Wind Deflectors...the perfect Winter Mod!

[Wolfman]

Ok, last week it was the heated grips, and they work great, but when riding in near freezing temperatures late at night,the wind blast on the outside of the hands, nullifies the effects of the Heated Grips for the outside of your hand, and they still get wet!

So with this in mind, i got lateral, and decided that MX style wind deflectors might be the go, to complete my mission to have warm hands!

At first it was a nightmare as the established brands such as Acerbis, and Barkbusters really only do stuff that is for MX, and lack suitable mounting brackets to put on a bike such as an FZ6.

Then today i found a solution. Powermadd wind deflectors, they look a bit more suited to a street bike, and come incolours other than bright fluoro. They also sell a mounting kit, that with a bit of manipulation will work properly on the FZ6N.

All i had to do was loosen both my switch blocks, and move them about 10mm away from the hand grips, to give me roo to fit the compact, and well made bracket.

There is little change in the feel at the bars of both levers, as the stock levers are so long! Mirrors were calso not overly affected. Still have good vision from both.

The Wind deflectors are made of a reasonably thick plastic, so dont flap in the breeze.

They took all of 20 minutes to fit, and all that was required was 6mm,8mm, & 10mm sockets & two 8mm wrenches.

So how do they work....brilliantly. I rode the 20km journey home this afternoon in very cold conditrions with driving rain the whole way!

Had my heated grips on, winter gloves, no inners, and of course, the wind deflectors. My hands were toasty warm, & my gloves completely dry (hate soggy gloves).

The Wind blast is nullified completely, and now the heated grips heat my whole hand, seeing as they dont have to compete with a freezing wind blast.

My hands are not just not cold, but warm!

The Wind deflectors cost $49, and the mounitng kit was $29...cheaper than all the other brands too!

As for looks, the jury is out, but it was never about looks at this time of the year, when you ride everyday. If i cant get used to them, i will take comfort in the extra comfort for now, and take them off in the summer. Which should take about 2 minutes. (3 screws on each side, no nuts, all bracket mounts are threaded).

But i sorta think they look ok, could of been worse, when you have seen what else is out there.

The saga is complete...Wolfman now has the warmest hands in the Land! Mission accomplished.

Here's a few pics of how they look, do have pictures of mounting brackets, etc, if anyone is interested.

[lattin25]

Looking good to me! They are also nice for deflecting the occasional rock.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by lattin25

Looking good to me! They are also nice for deflecting the occasional rock.

Dont get too many rocks flying at me around here, just gotta watch out for the local Wildlife...i live near a National Park! But your right...reckon they might be useful on a long road trip, when sitting behind trucks that like to throw stuff at you!

Cant believe how much difference they have made, it's like Night & Day!

[cashcrzzy]

the shape matches your mirrors .. they do look good !! makes the front of the bike look like a hornet . do you have a link on the product ?
Greg A.

[Keits]

Those things are pretty freakin sweet!!

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by cashcrzzy

the shape matches your mirrors .. they do look good !! makes the front of the bike look like a hornet . do you have a link on the product ?
Greg A.

Yes my bike is starting to look quite bug like, Bulbous Screen, funky shaped mirrors & deflectors... i like it, just needed convincing!

The link to the product is

PowerMadd

Am now going to buy a pair in black / black, or KTM orange / black. Mine are the chrome / black. I think Black / Black will look best...not much for the fake chrome, and the big Powermadd logo! On the black / black version this logo is blacked out, and i think the all black would suit the black nature of my bike.

[brad81987]

Looks really good! I run that same style PowerMadd on my snowmobile and they work pretty good. You can kind of see them around the windshield in the picture. Those have a snap off cover over the top part so if it gets warm you can snap those off and get some air flow to your hands. Very slick. When it gets really cold I even put nylon gauntlets over the powermads to deflect even more wind. You know it's cold when you've got those two things plus the hand warmers cranked to the max and wearing lined gortex leather gloves and your hands still get cold. Oh well, bike will be long put away by that time

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by brad81987

Looks really good! I run that same style PowerMadd on my snowmobile and they work pretty good. You can kind of see them around the windshield in the picture. Those have a snap off cover over the top part so if it gets warm you can snap those off and get some air flow to your hands. Very slick. When it gets really cold I even put nylon gauntlets over the powermads to deflect even more wind. You know it's cold when you've got those two things plus the hand warmers cranked to the max and wearing lined gortex leather gloves and your hands still get cold. Oh well, bike will be long put away by that time

Fortuneatly it does'nt get quite that cold around here -1, -2c is about the coldest it gets here at night, so i reckon i can forgo the gauntlets, but am guessing you love yours.

Will find out very soon, i have to ride in the Early hours 3 nights this week, and it's as cold as it gets around here, right now!

[brad81987]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Fortuneatly it does'nt get quite that cold around here -1, -2c is about the coldest it gets here at night, so i reckon i can forgo the gauntlets, but am guessing you love yours.

Will find out very soon, i have to ride in the Early hours 3 nights this week, and it's as cold as it gets around here, right now!

The coldest I ever had my bike out was the day i picked it up: 45F with 25MPH winds, in the early spring, so the wind was still very cold. I actually wore my snowmobiling gear to go pick it up.......... I haven't had the opportunity to get out in the cold again since it never gets much below 50-55F here during the summer.

[stumbles06]

Nice work Wolfman, they look great.

As Brad said, the snap off covers are a good idea, in case you're out and it gets warmer.

Another idea for my bank of mods...lol