A serious case of GS screen turbulence ...

Wolf GB said:

Have you tried putting the seat in it’s lower position, made a huge difference to me. Standard GS screen no problems.

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My seat is in the lower position and is a low seat. I used the System 7 in both configuration: open face helmet and with the flip on. I don't have any problem that the OP has. Looks like we are the same height as well. Strange. I had a 1200 RT back in 2013 and the on the first LC the screen was as good as the RT Sport screen.

I’ll be selling a PUIG clear screen with a deflector and CyMark brace later in the week.
Pm me if you are interested.

Standard screen on my 1250 GS TE, 5'10/11 - no turbulence or noise issues - I always wear one use foam ear plugs.

Shoei Neotec helmet - all good.

RedRick Esq. said:

Once upon a time a chap had to attach wheel balance weights to the underside leading edge of Arai Tour X peaks to stop the resonance/vibration

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I have already done that
T700 is a bastard for screen buffeting with a Tour X4

theoneandonly said:

https://www.aeroflowscreens.com/BMW_R_BIKES.html .

possibly the best money i ever spent.

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Tell me more, which height did you go for? Where do you buy these from? Have you had a GIVI AF330 to compare it to?

I have 2021 R1250GS. Had huge turbulence/buffeting problem since day one. After many trial and errors and money spent, settled finally with Wunderlich Marathon screen, MRA spoiler, 20mm spacers on lower screen mounts (so the screen is tilted towards me) and side wind flaps. The combination of all of this factors solved the buffeting 100%.
The wind noise persisted but that didn't bother me much as I use ear plugs. But there was one problem. There was one clean air stream hitting my chin and entering the helmet from bellow (even with chin curtain) and the traveling to my eyes, making me cry all the times. Eyes watering became somehow dangerous in winter because it was bluring my vision. I tried so many things but that air stream was simply there all the time and as it was cold in winter, my eyes were watering too much.
One day I remebered to try to remove OEM hand guards, just to see if there was any difference. Well, it was huge discovery for me. That stream I'm talking about had disappeared completely and wind noise was reduced by 50%.
So I ordered Burkbusters to replace OEM hand guards and after installing them I couldn't be more happy. Problem solved.

some experiences

My GS1250 came with the fancy aluminium mirrors and it appears to be better than the two 1200LCs i had before. so i think small things can make big differences....

i also have a Shoei Neotec and when i first wore it the noise was terrible, it sounded like my head was in a bucket ! removing the chin shield from it massively improved it. I have also noticed if i use foam ear plugs, if they are not inserted far enough into my ears and they are therefore touching the padding in my helmet, the noise is also bad. I bought some of the moulded ear plugs with speakers from one of the bike shows and these also proved to be crap at keeping out noise, although comfortable !! I have some cheap Skullcandy "Inkd wireless and although not as comfortable, the wind noise is fine (when playing music).
I am 5 10 tall.
i tend to have the screen almost in it highest setting, it is a standard GS.

Just thought worth mentioning, as some of the biggest differences, have come from things I would not have thought would have.

Cheers

I have an E1... I had it for a year with a Triumph Scrambler 1200XE, lovely quiet helmet. Fast forward and went back to BMW with a 1250 GSA... I've had GSA's before, but the buffeting was awful, changed the screen to an MRA and that was so much better. Still not the best though. So took the peak off the E1 and that was it all sorted for me. I know its supposed to be an adventure helmet, but Id rather live without the peak than the noise.

Well i commuted home yesterday and wound the screen to the lowest setting and entered the motorway.

it did actually help with the buffeting, but obviously opened me up to clean in the face air.
Although it did surprise me i wasn't blown away at 70mph, on a long journey this still wouldn't solve the problem.

luckily my motorway section of my commute is only a couple of junctions, so everyday isnt a problem its mainly when i travel.
I am going to Scotland and the Portsoy camp with this forum in a couple of week, i might fit a new screen before then and see how it goes.

developer said:

At 5'11" I'm very impressed with my Puig Touring - turbulence free visor up riding past the legal limit, however, airflow is restricted, so not so good in the warm weather.

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For those using the Puig Touring screen, do any of you have winglets or hand guard extensions fitted? I'm beginning to question whether a big contributor to turbulence is the Wunderlich winglets, plus I also have the Perspex Givi hand guards, I hadn't considered previously that these might add to the issues!

