New farkle season

I just received a shipment from the Netherlands – more precisely from Twin Motorcycles.

The package contained three sets of goodies: A higher windscreen, a larger right hand side air scoop, and fork and swing sliders/bobbins.

The Uly’s original windscreen is completely OK for short rides, but early spring and late autumn, I get lots of windchill. It also requires the the rider to adopt the famous “ape humping a football” pose to get out of the wind when riding at speed. I hope the new screen made by Zero Gravity will help mitigate these problems.

The right hand air scoop is another feature released right before Buell got taken out back and shot by the Company:
To comply with Californian emission regulations, the Buell bikes ran rather hot (higher temperature gives better combustion). When they mounted catalysts on the newer models, they didn’t need to run the engines at the same temps anymore. The “rider comfort kit” was born, where the most important aspect from a mechanical standpoint was the inclusion of a larger air scoop for the right side of the bike.

I haven’t had the time for more than a short shakedown ride, so I can’t say anything definitive about the effect of the air scoop on the annoying fan sound (“oh right, a Buell”), but the wind stream over/around the new wind screen hit me square at shoulder height now instead of at the lower part of the chest when I sit in my “active riding” position, so I think it does what it should.

I’ll get back with a longer review when I’ve done some proper riding.