my wife

 

[slybonesjesse]

I love it. This will remain on my scoot, and you will be seeing be brag the sh*t out of this thing. I did get around to lowering it a bit, and switched from the 4 dual lock coins, to using 6 coins on the shield ( 3 each side ) and the the Dual Lock strip on the Lip. I probably have a good inch or more of vertical movement I can adjust as I want. I have it about 1/2 inch vertical lower than before and this is the place for me. -- I will get some pics up for the new mounting later this week. You can see my responses about wind noise and bugs in 2 other theads this morning. Still loving this. Riding in the rain. Since I still look over the lip, just like normal, I still get rain on the face shield. And visibility looking down the road is basically not changed. -- Visibility down in front of the bike where you have to look through both a wet Rifle and a wet face shield is much tougher, but like it always is. -- Visibility in the section where you look through all 3 sections, a wet Rifle, a wet Lip and a went face shield seemed impossible for the little bit I had to do it so far. There is no visibility in the 3 wet layers. None. And this is high enough that you might need to adjust your bike position in relationship to traffic depending on speed, etc. Riding on the freeway or at speeds I dont follow close enough to be a problem. Riding in town doing 30mph I never realized I followed close enough to rely on looking through 2 layers of wet plasic to see tail/brake lights. Now you might want to reconsider following distances. Optically the Lip seems fine. As good as the Rifle shield and Cee Bailey I had before. 2003 Concours, 61K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[slybonesjesse]

http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/images/IMGP4692.JPG http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/images/IMGP4694.JPG Here are a few shots of the dual lock mounting with the 3 black coins on the shield, and the strip on the lip. This give about an 1" maybe 1.5 tops of movement with the way I have it right now. And with 6 extra coins they gave you in the kit I can change it some more if I want. The shot from the front, side shows the stickers covering the strip and the coins from view. Then a close up of the mounting from the back. I saw a lot of pics on their site with just the 4 coins like I originally did it. In the kit they give you 2 strips with 6 coins, a bunch of extra coins, and 2 stickers to cover the strip on the outside. -- I originally did 4 clear coins from stock I had. And kept all thiers. But this is a bunch stronger. Its way harder to get off now. 2003 Concours, 61K COG #6953 IBA 28004 http://home.comcast.net/~slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm

 

[timsatx]

Looking at the lip, and knowing that many people make their own shields, it would seem easy enough to just make your own and save a ton of money. Don't you think?

 

[oldsawfiler]

Don't think so. Have never seen one on a conk, but local dealer has a Multisrada Ducati with one on it. The bends look a little intricate to do without a form of some kind. "If it hasn't killed me yet, it's runnin out of time" COG # 8062 AMA # 1084053 ROMA or Scarlet harlot acording to my wife

 

[timsatx]

Yeah, but it cannot be any different than forming a windshield. A lot of people get some Lexan and form it. So all you would have to do then is get some super-velcro to attach it. That has got my mind turning now.

 

[colinp386]

I shelled out the $90 and while it does make a difference to my standard shield, it did not do as much as I would have expected! I'm kinda bummed I have not spent much time with it yet but its feels like its pushed the dirty air up by 3 or 4"

 

[mitchvon]

Gentlemen, have you considered that riding a motorcycle has a certain wind in the face factor? Just sayin'