Bobbin-Man said:

For those using the Puig Touring screen, do any of you have winglets or hand guard extensions fitted? I'm beginning to question whether a big contributor to turbulence is the Wunderlich winglets, plus I also have the Perspex Givi hand guards, I hadn't considered previously that these might add to the issues!

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Not answering your question specifically but on my previous 2011 GS I used a a GIVI AF330, which as said was brilliant. I thought I’d make it even better by adding genuine BMW adventure winglets. They introduced turbulence and I soon removed them.

For what it's worth - my experience.

Height 5" 10"
E1 Helmet with peak, (personally find that's massively useful in strong sunlight, so have it on 90% of the time).
Always wear ear plugs.
GS 1200 standard screen, usually in low position.
Travelled thousands of miles like that - usually no problem.

Just occasionally get turbulence when the wind is coming at right angles.
If I was doing a lot of motorway miles in those conditions I'd remove the peak for the journey.

So I would suggest going back to standard screen and try it.
Re noise - tyres obviously make a massive difference, some more noisy than others.
Lastly try noise suppressors rather than just plugs - this makes the biggest difference of all.

Hope you get its sorted.

I fitted an aftermarket taller screen to my GS, from a company called Slipscreens I think. I then modified it to mount a Givi Airflow secondary screen and was very happy with the result. I no longer have the GS, but the screen is still lurking in my garage. I'm open to offers for this as I'm unlikely to be getting another GS as I've downsized to lighter bikes.

RedRick Esq. said:

On a nice day try taking it off completely and having a 10 mile ride

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Do this, I've had 12 GS/GSA's over the years and the first thing to go is the screen and the winglets, no buffeting, smooth air, no mad air noise from accelerated air hitting the screen and smacking into the helmet. You soon get used to riding at higher speeds without a screen, it's all about relaxing and a little lean.

If it’s any help to anyone, after a lot of trial and error & £hundreds spent on stuff that didn’t work I think I’ve cracked it at least for me. It is an iterative process with lots of boring motorway runs on calm days as my wife wasn’t interested in building a wind tunnel in the back garden… something about plants being more important (?)

I’m 5’11 tall, 120kg, use a Schuberth C4 and always wear earplugs. Earpeace for motorways, custom ones for everything else.

The current setup is:
- PUIG adventure screen (clear)
- Givi airflow screen extension mounted to the above (had to drill the screen)
- Screen brackets (Chinese ones)
- Wunderlich lower deflectors
- machine Moro hand guards (these made a massive difference)
- Custom made lower fork deflector (to block the wind tunnel effect through the fork tube)
- BMW “off road” headlight protector
- Wunderlich stock exhaust extender
- R&G bar end weights

A few observations…

There is loads of noise and turbulence coming from the stock handguards, taking them off and swapping them for something else made the bike loads quieter. The noise is caused by air travelling off the handguards, up the arms and onto the back of the helmet, a bit like someone tapping the helmet constantly. Adding various extensions and deflectors to the stock guards made no difference and is a total waste of money. Removing them is a cheap experiment everyone should try, and changing for different guards is the only answer.

Bigger screens aren’t necessary a problem if properly supported, but no higher than your eyeline when sat on the bike. Higher than eyeline means the vibration of the screen itself distorts your view of the road.

Lower deflectors block the wind hitting the tummy, but not necessarily anywhere else. Remove in summer for more body cooling but good in winter. Makes no difference to the noise either way.

The Small spoilers on screens make a small difference, but the huge givi airflow one is by far the best (as it was on the pre LC bikes). It scoops the air up, deflects upwards and compresses it behind the screen, meaning that its higher pressure than the air it meets coming straight forwards, pushing both streams over your head once properly adjusted. The smaller ones do the same thing, but more deflector means more effect basically. The givi airflow pushes about 5 inches of air upwards at 70mph the little ones only do an inch or so at best.

All big screens need stabilisers, even the stock one is helped by a stabiliser. Get the twin arm ones or half the screen will still bounce around. I ended up welding a custom set of brackets and mounts much like a rally nav tower, but that’s a separate topic

A lot of noise comes from the engine through the air box and lower shock space which both act like an echo chamber. Not sure if there is a solution to this one yet.

A good amount of noise comes up between the forks. A lot of touring bikes (eg the FJR) have a half moon shaped bit of plastic to stop this happening, fabricating one stops a good amount of noise. I suspect there isn’t one from the factory to stop mud and crud getting stuck up there (?)

