Cyclear Cy-300 Windshield

CYCLEAR CY-300 WINDSHIELD

EVALUATION

Serendipity, defined as happy accidents, comes in handy when riding new motorcycles. Yamaha’s sporting XV920 V-Twin is impressive and we’ve got one for a long-term test. That means riding every day under all conditions and that calls for some sort of fairing or weather protection.

Except that the XV920 is really new and nobody had a fairing for the model when we asked. Next, the 920 comes with a whopping big quartz-halogen headlight and none of the otherwise-universal fairings we could find had provision for the 8-in. diameter light. The choice of using a smaller light or carving up the fairing to slip over the big light was no choice at all.

So it was back to basics, in the form of a clear plexiglass windshield, the sort of thing one used to see on police bikes except that they’re now curved and more stylish and come in a selection of sizes and with hardware to fit virtually any set of handlebars. (The one exception in mind is the Yamaha 750 Seca, with covered bars and we’re still looking for a fairing to use on that bike.)

The brand name here is Cyclear. The name is new although the company says they made plexiglass shields for other firms to distribute and sell and are new only as a retailer of their product.

Cyclear offers windshields—they call them fairings but the term doesn’t quite fit what most of us think fairings are—in three sizes: CY-900, with extensions for keeping wind off the grips and lower sections down to the rider’s knees; CY-600, just as wide but with lower edge parallel to the bottom of the headlight, and CY-300, a curved shield narrower than the bars and running from above the headlight to slightly higher than the mirrors.

The first happy accident is that because this little shield is so small its lower edge is a gentle curve and looked as if it would work perfectly with the 920’s giant headlight.

Which it did. We bought a CY-300 via our neighborhood dealer. Installation took 10 min. The shield comes with hardware. There’s a pair of C-cIamps to go on the bars outboard of their pedestals. One clamp bolt has a crimped collar and that holds a curved rod. At the other end of the rods are more clamps, drilled and tapped for plastic screws that go through holes drilled in the screen. You install the lower clamps, snug the rods into position and run the screws through the holes into the upper clamps, then nudge the fairing into the position that looks right. Tighten the clamps—Cyclear provides a little alien wrench for the rod-shield connections— and it’s done. There’s enough motion provided to let each rider set the screen at the right angle and height so any adult will be able to look over the screen while the headwind is deflected to the top of his helmet or over his head.

Now then. The Cyclear screen is not a substitute for a full fairing. There is no storage space, leg protection, provision for

radio, etc. The windshield lacks the style of the GP-type fairing or the cafe/sports jobs. The screen doesn’t protect the hands, doesn’t keep off all the rain. There’s buffeting from side winds.

Against that the Cyclear weighs maybe 1 lb. It isn’t sensitive to side winds, doesn’t detract from the handling or put unwanted weight on the front end. It’s basic protection and you get what you pay for.

That’s the best serendipity. Not to knock the usual fairings, but they do cost real money, as in several hundred dollars. The Cyclear CY-300 sells for $49.95 clear, $54.95 tinted and if there’s no dealer near you, they sell by mail. From Cyclear, 158

Mills St, Collierville, Tenn. 38017