Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Stretch on February 28, 2021, 10:50:24 AM
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Anybody have any real world experience with these on
a California 1400 Touring?
How are they when it's hot outside?
In the cold?
I'm considering one.
Thanks!
-Stretch
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I have a Swanee of which I believe the H & H is a copy of. I'm using it on my 96' Cali i and it's hands down the best foul weather fairing i have used on my Cal series bikes. Great wind/cold protection with no ill effects such as buffering. As with any fairing the more protection from the wind the warmer you will be in old and heat.
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I have a buddy with one on his cal 1400 tour, and he loves the way it works. Actually looks ok too , which is saying something!
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I have a Swanee of which I believe the H & H is a copy of. I'm using it on my 96' Cali i and it's hands down the best foul weather fairing i have used on my Cal series bikes. Great wind/cold protection with no ill effects such as buffering. As with any fairing the more protection from the wind the warmer you will be in old and heat.
I wonder how it would compare with the National Cycle Plexifairing 3 as they appear to be about the same design?
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The original Swannee fairing had 2 cool features. One was the indentation in the middle right below and behind the windscreen This allowed a "laminar flow" of the windstream to prevent the air "burbling" (noisily) right at the level of your helmet. It created a quiet pocket of air right where you need it; the noise and mixing of the air well over your head. You need to get the windscreen best suited to your height, and I believe there were 2 lengths available.
The second feature was 2 vents molded into the plastic below the windshield. They are arranged so that at low speeds, wind can pass through easily and keep you cool. At higher speeds,,they cannot pass the air, and it seems to seal out the ram air. Some air gets through and if it is brutal cold, you can fabricate little pieces to block the openings.
I always wished the fairing was a little taller to better protect my hands. You need to install the fairing about parallel to your front forks to get the most benefit from the design. Harpers repop fairings are real close to the original, but are made of thicker materials. The originals were prone to crack.
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I have the original from even before the Swanee , a Pacifica Aerofoil , made from injection molded plastic , tough as a bucket of nails . Also have an H&H , it needs more bracing than the Aerofoil , but is just as effective .
Dan , the Plexi is good , the Swanee or H&H is more gooder .
Dusty
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I have a Swanee on the 01 California Special and had one on my 98 EV years back. It's hands down the absolute best handle bar mounted fairing there is, in my opinion. When summertime comes, put a smaller shield on it. I had the large shield I ran during the cooler months, but when summertime came around, I changed it out to one about 6 inches shorter (in about 2 minutes). I rigged mine up with wing nuts for quicker removal.
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:copcar:
I have the original from even before the Swanee , a Pacifica Aerofoil , made from injection molded plastic , tough as a bucket of nails . Also have an H&H , it needs more bracing than the Aerofoil , but is just as effective .
Dan , the Plexi is good , the Swanee or H&H is more gooder .
Dusty
Yea I’ve never heard anyone who had owned one have a negative review of it. I tried to find one s couple times for a country of my guzzis but no one at the time seemed to be will to give them up. Also being in two colors, white and black, painting would have been a must.
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".....the Plexi is good , the Swanee or H&H is more gooder . "
Exactly the kind of information I needed....... :smiley:
Seriously, though - thanks for all of the replies.
-Stretch
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i have an original Aerofoil on my V11 Sport, and rode behind one on my EV for many years. The V7III I bought came with a Plexifairing. I rode an SPNT w/the Guzzi factory fairing modified w/an aftermarket (taller) windshield for over 10 years. I rate them Aerofoil #1, Guzzi SPNT #2, Plexifairing a distant #3
ronkom
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I'd rather catch a bus than ride around with that hideous looking thing on my bike.
Ciao
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I'd rather catch a bus than ride around with that hideous looking thing on my bike.
Ciao
Lol Phil, but sometimes function overrides looks, even ugly😂
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Stretch,
It looks like your best option would be to call Curtis at Harpers and ask him about fitting their fairing on a Cal Touring 1400.
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I wonder how it would compare with the National Cycle Plexifairing 3 as they appear to be about the same design?
I had a Plexifairing 3 on my California 1100, and for a short time on my EV. Well over 120,000 miles on them. I like the look and everything, but I could never get rid of the horrible turbulence and rumble. It wouldn't surprise me to find it is related to the hearing problems I now have. I got a chance to get a Swanee, which I installed on the EV. It has been on there for over 100,000 miles. I had it painted to match the bike and it looks good. I was never much of a fan of the look, but it just works. Probably the best of any shield I have ever used. I switch out to a shorter shield in the summer though, as it is a bit warm behind it.
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It looks like your best option would be to call Curtis at Harpers and ask him about fitting their fairing on a Cal Touring 1400.
Well, I ordered the last one from Curtis and Harper's yesterday.
No, they're not beautiful, but it sounds as if they're effective, which is what I want.
Apparently the molds were burnt up in a fire at the molder's, so there will be no more,
at least for a bit.
