the helmet windnoise old chestnut !

What I've found is that small screens work best. They reduce the level of wind pressure on your body but leave smooth air flow for your head.

Screens which have a flip-up curl to the top of them work particularly poorly as they generate loads of buffeting.

Dave

 

I know where your coming from with wind noise, I also have a Tiger 800XC and a Schberth S2. The helmet was supposed to be one of the quietest on the market.... but only if you used it with the awkward neck shroud.

I'm 6' 3" tall and have had issues with most of my previous bikes, on my Speed Triple it got quieter when I took the nose cowl and small screen off completely. Had a Multistrada 1200 that was noisy when low and buffeted me when up.

I've got the adjustable Triumph touring screen on my Tiger which I've certainly found better than the Ducati but it isn't perfect and still reasonably noisy but at least I can talk on my bluetooth headset and still make out what is being said.

Over the years I've found you either need no screen / tiny one or a massive barn door and anything in between always has some compromise. There are lots of aftermarket screens for the Tiger and lots of different recommendations on various forums and groups.

I still have the original Tiger screen that has never been fitted so I've no idea if that's any better or worse. May be easier and perhaps cheaper to find bikes for sale/demo bikes with alternate screens that you can take out and try

 

Totally agree about the tall Bonneville screen - one came with the bike - only tried it once and hated it. Might offer wind protection but I couldn't cope with the buffeting at higher speeds and it felt bloody dangerous when lane changing on the motorway. (also looked awful on the bike so would have binned it anyway (well sold on ebay).
Have a Dart Flyscreen and agree with thebiglad - works enough for what it is and looks OK - if anything I prefer the bike with it on but that may just be beacause I'm used to it now.

 

There is only one answer - earplugs. In fact if you don't wear them regularly you'll probably end up damaging your hearing and getting tinnitus. Some people don't like them but take it from a bloke who's had tinnitus for over 20 years you really don't want to be abusing your hearing.

Screens are noisy, helmets are noisy no matter what the manufacturers would have you believe.

With earplugs the noise from a screen or helmet becomes less important but what you then start to notice is the buffeting.

Ain't no easy way out.....

 

On my naked XS250, I never wore ear plugs .. but then again I never had any reason to as wind noise wasn't an issue.

It wasn't until I got a VFR800 that I found the wind noise to be very uncomfortable, even painful....even worse than playing the drums without ear protection.

I wear ear plugs every trip now. Just the foam ones, but they work...wash them regularly as they tend to shrink when dirty and replace every few weeks.

 

And in case anyone needs it - I get my earplugs here

http://www.earplugshop.com/motorcycling-earplugs.html

 

I have had Schuberths for the last 8 years and have a C3 flip front at present. It is quieter than the previous C2. The TEX has the touring screen and the Bonnie no screen, the Bonnie at 70 is noisier but manageable whereas the TEX is very quiet.

I am with folkbloke......get some earplugs. I have damaged hearing, not bike related and wear plugs if I am going to be riding at sustained high speeds as I do not want any further damage.

You can get custom plugs made, these are moulded from your own ears and give a great fit, just make sure that you have no arkward in ear flesh that make fitting them difficult. I had some and they were great but a pig to fit. They worked far better than the squish and push type. Do check out the noise attenuation of earplugs as they are not all the same. Remember that the dB rating is logarithmic.

 

I have just started using Pro-Guard Bikerplugz after reading about potential ear damage from the wind noise generated in your helmet. Apparently it can be as much as 90dbA at 40mph and over 100dbA at 70mph, depending on helmet design.
The Bikerplugz come in two sizes and with a little metal canister to keep them in. So far very comfortable - hardly notiice them after a while.

 

cliverdee I have a Tiger800 road version and am also 6'. I have tried a few screens on the Tiger, as follows :

- Triumph touring screen (adjustable), I couldn't make it work for me in any position.
- Triumph standard screen, still noisy but better than the touring screen!
- MRA vario (the one custom made for Tiger800), smoothed out the airflow but still very noisy for me whatever position, think it would suit someone shorter than me.
- Puig touring screen, at last a decent compromise! Works for me adjusted just higher than middle, gives a good level of protection, with reasonable airflow and not too much noise. I still use earplugs, and overall find this a pleasure to use. Still noisy on windy days with diagonal or cross wind, but overall a good compromise.

The only improvement I can think of would be a Madstad (but I've never tried one). Those who have them claim total silence and protection, but it does look a big screen and costs a lot. The Puig is fine for me, I still feel I'm on a naked bike but with a bit of protection.

