Waiting for the new Flyscreen from Dart?

[sleddy_imp]

It's available! Check it out here: http://www.dartflyscreens.com/products/h...100-marlin

A couple of notes:
- it's currently only available for the 5 speed models. 6 speed version will be available in the next few weeks.
- this one doesn't work with the Honda chrome covers. This too will be addressed in the next few weeks.

Cheers,
Steve

[the Ferret]

Steve for the benefit of our knowledge, does your company do any wind tunnel or smoke testing and try and get the wind managed in any particular way? Or is it mostly a styling excercise which has some benefit?

In other words do you know how high above the windscreen the majority of the wind hits at a given speed? Would a 5'6" guy catch the wind in the face and a 6'2" guy catch it mid chest? Or is that even a design criteria?

[the_undecider_imp]

Woohoo! Ordered one!

I've been checking the site daily. Even checked this morning before it was put up for sale.

It looks great! I am stoked about this! Thanks Steve!

[sleddy_imp]

Steve for the benefit of our knowledge, does your company do any wind tunnel or smoke testing and try and get the wind managed in any particular way? Or is it mostly a styling excercise which has some benefit?

In other words do you know how high above the windscreen the majority of the wind hits at a given speed? Would a 5'6" guy catch the wind in the face and a 6'2" guy catch it mid chest? Or is that even a design criteria?

Good questions Ferret, and deserving of a proper answer. So here goes…

Taking the second question first, my priority is function. There’s no point in adding to the bike unless some functional benefit is attained. After that come appearance and aesthetics. So both are important, but it’s in the opposite order to your question.

We don’t do wind tunnel testing, but we do test on the road and make adjustments accordingly. To achieve the quality I require, each screen design requires a large investment in injection moulding tooling, so a lot of thought and testing goes into it: once the tooling is produced, that’s it - we can’t make changes so it’s important to get it right.

The reason we don’t do wind tunnel testing is that (apart from the fact that it’s expensive) there’s not much point. Unless you’re designing a big tourer or a race bike, you simply don’t have enough control over the aerodynamics of the overall bike and rider And therein lies the Dart philosophy… we make small screens because I believe they provide the greatest benefit to most riders.

It’s my belief that you either want a flyscreen or a fully-faired bike. The middle ground - large handlebar-mounted screens - is where you get the most problems with buffeting and instability, for little reward.

The point of a flyscreen is not to provide a bubble of still air over the rider. It can’t possibly do this. The intention is twofold - to smooth out the airflow over the instrument area (which otherwise is susceptible to a lot of turbulence) and to provide a cone of relatively still air in front of the rider’s chest. In this way, the rider (who on a naked bike resembles a parachute) is relieved of a good proportion of wind blast, making riding less of a strain at speed. A well-designed flyscreen will not affect airflow at head height.

As for height differences, it’s not that critical. The main difference between a tall guy and a short one is in the limbs - there’s generally only a couple of inches or so in the torso.

Hope this is helpful, and apologies for the length of the essay!

Steve

[the Ferret]

Great answers Steve, and I appreciate the response. Truthfully it makes a lot of sense. On this forum guys experimenting with different shields and cutting down larger ones until satisfied, we have found the happiest riders like a shield 8 1/2 to 10" over the ignition switch, which I'm guessing would fall right where your fly screens fall. Anything much taller than that and the noise and buffeting increase expotentially until gets screen gets up to almost eye level where the airflow is then pushed over the helmet.

Congrats on making a fine product, one our members are quite happy with, and thanks again for the response.

[DBXXX_imp]

So cool to have you in the thread Steve! This forum is really something else, and Ferret you ought to be proud to have put it together.

[the Ferret]

Thanks, but Guth put the forum together, I just help keep an eye on it for him.

It's awesome for such a low volume selling motorcycle to have so many top shelf vendors taking part in the forum personally. very cool.

[Pterodactyl_imp]

I have fitted my '10 model with a Dart Flyscreen. It works well for me. A pressure wave at my upper chest/shoulder level and my helmet is in clean air. If I'm playing and decide to "tuck in and flat tank it" it is possible to get complete protection. Not a position I can maintain for long, getting a bit long in the tooth for that sort of thing!

I cannot speak for products I know nothing about but I will say, without any hesitation, you will get good service and support from Steve. Good to see his post above.

Cheers

[Cormanus]

Undecider, can't wait to hear how you find it.

[Papa Weeley_imp]

Great looking screen. I love my Dart, but I think this one's even better looking, so I'll be eager to see if there's any advantage to this one, wind-protection wise over the old one.
And for anyone even remotely considering one of these, let me say here that the quality is A1, and the customer service is beyond exceptional. Steve's the real deal, and definitely puts his clientele before his wallet.