Windshield question

[smilam]

I have a 09 GL1800 with a Roadsmith Trike Conversion which I bought last Sept. My wife gets a lot of buffeting on the back so I am thinking I should replace the windshield with a taller one. I would like to have the option of lowering it if I need to see over it in the rain so that would mean I could only go with a +2 windshield. That would be two inches taller and two inches wider. Is that enough to stop some of the buffeting that she is getting or do I need to go with the +4 and loose the ability to lower it?
Has anybody compared the F4 to the Optic Armor Windshields? I have read that Optic Armor use to make the windshields for F4 but that they went their separate ways for some reason. If they are comparable I would like to save the hundred dollars but not at the cost of having a windshield that doesn't hold up.
Steve

[tfdeputydawg]

I have the +4, with the coating there is no problem with rain as on non-coated shields.
A taller windshield will help but, the biggest reduction in wind problems for my wife was the addition of Baker Hand Wings!
Yes, OA was a supplier to F4. They were dropped for quality issues!
Maybe this has been corrected since OA is marketing their own now!!??

[WingAdmin]

I have the +4, with the coating there is no problem with rain as on non-coated shields.
A taller windshield will help but, the biggest reduction in wind problems for my wife was the addition of Baker Hand Wings!
Yes, OA was a supplier to F4. They were dropped for quality issues!
Maybe this has been corrected since OA is marketing their own now!!??

The reason Optic Armor was dropped as a supplier by F4 varies depending on who you talk to - Optic Armor or F4.

Optic Armor retains the patent on the coating used on the old F4 windshields, so the windshields you can buy NOW from Optic Armor are the "old" F4 windshields. F4 had to find a new supplier (they now use Five Star) who uses a different coating formulation. Word on the street is that the new F4 coating is not as good as the old Optic Armor coating - so this, coupled with the fact that the Optic Armor windshields are $100 cheaper than the new F4 windshields, mean given the choice of the two I would go with an Optic Armor product.

That said, when it comes for reducing buffeting, the king is really the Tall Tulsa, which I have on my bike. It is tall, wide, and with a coating like Rain Coat applied to it, it sheds rain extremely well, allowing you to ride safely in rain while looking through it. I have hit sudden weather conditions in the mountains where the windshield fogged up for a couple of minutes, and I simply raised myself up on my pegs slightly and was able to see over top of it. It reduces passenger buffeting to almost none.

When I added the Baker Hand Wings as well, passenger buffeting was all but eliminated.

[tfdeputydawg]

Sorry to debate this w/you but, "word on the street" means very little to me!
I'm sure there's a difference in opinions from the 2 companies as to the demiseeof OA as a supplier to F4.
I prefer to believe the one I got from F4 being the final straw was over 100 defective OA shields that F4 was left holding.
I have yet to hear of or see a posting about any problems w/F4's once a new coating supplier was brought on board.

[WingAdmin]

Sorry to debate this w/you but, "word on the street" means very little to me!
I'm sure there's a difference in opinions from the 2 companies as to the demiseeof OA as a supplier to F4.
I prefer to believe the one I got from F4 being the final straw was over 100 defective OA shields that F4 was left holding.
I have yet to hear of or see a posting about any problems w/F4's once a new coating supplier was brought on board.

You can read "word on the street" as "I have information about this that I have been asked not to reveal."

[smilam]

Thanks for the input. I believe I am going to order the OA +2 with vent. This will be a compromise that I hope stops some of my wife's wind buffeting but still allows me to lower it when riding solo. I have the hand wings, plus the upper and lower wings, and the foot wings. We are still experimenting with what positions to move all of the different wings to which allows for the optimum airflow for different conditions. I will have to wait to order the windshield as we are leaving for a trip to Wisconsin next week.
Steve