Madstad for F6B

[d-shark]

d-shark, your impressions are correct about the stock windshield. After you posted this, I had to go out...in the snow...and look at the two original F6B windshields I have in my motorcycle garage, and they do NOT have the irregular molded contour that a stock GL-1800 Goldwing windshield has.

I can assure you, Honda did not alleviate that irregular molded contour on the F6B windshield in an effort to allow venting up through there. They neglected to include the irregular molded contour because....it was cheaper...and they already figured out that 93.14159 % of us would change out the stock windshield as the first thing we change on our bikes.

Miles, makes a lot of sense, Thank You. It's my first Goldwing.

[Scotrod]

I already have 19 different flavors of weather stripping at home,,,

Used some thick black foam in the gap area and some thin urethane stripping in areas where the base makes contact w/shield mounts.

Should help w/dust, Maybe a squeak or 2.

[hiflyer]

I just switched out the dark 11" for the clear", and I like the looks better. With the black base plate, the bike retains the look of a short screen as Honda intended with the performance of a large screen.

[Scotrod]

Yep, same reasoning I used when I selected light gray.

Did some more experimenting last weekend w/shield positioning. Outer bracket to inner bracket connection lowered from top holes to middle holes. (Pulls shield closer to bike) Slide shield up approx. 1/2 way in the 'knob slots'. Adjust rake to match base.

This orientation is perhaps a tiny bit higher than what I've had before, but seems to work a bit better overall, especially in rough air, and IMHO, ~blends~ with the look of the bike better due to being tighter in and having matched rake.

Right now, the 'intake' height is a hair larger than the base to shield gap. I believe the velocity of the oncoming air is kept 'about the same' between the intake and top of the base as there is a consistent space between those two items.

I really do like the Virtually unlimited adjustability this system provides. It suits the 'tinkerer' in me!!!

[F6BPDX]

So last night I was able to install the new base which I received from d-shark and rode with it to work this morning.

I have a few initial observations, but obviously have not used it long enough to have a full report.

#1 issue I was having was a whistle. This whistle is still present which is making me wonder if I have always had this whistle and just never noticed it due to wind noise with the traditional shields, so the search continues but I will be looking at other possibilities.

Install of this base was easier than my original base, and I believe now that my original was perhaps slightly misaligned hole wise. The bolts never seemed to line up EXACT and the new base ones do.

I had been running my 13" shield with the old base and had to switch to the 11" with the new base as the 13" was simply too tall when factoring in the added 1" of base height. I could run a 13" all the way down, but that would be it. (6' tall with a 30-31" inseam for reference purposes) I will have to dial my height back in with the 11" before I can comment on if the wind protection seems better face wise.

It does appear that I have less shoulder air due to the "wings" on this base but I want to ride it longer before officially making that comment.

[d-shark]

This past Thursday in the Springfield. IL area we had about 7 hours of 60+ degree weather. The wind was directly out of the South at a steady 23 mph (stiff). I made 4 round trip runs on a route that consisted of a 4 mile East West stretch (direct crosswind) a 10 mile North / South interstate stretch (tailwind / headwind) and a 6 mile winding interstate stretch around the city of Springfield, IL (lots of dirty air due to traffic, buildings, trees and the 23 mph wind).

I alternated runs starting the first one with Madstad's stock F6B Base and the second with the taller and wider GL1800 style Base. The gap between the Madstad Base and F6B dash was open on these two runs. On the third run I used the Stock Base with a Gasket filling the gap between Base and Dash as well as on the fourth run with the GL1800 style Base.

First of all filling the gap between the F6B dash and Madstad Base had no apparent effect on either wind protection or the Whistle F6BPDX and some others have noted. The Whistle volume was low to my ear and identical on all four runs. I was listening for the Whistle but quickly forgot about it while I was focused on taking note of the wind protection. So some may be more sensitive to the Wind Whistle then others.