Don’t block off too much airflow from behind the screen. Blocking up the little holes in the fairing, blocking the fork bridge and covering off the cockpit with that new wunderlick thing meant that the air was being sucked around behind the screen in a turbulent manner, causing MORE noise not less.

The wunderlich exhaust deflector is amazing, there is a lot of noise coming from the space above the back wheel, it’s a massive echo chamber much like inside a guitar. This deflector pushes the exhaust gas pressure and therefore noise straight out the back so it doesn’t get amplified by this space. The Stock exhaust should be a couple of inches longer really, but this exhaust thing makes the difference.

I haven’t read all this from post 1, but I understand the story.

We’re all different in the way our body shape fits our bike. No 2 the same.

I’ve mentioned my “solution” a few times over on an RS forum where the same saga gets repeated regularly.

Like most folk, I soon fitted a sexy after market screen, taller than original. I pretended it was better but didn’t last long.

If you’ve played around by ducking under the screen you may find things get quieter, so then fit a barn door screen to make life rosy.

Try Road testing after removing the screen completely, then work your way back up to the minimum necessary screen height for your own personal Nirvana.

I took a slightly less technical approach and simply zip sawed a couple of inches of my original screen.

I reach my Nirvana riding set up.

Tallest of the RS saddles.

Low screen.

The least amount of wind noise ever. Fitted ear plug of course.

Changing from a C4 to a Neotec 2 last year I found the Shoei a little bit quieter.

Another huge bonus for me was all weight was removed from my weak wrists when cruising at normal speeds. Can cruise with finger tips resting on bars as the breeze is hitting my torso rather than my helmet.

Only on the autobahn do you need the chimp in a hurricane grip.

I’m happy. Have survived wind and rain storms without a problem. And on a hot day maximum breeze is welcome.

Bobbin-Man said:

I'm sure there's been plenty of discussion about this, I've read bits hear and there but has anyone actually solved it in any meaningful way?

My previous hexhead GS was fitted with a GSA screen, tobinators, GSA winglets and an MRA extension spoiler, I'm pretty average height at 5'11" and with this setup I could cruise all day in comfort, even with my visor fully open in really hot conditions (mk1 Shoei Neotec).

Roll on to a few years ago and I swapped to a GS LC and immediately noticed how much noisier it was in my helmet, even to the point of it being difficult at higher speeds to hold rider-pillion conversations via the Bluetooth headsets. So I've followed the same modification route as with my old hexhead, initially a GSA screen, then Wunderlich winglets, then more recently an MRA screen spoiler.

Then in a moment of madness I bought a Schuberth E1, really comfy, I really like the peak, but it's become the icing on the cake regarding a complete hatred for riding the bike. The setup now is causing so much vibration that I'm getting nauseous after 20 minutes riding at anything above 55-60mph, so much so that I've zero interest in riding.

I know I can back pedal on all the changes, return to the Neotec, loose the screen mods, even switch back to the GS screen, but all that does is put me back to a setup that is noisy. The only combination I haven't actually tried is the Schuberth E1 with the basic GS screen.

Any thoughts on how to address the noise/vibration/turbulence? I'm even thinking about swapping back to a late model hexhead but that surely is a step backwards, and the level of sales of the LC would suggest there's plenty of very happy owners ... unless the turbulence is gradually turning everyone's brain to mush and cognitive thought has been lost! I love the way the LC rides, the handling is really sweet but I hate riding it!

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I have a puig Touring screen in the garage somewhere. If you want it to try, and keep if it does work for you, all I ask is you pay postage and if it doesn’t solve the problem you offer it back on the forum to someone else with same terms

MRA Vario Touring.
Just been out for a ride after fitting this to my 21 R1250GS. Better than the original by a long way, very much like the GIVI AF330 that I had on my previous R1200GS twin cam. Just been doing 80 on the motorway with my visor up. I just set it in the most upright position with the blade parallel and only very slightly higher than the top of the screen. Could feel smooth wind on my upper arms but head and body very well covered. I’ll be keeping this. Never tried faffing with the blade or altering the angle.

I bought one of these a number of years ago for my GSLC and then removed and fitted to my GSA.
Was best £15 I have spent on a m/c.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/39394343...yPZdK7AD6PxIIT/DhRBFgSgN+0sh|tkp:BFBMtt_jtuBg

I bought a windshield extension from Amazon for £29. That and my wunderlich tall screen is fine.

For completely turbulent and noise free travel……I take the car