shorty cover

[w.steve wells]

i'm thinking of a shorty cover for the bike for when on a trip to protect against weather and wandering eyes, windshield to trunk type, would these type put undue stress on the windshield mounting screws? thanks for thoughts and ideals steve:Venture:

[Eck]

I would not think so.. At 70 plus MPH there is a lot of wind pressure on that windshield pushing it towards the rear of the bike...

The cover you decide to get should not be soooooo "tight" where it is actually pulling the windshield back towards the rear of the bike..in a hard "restrained" condition.

Here is a suggestion of what I just did to my half cover..to help ease the tension on the windshield.

I hand sewed (2) 3/4 inch wide black elastic straps to the lower front edge of the half cover and on the other end of the two straps I hand sewed on (2) pieces of Velcro about 4 inches long.

Under my Front fairing, in hidden view, and having one piece on each side of the fairing, I cleaned the areas and stuck the mating ends of the velcro.

When I place my half cover on the bike I pull down on the front of the cover and stick the straps to the velcro... my cover is not tight at all on my windshield but lightly snug.

If the wind blows hard, the elasatic portion of ht estraps "GIVE" and relieve the strain on the windshield..

I also added a "teathering strap" to each side of the half cover. The teather strap is hand sewed to the outer edge of the cover located aproximately near the rear of the divers seat on the cover itself. With these two straps (one on each side) they are about 3.5 ft long and I pull them towards the front of the bike and hook them to the front riding pegs so that the sides of the half cover is being pulled downward and forward again relieving the strian on the windshield and the cover is not being pulled towards the rear of the bike.

The rear end of the cover is wrapped under the rear trunk and it has a built in elastic strap around the whole rear edge of the cover.

It would take a good wind ot blow the cover off the bike but it would only be blown off the rear or the front... the sides are still tied down to the foot pegs and it would have to tear off these straps for the cover to blow down the street..

Hope this helps!

Eck

[Bushwacker]

Ckeck with Tour King Co out of Texas They have a real light nylon cover rolls up small covers half of bike easy to put on, been using this type since 1996 does a good job. At least I think so. Check their web site.

 

Bushwacker:322:

[Condor]

i'm thinking of a shorty cover for the bike for when on a trip to protect against weather and wandering eyes, windshield to trunk type, would these type put undue stress on the windshield mounting screws? thanks for thoughts and ideals steve:Venture:

 

I have one of those high priced half covers and they do look kinda cool, and do protect the bike when it's raining...straight down, but if it's not... or your in a dust storm... forget it. If you're looking for something that doesn't take up a lot of room for overnights pick up one of those 'El Cheepo' full covers from China off Ebay. I pick them up for about $17-$18 bucks delivered, and they will shed water and do the job, and since they aren't on all the time they'll last a very long time. They're also made out of a light weight material and pack up small enough to not take up a lot of room in the saddle bag. I even double them up for outside storage during the winter.

[PBJ]

Or do what Big Tom here in new york does and put giant granny panties on the bike. LOL:big-grin-emoticon:

[TDunc]

Alright now ECK and Steve, You have me thinking... I like the idea... Will keep the heat off the seat in the summer too. Quick to put on and balls/folds up into a small pouch sewn onto the side like an ENO Hammock.... HMMMM Thanks ECK and Steve

 

I think I will sew a "sock" so to speak to slide down over my shield with bungie lines on each side of the main rectangular cover front to back. From the side it will look like an "L" lying on its back. This way the shield and dash are covered with NO stress and all the stress will be front to back on the bungies.......

 

I use Nylon Ripstop for most of my tarps and the such for camping so I have alot of it lying around.... Be back in a few days with a cover and some pics.

Edited February 23, 2012 by TDunc

[awsmsrv]

Try here: Coveralls. He gives us a discount, too.

[w.steve wells]

thanks eck and bob for the great suggestions and help, i was just worried i cause more harm then good,glad to see thats not the case. lets all ride safe this year and hopefullt we'll see each other somewhere along the way , steve,

[Snaggletooth]

I'm just gonna throw this in here as I have had a couple situations in the past that caused me to change the way I use my half cover. If you're on a 2nd gen I wouldn't worry about it.

 

But on my 1st gen, I use a half cover almost daily while I'm parked at work. Keep the moisture and sun off it. I have always parked the bike there on the center stand. I've had a couple of times when the wind came up from the wrong direction and the cover puffed up like a parachute and got the bike to rocking pretty good. Now to look out a window and see that heavy old girl rocking like that is disturbing. If I park it on the side stand it don't do it at all. I'll stick with the three point landing from now on.

 

Never seen an issue where I worried about the wind screen but I've had it pull hard enough to bend my mirrors around a bit.

 

Mike

[Kirby]

I just recently purchased a "Bike Condom" and have been using it daily for about 3 weeks. It has elastic all the way around the bottom and it folds up really small compared to my full cover. It's seen some pretty strong winds in the last few weeks. Don't know how long it will last since it's pretty thin but so far it hasn't shown any wear. I work at night so it keeps the frost, rain, and dew off the seat and windshield pretty good. I think I paid less than 20 dollars for it. With my flag on the luggage rack I can't cover the trunk but I'm gonna get a folding flag pole some day. I took the flag off when I first got the cover just to see if it would cover the trunk as well, and it did. I just like having "Old Glory" back there so for now I just cover the front to the back seat.

 

Edited February 23, 2012 by Kirby

[alwrmcusn]

I use a Nelson-Rigg half cover. It takes care of the entire top half of the bike and is small enough to take on weekenders without encroaching on too much of our luggage space.