GSA - Unrideable in the Rain!!
- Thread starter Drunkenmunkey
- Start date
Well he started it
Alright, but CCR is the winner of this thread for me!!
Actually surprised no one came up with Annie Lennox since op Scottish?!
Also known by us schoolboys, as the Jews News.
Did you shout that from the top of your ivory tower
Did you shout that from the top of your ivory tower
Now, I shout it from the highest hills
Even told the golden daffodils,,,,,
Like the wiper on the thumb of my aerostich roper glovesI was going to suggest getting gloves with the little wiper on the left forefinger but the OP doesn’t like people replying via their keyboard so I didn’t bother.
I've never had a visor clear itself whatever bike I've owned, I can't say I've found the GSA any different TBH (I'm 6'4"). I've always just used the seem of by glove to wipe across the visor periodically, or when touring I'd use one of these wipers that fits over your glove.
I prefer Eruptions cover myself from 1977. It’s all about the Funk.
20 years and scared about riding in the rain?
Get a fucking car then !
Having slept (somewhat fitfully) mulling your words over in my head, I am truly ashamed.
Here for the OP is my take on the matter.
You, with 20 years of experience of riding motorcycles, were clearly expecting something more from the GSA. I can only start to imagine how disappointing it was to find your expectations were not met by BMW’s flagship Adventure model.
The problem was heavy rain that you encountered on the motorway. Unpleasant and, as you say, very possibly dangerous. In any event, enough to bring you looking for help from the forum.
Start with the simplest cure, before running off to buy a new helmet or even a screen. Is your visor clean? A clean shiny visor will, like water beading on a clean car, greatly assist the water dispersing. Naturally enough the world is full of wonder products, some bordering or well past snake oil. Clean the visor, using whatever method suits you best. Then keep it clean.
Stepping away from windscreen wipers, but not leaving them entirely. Water on a car’s windscreen is scraped away by a rubber blade. The suggestions in this thread tell you those that people find works for them.
Still not satisfied? OK, then you have got to harness the power of nature. Wind is a useful friend. Lift / place your helmeted head into the slipstream, oscillating it from side to side. You should find that the water is blasted away. Of course the water will come back, so you’ll need to repeat the process, just as you will probably need to repeat the process with the method suggested above.
Still something to be done? OK, now let’s look at screens. You have a choice. One that will blast the water away, angling a steam of rapidly moving air at your visor or there’s about. It will probably work but, with it, comes the very real possibility of buffeting and the annoyance that can bring. Alternatively, one that channels the fast moving air over your head, carrying with it the water, either directly or lifting it away due to the differential in pressure. The challenge then comes, what screen?
What screen, is indeed a very good question. The answer is, every man and his dog will have their favourites. Some screens offered up will be owned by people who never go out in the rain, if they can avoid it. Some will have bought their screen, based on nothing more than ‘The Look’ or to bling their awesome steed to “Make a statement”. In short, you are you and we are not. I fear you might have to look at (and even try) several to come to your own Goldilocks moment. You can always sell on any screen that doesn’t suit you.
Now maybe consider something else. Maybe try one of the laminated lips or spoilers? These can, depending on a number of variables, be very effective. Not least, they are cheaper than a whole screen, to at least try.
Downsides? Well, cost for one and the need to maybe try several screens. Second, some screens might be so tall or wide that you end up looking through them, rather than over and / or around. Or, equally annoying, looking right at the upper lip. Again, a lot will be dictated by your size, seating position, whether you ride hunched or upright and / or put simply, preference. The last downside? People hunt down riding in still air, helmet open….. but then get hot.
Anything else? You might find that taking the screen away and / or replacing it with something smaller is just as effective. Again, try it.
Hopefully this post, whilst not giving you a definite answer, gives you ‘Food for thought’ as they say.
PS I do wonder just how much and often it rains so hard that it really is a problem? Are you sure that your negative experience wasn’t, in part at least, driven by unfamiliarity with the new and quite large bike? Any new bike brings with it something new to learn; rain, simply piles on top of everything else, making it seem worse than it really is. Get some miles under your belt and maybe things will look very much different.
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How dare you come on here bringing common sense and reasoned explanations?
Shame on you
I do find the air quite thin up at the ‘high moral ground’! Lol
Sound advice, but I think he’s buggered off after the onslaught?!
I ride in all weathers, always have. The GS (1250 and back in the day 1150 and 1200) is fine in the rain from a visibility perspective, no particular problems with rain clearing off the visor with occasional use of thumb wipe when it's dirty water. I currently ride in an Arai Quantic and tend to position screens to have air flow at the visor level[1]. Yours might be a different model variant (low/high seat, other mods, non-standard screen) and that's making the rider airflow different.
[1] I once tried a couple of tourers when I was doing a lot of miles for work, couldn't get on with having no wind hitting my head...
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