 

@ Cliverdee - I use these: http://www.earplugshop.com/motorcycling-earplugs/spark-plugs-pack-of-50-pairs.html

I find them cheap, effective (I use a pîss-pôt helmet so ears are out in the breeze) and washable. A bag of 50 pairs will last a couple of seasons and give appropriate protection imo.

I would suggest that you sort out some ear plugs, remove the current noisy screen and develop from there. Most screens are pretty useless overall tbh.

Cheers
Dave

PS Don't spend any money (apart from plugs!) to fix this problem, get the plugs then see how things are. I hate spending money but then I am from Yorkshire and lived in Scotland for a long while

 

Dave and I posted a link to the same site and I'd recommend you have a look at those links. I use the Moldex plugs. Pretty cheap and I find them both effective and comfortable.

I've got two sets of moulded plugs, one was for when I was gigging and the other were specifically designed for motorcycling. Neither of them work as well as the shaped foam plugs if I'm honest and cost over £100 a pair iirc. But they are easy to keep clean, easy to put in and last a long time (then again you'd have to use an awful lot of foam earplugs to cover the cost of some moulded ones!)

I'm not sure what a tinnitus assessment could possibly be. There is no way of measuring it as far as I know (and I've been seeing an audiologist for 20 years). They can test your hearing but assess tinnitus? The only thing they can do is to assess your perception of it. I'll be interested to see what they say.

I've gone into this in quite a big way over the years and there are various ways of treating tinnitus. As I said, the issue is how you perceive your tinnitus and talking therapies (such as CBT) which can help you shift your own view can be useful. Relaxation classes are sometimes offered as well as it's recognised that stress can aggravate the condition.

Some people like a masker that you wear in your ears which generates a white noise that "covers up" the sound of tinnitus. I tried that and it was a waste of time. There are also sound generators that play "relaxing" sounds (waves lapping on a beach for instance) which distracts you from the tinnitus. Again, I found them pretty useless.

Avoid any internet shite (sorry, site) that claims to have a cure for tinnitus (Hopi ear candles for instance!). If there were a cure we'd all know about it although I am aware of various expensive sound treatment therapies with varying levels of success but no cure as yet.

You need to see a trained audiologist (see your doctor to get a referral). Ear plugs (no matter how hi-tech and expensive) will not cure your tinnitus or even make it better. In fact you may find that sometimes you're more aware of it on a long run as outside noise is reduced which gives the brain a chance to throw the ringing at you again and not have it drowned out. But, if you don't wear ear plugs the tinnitus will get worse and your hearing will deteriorate.

Good luck and let us know just what a tinnitus assessment does.

 

Im 6ft 2 and i always use ear plugs, but for some reason it didn't make much of a difference on the Tiger 800 when i had one. I tried the smallest screen and the biggest screen around but it still did nothing. The final straw was when i was having a weekend away riding around the yorshire dales, the buffeting in my head was so bad it just ruined the whole riding experiance, i couldn't enjoy all these nice twisty roads that i was on. So as soon as i got back to notts i went straight to triumph and traded it in for a street triple. i've never had any problem like that on a naked or sport bike. just adventure bikes.

 

Having had a variety of bikes over the years, I've come to the conclusion that I'm most comfortable with naked bikes - with a small flyscreen as a maximum - no turbulence no noise, ear plugs every time.

 

screens what a pain ! Triumph screens I always cut down in a radius just above the top of the head lamp fairing sides, that worked for me putting the wind on my chest, but on other bikes I have found a flip top screen is best and works well providing it is set to a height where you are looking over the top of it, also if you mount the screen an inch or so further away from the fairing you increase the vortex behind it which cuts down the air flow over the top of the screen, I did this with my 1300 pan and I can motor at over 100mph with my visor open if I wish, oh and I always use HJC full face helmets these days they are quieter than shoei and I do not wear ear plugs because I have two speakers fitted in the helmet for the intercom which are against my ears anyway.

 

Is this a bad time to say that I am about to sell a screen from my T-Bird? It would be ideal for someone about 5ft 9 or below, but as a 6-footer it just buffets air into my face.

 

I did that with a MRA vario screen, it did nothing for me but it was very good at knocking my wife about on the back, an expensive mistake !! and even totally un marked I still lost half of the buy price on the sale.
Keith.

 

Thanks for the update.

Elbows in ears. Just about every audiologist I've seen has used the same phrase

You're right, there is no clear solution! Everyone is different and what works for me in terms of therapy/helmet/screen/ear plugs won't necessarily work for anyone else.

I'm still not convinced about the tinnitus assessment as in my experience it's not necessarily linked to hearing loss. Certainly when I started to get it badly and I first saw the audiologist my hearing was tested and found to be ok. In fact it was a little better than average (it's not any more!). Still, let us know how you get on.

Good luck