I took a few notes between runs as I was changing out one Base for the other. I should note all runs were done with no helmet. The comparison notes were as follows:

Going East / West at 60 mph with a direct 23 mph crosswind the crosswind overwhelmed both Madstad combinations. However with the GL1800 base I never got the feeling my eardrums were getting hammered. A few times with the stock base I could feel the crosswind getting to my eardrums and I had to pull my polar fleece cap back down 3 times as the crosswind was wanting to take it.

On the straight North bound interstate stretch at 70 mph with a 23 mph tailwind the ride was equally quiet and calm with both combinations (really nice). On the straight South bound interstate stretch at 70 mph with a 23 mph headwind I felt a bit more buffeting around the upper arms, shoulders and head with the stock Base. I noted that my jacket sleeves were buffeting in the wind more. Not night & day difference but a difference.

The winding interstate stretch had a lot of dirty air and chop due to the wind, buildings, trees, overpasses and traffic. Again I felt a bit more buffeting around the upper arms, shoulders and head with the stock Base. Again jacket sleeves were buffeting in the wind more by comparison but again not a night & day difference but a difference.

The conditions were somewhat extreme but the ride was informative. I would say the improved wind protection of the GL1800 Base compared to the Stock F6B Base was incremental in my opinion (again not night & day). Both combinations were challenged by these conditions but still performed much better than my previous 11" Baggershield in similar conditions.

We are still at least a month away from any decent riding weather here where I can compare the two under normal riding conditions.

[F6BPDX]

This past Thursday in the Springfield. IL area we had about 7 hours of 60+ degree weather. The wind was directly out of the South at a steady 23 mph (stiff). I made 4 round trip runs on a route that consisted of a 4 mile East West stretch (direct crosswind) a 10 mile North / South interstate stretch (tailwind / headwind) and a 6 mile winding interstate stretch around the city of Springfield, IL (lots of dirty air due to traffic, buildings, trees and the 23 mph wind).

I alternated runs starting the first one with Madstad's stock F6B Base and the second with the taller and wider GL1800 style Base. The gap between the Madstad Base and F6B dash was open on these two runs. On the third run I used the Stock Base with a Gasket filling the gap between Base and Dash as well as on the fourth run with the GL1800 style Base.

First of all filling the gap between the F6B dash and Madstad Base had no apparent effect on either wind protection or the Whistle F6BPDX and some others have noted. The Whistle volume was low to my ear and identical on all four runs. I was listening for the Whistle but quickly forgot about it while I was focused on taking note of the wind protection. So some may be more sensitive to the Wind Whistle then others.

I took a few notes between runs as I was changing out one Base for the other. I should note all runs were done with no helmet. The comparison notes were as follows:

Going East / West at 60 mph with a direct 23 mph crosswind the crosswind overwhelmed both Madstad combinations. However with the GL1800 base I never got the feeling my eardrums were getting hammered. A few times with the stock base I could feel the crosswind getting to my eardrums and I had to pull my polar fleece cap back down 3 times as the crosswind was wanting to take it.

On the straight North bound interstate stretch at 70 mph with a 23 mph tailwind the ride was equally quiet and calm with both combinations (really nice). On the straight South bound interstate stretch at 70 mph with a 23 mph headwind I felt a bit more buffeting around the upper arms, shoulders and head with the stock Base. I noted that my jacket sleeves were buffeting in the wind more. Not night & day difference but a difference.

The winding interstate stretch had a lot of dirty air and chop due to the wind, buildings, trees, overpasses and traffic. Again I felt a bit more buffeting around the upper arms, shoulders and head with the stock Base. Again jacket sleeves were buffeting in the wind more by comparison but again not a night & day difference but a difference.

The conditions were somewhat extreme but the ride was informative. I would say the improved wind protection of the GL1800 Base compared to the Stock F6B Base was incremental in my opinion (again not night & day). Both combinations were challenged by these conditions but still performed much better than my previous 11" Baggershield in similar conditions.

