Ducati Monster Forum

I was wondering how much a windscreen would help with windnoise.

I have a set of helmet speakers but they are overpowered with the wind noise at 80mph. I was wondering if there is an appreciable difference with a windscreen.

http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/1309/WS-Round/1309.html (http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/1309/WS-Round/1309.html)
or
http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/1480/Windscreens/1480.html (http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/1480/Windscreens/1480.html)

I've always found windscreens to make more helmet noise.

The dirty air spills off the top and slaps the helmet something fierce... maybe the continuous sound is a little less, but the slaps are much louder... and once I had one big enough to keep the air off me... that was a sail on the highway, and far too hot (AZ).

I just live with the fact that I can barely hear my music over the wind in the straight bits.

  There are too many variables to be able to say how much one will help. Wearing ear plugs will often help, or ear plugs with speakers in them.

You may want to consider replacing your helmet speakers.. I use SENA smh10 with a full face AGV and they work great +1.

100% this ^^

Having heard great reports about the SENA SMH10 I bought one and fitted to my Arai XD3....  I wear ear plugs to help with the wind noise... and at highway speeds.... the SENA is barely audible.  Perhaps I was expecting too much.

I have the smh10 and wear earplugs. I can hear perfectly fine at speeds 80 and above. The key is placement. You have to place and align the speakers directly on top of your ear. Also, having the volume all the way up on the iphone is a big key. I originally had problems hearing above 40mph until I realized the volume wasn't all the way up on the iphone. Now I never need to go full volume on the sena

you got it  [thumbsup].. I used my SENA during my iron butt cert, and it was the best companion  [Dolph]

I have the Iasus headphone speakers THe X2 or something, and i wear ear plugs. I might get an amp to boost the noise.

 I hope you guys like peace and quiet because cranking up the tunes while riding will end up with some long term peace and quiet, except for the high pitched whine of tinnitus.......

Umm... I wear earplugs... it's just that wind noise is still louder.  Even the quietest helmet transmits enough noise to damage your hearing.  Riding for an hour at speed without hearing protection is approximately equivalent to going to a rock concert in my little world.

I play music from my bluetoothed GPS.. volume all the way up on it...  Reports I read at the time emphasized the importance of speaker placement and to that end I've make the beast with two backsed around moving the things a little this way, a liitle that, a little up, down, backwards  [bang]  Maybe I'll have another go at placement......

ungeheuer, you have a CX500? I have on in the garage right now with electrical gremlins on this "universal" switch. THe rear lights blink in unison for some reason!!!!


back on topic, i am thinking about carving out some of the foam at the ear (ok face it, the crash statistics for the EAR is quite minimal and im willing to take that risk) to insert and place the speaker better. i think position is 90% of it.

I had it in the best spot, with my smart phone music player and earplugs in. its okay below 60mph, but pretty much incoherent at speed. I think if i have it more space to develop, plus an amp it might help.

I also bought one of those $10 custom earplug kits that im going to paly around with. they are only nrr26 or 15db reduction (worst case scenario), so at 100db wind noise we are looking at 85db which isnt too bad. now mind you, that is the db with a db meter that is probably omnidirectional. will report back with findings. I've worn NRR33 plugs for almost 6 years now and think i can give a pretty good comparison.

... Had a CX500 years ago... been long gone.... yet another of the bikes I wish I'd never sold  [bang]

Travman has a CX500 though  [thumbsup]

I have an ST2 with a tall Zero Gravity screen. It blocks a lot of wind to the body, but mostly pushes it all at the helmet, so it's no quieter than my Monster without a screen.

^^^^  Seriously True ^^^^   To top that off every time I rode with AC/DC playing I got speeding tickets, go figure......  Oh and it is really really nice to hear strange sounds coming from the bike before it breaks  [Dolph]

Oh man. that last one. i know the feeling. Flywheel nut backed out and destroyed 4 valves. :(

I transplanted an EVO1100 motor into it (single spark) but cant get it to run right. ;\

Found out the hard way myself 25 years ago on an old Suzuki Kanatuna 600.  The bolt for the rear brake brace fell out and I never heard it.  Went for a gentle back brake drag at 75mph on a freeway when the brace slipped, the rotor rolled forward and locked the rear brake up.  Got my attention.  It was the last time I rode with tunes.......

25 years ago? We're you riding with a Walkman?

Shhhhh.   :'(

He-Man, what kind of helmet are you using? It may be playing a significant role.

I just picked up a Shark and the wind noise is considerably less compared to my HJC.

I bet it was one of these strapped your chest... [laugh]
(http://i43.tinypic.com/350120g.jpg)

^^ lol  No it was a Walkman......  Complete with a tank bag full of tapes  [thumbsup]  I was rocking the really long curly hair, jeans torn up with spandex under them and a bandana....  God wtf was I thinking?  Clue:  [bang] 

I looked like a rockstar and could not play a kazoo,  Still worked for my purposes though  [evil]