My Face Gets Wet

[Molalla+Voyager]

I don't mind riding in the rain, in fact I love it.
My Connie kept me dry except for my arms at my elbows.
The fairing kept my feet and legs dry and the windshield kept my hands and face dry.

My Voyager is a different story.
Water runs off the fairing onto the toes of my boots, my gloves get soaked, and my face-shield
gets so wet I can hardly see through it.

I have a pair of hippo hands to solve the glove problem, and I think I can fashion a pair of mud flaps for my boots, but how do I stop the water from coming up through the triple fork and plastering my face shield?

Going back to the Connie is not an option. Don't get me wrong, the Connie is a really nice ride, she's fast (enough), relatively comfortable, and feels solid under you with a good set of radial shoes on
but as a sport/touring bike you lean forward a little and that gets old after a while.

The Voyager is also fast as Grandpa Denny can attest, you sit upright which is really comfy and she also feels solid on the road at speed.
I just need a little help with the shower from the triple fork area. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

[Nails]

I've never ridden a Connie -- can't compare. I've configured my XII to be especially upright, mostly by setting the seat at about the 1.5 position (I modded all that, replacing the back seat). I could live with the stock back seat all the way forward, but not with it all the way back. I also replaced those monstrosity bars with some off a T-100 Triumph (IIRC). They allow tilting back without getting weird. And I cut off my windshield -- 12" showing above the trim.

Rain on face shield: These days, I ride with impact/wind resistant sunglasses because that's a lot quieter than a face shield. (At first I had trouble believing it, too.) But for more than a drizzle or wicked cold, I snap on a face shield. The short windshield provides cleaner (less turbulent) wind that blows the rain away just fine. I suspect that your Connie did this, too. Added plus: less helmet buffeting.

Rain on hands: the narrower bars are cleaner, lighter, keep your elbows out of the mirrors, and keep your hands out of the rain. (And the bike handles quicker -- I also use woods bars on my dirt bike.) I wear perforated leather, armored gloves, in rain, cold, and whatever. I have heated glove liners for wicked cold. In hard rain, my hands get a little wet but I haven't had a problem with them getting cold. I've only used the heated glove liners when it was too cold for rain.

Rain on boots: I use Frog Togg overboots -- problemo solved. I have several gripes about the lowers, besides just letting my toes get soaked. In extreme heat (triple digits), my lower legs seriously bake, no matter where I put my feet. I'm contemplating rigging up some really high highway pegs -- above the shark gills. (Yeah, riffing off some Harleys.) In extreme cold, I'm contemplating rigging a door affair that can blow that radiator right on my leg instead of out the gills. I'd have to stop to turn this "heater" on or off. (Early Connies had serious leg heat issues. Did they solve that with full bodywork?)

I've never had any "showers" coming up the triple tree. Maybe the lower windshield or the vent I put in where the radio used to be draws less water up through there.

[Molalla+Voyager]

OK
That makes sense, I have the tallest shield that Clear View makes for the Voyager and with the vents closed I am in a vacuum bubble. The air comes up through the triple tree area sucking water with it trying to reestablish a balanced air pressure. Your extra vent balances the air pressure so there is no suction through the triple tree area.
I can deal with that.

Thanks
Steve

[GrandpaDenny]

Good morning Steve,

I kind of drool over C10s. One of these days...

As to your rain issues, I'd never heard of rain coming up through the triple trees, but since you explained about your extra tall windshield, now it makes sense. I'd tried the cut-down windshield last year, but went back to a (I think) stock-height windshield. One of these days I want to put a vent or two into it, but for the most part I'm really happy with it. For the most part the rain blows off my face shield, especially if I rise up on the pegs a little. Most of the time, in lighter rain, I'll just wipe my glove finger across it to act as a wiper. I use Rain-X on both windshield and visors (I have multiple helmets). As for getting wet, with the old windshield my shoulders would get a little damp. With the new 'shield I stay dry as a bone. Guess I've just got the perfect balance of windshield height and width to my height and width? I also wear perforated leather armored gloves, well and thoroughly oiled. Doesn't bother me if they get wet; hadn't really noticed it. I've only recently noticed the heat coming fromt the shark vents, since I pulled the gore-tex substitute liner out of my mesh pants. I only feel it once in a while; it's not a big deal to me. I'm really impressed with how dry I stay on Gertrude. I never use my rain gear, no matter how hard it's raining. I feel nice and dry inside my gear and behind that big fairing. Oh, as for boots, I wear steel-toed work boots and as I have my feet on the highway pegs most of the time whilst riding (outside of the city) the soles get most of the rain and my feet stay dry. Again it doesn't bother me if they get wet. I guess that probably only really applies during the summer. In the winter, cold wet feet aren't pleasurable. I have windproof winter gloves, they keep my hands nice and dry in the winter. I wear wool socks in the winter so my feet stay warmer.

Sheesh I just said a whole lot of not much, didn't I? Too early in the morning.