We are still at least a month away from any decent riding weather here where I can compare the two under normal riding conditions.

It sounds like our tests are going pretty much the same. I haven't tried them as close to back to back as you but did have a chance to run each of them for half of last week and then both of them on Saturday and have pretty much determined there is little to no difference.

I do get a tiny bit less shoulder buffetting, if you can even call it buffetting in the first place since there is hardly any with either base, with the gl1800 version.

For my "issues" the base choice has made no difference at all, i get an equal amount of wind to the face and the same whistle with both. I also get a nice clean pocket of air with both, albeit with different size shields (the 11" seems to sit better on the GL1800 base and I prefer the 13" on the F6B base).

My opinion thus far is that nobody should really concern themselves with the base size.

To note, all of my testing has been done in a full face Shoei Qwest, so i haven't noticed any difference in ear battering or hat lift as d-shark did.

[F6BPDX]

After another week of 1/2 and 1/2 commutes with the two different bases my final thoughts on this are that folks should do one of two things:

#1 - Not worry about the base at all.

#2 - Make your request based on asthetics. The bases are shaped different and do look different on the bike, and also for me at 6' they "require" different sized shields to realy hit the sweet spot I want them to, which of course is purely subjective. Obviously an 11" vs. a 13" also look asthetically different. (I prefer the looks of the F6B base).

Functionality doesn't seem to be any more or less soley on the base used. I do think there may have been a more pronounced difference originally when Bruce and D were the first two units because the height difference was a full 2" where as now it's more like 7/8".

I know Scotrod had some different concerns/issues than I did so if he wants to test the second base I will gladly send it on it's way, otherwise I will defaut to D for what he wants me to do with it.

[d-shark]

F6BPDX,

Thanks for your substantial time and effort to thoroughly test ride, evaluate and report to Forum members on both the Stock and GL1800 Hybrid Madstad Bases.

"#1 - Not worry about the base at all."

I tend to agree with your evaluation of wind protection between the two based on my limited one day test ride so far. I do however plan to get my girlfriends input (she also rides her own bike) as to if there is any difference between the two Bases from the passenger seat. That will have to wait for better weather.

"#2 - Make your request based on aesthetics. The bases are shaped different and do look different on the bike, and also for me at 6' they "require" different sized shields to realy hit the sweet spot I want them to, which of course is purely subjective. Obviously an 11" vs. a 13" also look aesthetically different. (I prefer the looks of the F6B base)."

You hit this point squarely on the head (the look is purely subjective). I am 6',2" tall and prefer the GL1800 Hybrid Base with the shorter 11" Dark Smoke Shield. Others have produced a shorter look with the stock Base by going with a clear shield. I don't particularly like the Robo-Brackets being that visible but understand that approach.

In my case the GL1800 hybrid Base with 11" Shield allows me to adjust the shield all the way down to get more air in the face when needed (when it is Hot). Or adjust the Shield all the way up well above my line of sight to avoid Grasshoppers riding through the South Dakota Badlands. So in my case I'm a tall guy with the shortest shield Madstad makes on my bike.

If anyone is kind of torn between two different Shield heights they are welcome to give the GL1800 Hybrid base a try to see if they can get into a shorter Shield for looks. There is no time pressure just ride it when you get a chance and report your thoughts.

F6BPDX, if it's not to much of a Hassle hang on to the Base until Spring. When the weather starts to break someone might decide to give it a try and you can forward it to them. If by then there are none interested then I will have you ship it back to me since I have a good bit of storage space here and can forward it to any interested parties. If it's in the way at your place and storage is not a good option for you then by all means ship it back to me.

[F6BPDX]

D,

No trouble for me to store it. It is cleaned up and in the box, if and when someone else wants to give it a go I will ship it off at my expense, as was done for me. If at any point you want it back just let me know.