-Stretch
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History, The "aerofoil" was designed & marketed by Pacifico back in the day. When the Japanese "big 4" started equipping their touring bikes w/factory fairings the after market dried up & Pacifico was one of the companies that went under. The rights, molds etc. etc. for the Aerofoil were bought by a couple located in the Pacific NW & they started manufacturing the fairings under the Swanee name. After a number of years they decided to stop running the business (age?), They sold the whole package to a person who's name I don't know. He had all the molds, equipment etc. stored in a warehouse & that's where the fire occurred, destroying everything. During the period when nothing was available for sale, a friend & I (w/Swanees on our bikes) actually looked into buying the rights, manufacturing & selling the fairings ourselves....the logistics just didn't work out. The one Harpers version I've seen in use was a much thicker material that the original thermo plastic (fiberglass I think). & didn't have the two outer openings that help create the laminar flow inside the shield. I've never ridden behind one, so I don't know how they work. When I first rode behind the Swanee, I was worried by the flexing of the plastic, but, thinking about it, I realized that the forces causing that were being absorbed by the flex & not being transmitted to the front forks. So, I just let the fairing work & enjoyed the ride. After about 20-30K miles I did have some cracking develop, but some plastic cement & remounting w/thick rubber washers took care of the problem. Ugly???? absolutely! but they WORK.
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Hmm, never thought the Aerofoil/Swanee/H&H was ugly , especially not at 90 MPH sitting in that nice calm pocket of air . Maybe the 100 KPH (62 MPH) national limit in OZ has something to do with an Ozzie seeing one as ugly :evil: We do 62 in town here :laugh:
Dusty
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Not sure about your experience Ronkom, but the Harpers version I and my buddy bought were fiberglass and do have the side openings. The are functionally just like the original.
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Hmm, never thought the Aerofoil/Swanee/H&H was ugly , especially not at 90 MPH sitting in that nice calm pocket of air . Maybe the 100 KPH (62 MPH) national limit in OZ has something to do with an Ozzie seeing one as ugly :evil: We do 62 in town here :laugh:
Dusty
Well in actuality it's 110kph or 68.35MPH, so lets call it 70 unless you're in the Northern Territory where its 130KPH or 80.7 MPH. Personally if I'm after sitting in a calm pocket of air I'll just drive the car.
Ciao
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Well in actuality it's 110kph or 68.35MPH, so lets call it 70 unless you're in the Northern Territory where its 130KPH or 80.7 MPH. Personally if I'm after sitting in a calm pocket of air I'll just drive the car.
Ciao
You own a car ? :shocked:
Dusty
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You own a car ? :shocked:
Dusty
Yep, three. I'm not totally silly. Here's the one that will dust off most any bike in the tight gnarly stuff as long as there's no decent straights between the corners. It'll smoke a Cali 1400 anywhere of course, especially with a barn door piece of fibreglass attached to the front of it.:)
(https://i.ibb.co/c3NCG1j/IMG-2034-Copy.jpg) (https://ibb.co/c3NCG1j)
Ciao
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I have the origional Swanee. I origionaly laughed when I saw the cracking part. wrong thing to do! when I got home from Wensdays ride this is what I found. Only 180,000 miles and has been color matched twice. suppose it's under warranty? I'm temporaly putting a support strip of 1/8th alluminm accross the front until I get a proper repair job done.
Suggestions?
(https://i.ibb.co/sPTZT5t/thumbnail-IMG-1098.jpg) (https://ibb.co/sPTZT5t)
(https://i.ibb.co/hHdKq0c/thumbnail-IMG-1099.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hHdKq0c)
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^ I think your spell checker has failed :wink: . Peter
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At my age it was the only thing that did work. Funny it was working on other sites but quit here.
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I just listed one on the Wild Guzzi Swap page...
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FWIW, Clearview make a great replacement screen at any height you want. I just made a 1/8 x 1" alluminum strap to go over the two inner mounting screws to stop future cracks on mine. I hope!
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Does anyone have one of these, either a Harper's copy or an original, that they'd be willing to part with? I'm thinking of putting one on my Calvin as an alternative to getting a new stock tombstone windshield, since Guzzi wants around $600 for those. :shocked:
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I have a used one I was going to install on my V7 III but changed directions. Here's a picture from the previous owner. It is quite expensive to ship. I'll do some research next week.
(https://i.ibb.co/MfVgmG4/H-H-Fairing.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MfVgmG4)
(https://i.ibb.co/HThWVx7/H-H-Fairing-Instructions.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HThWVx7)
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I have a used one I was going to install on my V7 III but changed directions. Here's a picture from the previous owner. It is quite expensive to ship. I'll do some research next week.
(https://i.ibb.co/MfVgmG4/H-H-Fairing.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MfVgmG4)
(https://i.ibb.co/HThWVx7/H-H-Fairing-Instructions.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HThWVx7)
If you would, I'd appreciate it. It will depend on how much you want for it. After shipping and paint, I'm guessing there isn't a lot of room to keep the cost from becoming outrageous.