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Norge fairing - windshield questions

B

bobz

Just got it firing!
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
4
I'm seriously considering buying a Norge. I've long been an owner of a BMW R1100RT but the Norge size is more to my liking than the R1200RT. My questions relate to how the fairing wind screen work. Comments welcome
Does the windscreen give wide and high enough coverage for 500-800 mile days?
How does it work in the rain? Keep you dry in front at 60-70 MPH? Wet in the back at those speeds?
How does side winds or truck blast effect stability?
How is the coverage on the hands? The season is short here in Vt, while heaters help it the outside of the gloves are in the cold
blast of air, it is an isssue.
How does the luggage hold up to all day rain?
Any othe comments?

Thanks
 
My husband has an 1150RT and the windshield is not as wide on the Norge. I feel it provides adequate protection however you cannot adjust it easily. Where the RT has a toggle switch, the Norge has an up button and a down button on opposite sides of the handlebars. You need a REEEEEEAAALY long thumb to reach them. In addition, I feel the motor is grossly under powered and sounds like it struggles to do the job. You can adjust the windshield at low speed but the motor is not nearly strong enough to adjust at highway speed like you can with the RT.

With that said, I bought the Norge for the same reason you mentioned. I feel it fits me better than an RT and the front end is not nearly as wide and (in my opinion) cumbersome. I am really enjoying my Norge but I think the Italians could learn a bit from the Germans when it comes to fit and finish. These are very minor and if I had not previously known of them from riding the RT, they wouldn't matter at all.

Bottom line - I am happy with the Norge overall.
 
With regard to luggage, I am finding that my side bags are leaking when I wash the bike. Again, I haven't had the occasion to ride in driving rain while fully packed but in light to moderate rain situations, they seem to stay dry. There is a small gap in the top edge that could have been eliminated with a better latching system. From my discussion on the Wildgoose Chase forum, I'm told that leakage is not a problem when travelling at any speed but others have had the same problem when washing the bike. Several have said that water collects in the handle and runs in when you open it.

The heated grips are not as hot as the RT (or my 650GS) but they help. The power outlet is under the seat which is not ideal when using Gerbings and I've blown the fuse or killed the battery a few times forgetting to disconnect it.

Boy, I sound kind of negative on the Norge but really, i'm not! I guess I was just spoiled.
 
Newstar wrote:
My husband has an 1150RT and the windshield is not as wide on the Norge. I feel it provides adequate protection however you cannot adjust it easily. Where the RT has a toggle switch, the Norge has an up button and a down button on opposite sides of the handlebars. You need a REEEEEEAAALY long thumb to reach them. In addition, I feel the motor is grossly under powered and sounds like it struggles to do the job. You can adjust the windshield at low speed but the motor is not nearly strong enough to adjust at highway speed like you can with the RT.

With that said, I bought the Norge for the same reason you mentioned. I feel it fits me better than an RT and the front end is not nearly as wide and (in my opinion) cumbersome. I am really enjoying my Norge but I think the Italians could learn a bit from the Germans when it comes to fit and finish. These are very minor and if I had not previously known of them from riding the RT, they wouldn't matter at all.

Bottom line - I am happy with the Norge overall.
Click to expand...

I find no such trouble with the windshield motor. It works just fine with penty of torque at any speed. When I put my hand on it it still works OK.
I am a desert dweller so I can't say much about rainy days. :cheer:
 
I live in vermont also.

So on that note, the fairing to me seems to be ok i would like to see it about 2 inches taller and 4 or so inches wider for riding in the cold weather the coverage on the hands is not to bad with the hand warmers i freqently ride in weather in the middle 30's and sometimes into the 20's and find my hands not getting to cold. And there are some after market shields on the market that some day I will get when i get some spare coin.

As far bags in the rain they have never got wet inside all though when i wash the bike water seems to get in there some how. Only a small amount.

I don't like riding on the intersate it does seem to get some side to side movement when trucks pass but not scary bad if that makes sense.

I love the bike it is a joy to ride it handle like a dream and is by far the best looking sport tourer on the market.

Hope this helps
 
I live in the Northwest. Riding in the rain is not only a fact of life here but it is truly inevitable.
Thus far, I have never had any leakage into the luggage while riding. And there have been some truly spectacular wet days riding lately. I would not know about leakage when washing the bike since I remove the luggage when washing anyway. My only advice would be to be careful when packing the bags since the seal looks like it could be compromised if you try and jam too much into the bags.
The windscreeen is surprisingly good. I am comparing this to my previous Kawasaki Concours with an after-market Rifle windscereen. The weather protection on the Concours was quite good and the Norge is not nearly as good however I find it acceptable. In serious rain, water gets all over the inside of the windscreen and just about everywhere else however it did this on the Concours as well. I usually ride with a number of Gold Wingers and they seem to stay pretty dry no matter what. Switching from a Norge to a Lead Wing is just not what I want to do.
The operation of the electric windscreen is also very good provided you make the change to the switch that I did. Search the Technical section of this forum for the part number of the nifty little switch that I found that allows up and down operation of the windscreen from the left side. I do not think that there is any problem with the motor that drives the windscreen. It is quite adequate to the task and is geared fairly low.
I use both the heated grips and when the weather gets real nasty, I switch to heated gloves. In order to handle the electric requirements, I added a six position fuse block with a 30 amp relay to my bike. The relay is triggered by the igntion switch so the load on this new accessory block can be turned off. The relay power feed to the accessory block is directly fed from the battery. The block is fused at 30 amps. My electric vest, pant liners, and gloves can take as much as 12 amps so I wanted to protect the rest of my electrical system. The fuse sizing for the heated gear is 15 amps and I have 4 fuse positions left over for whatever else I will ever add.
All in all, I am quite happy with the bike here in the Great Northwet weather.
 
Cat City Rider wrote:
Newstar wrote:
My husband has an 1150RT and the windshield is not as wide on the Norge. I feel it provides adequate protection however you cannot adjust it easily. Where the RT has a toggle switch, the Norge has an up button and a down button on opposite sides of the handlebars. You need a REEEEEEAAALY long thumb to reach them. In addition, I feel the motor is grossly under powered and sounds like it struggles to do the job. You can adjust the windshield at low speed but the motor is not nearly strong enough to adjust at highway speed like you can with the RT.

With that said, I bought the Norge for the same reason you mentioned. I feel it fits me better than an RT and the front end is not nearly as wide and (in my opinion) cumbersome. I am really enjoying my Norge but I think the Italians could learn a bit from the Germans when it comes to fit and finish. These are very minor and if I had not previously known of them from riding the RT, they wouldn't matter at all.

Bottom line - I am happy with the Norge overall.
Click to expand...

I find no such trouble with the windshield motor. It works just fine with penty of torque at any speed. When I put my hand on it it still works OK.
I am a desert dweller so I can't say much about rainy days. :cheer:
Click to expand...
I live in AZ and I find that the small windshield does a surprisingly good job of keeping a calm bubble of air around me as I'm going 75 MPH, very little wind buffeting of my helmet and the shield is easy to see over in the highest position. I find that on my bike the motor that drives the power windshield is not up to the job if I'm going faster than 55 mph. I need to grab the shield with my right hand and give the motor a little assistance until it reaches the halfway up point, then the motor can raise the shield on its own.I find the heated grips are very hot when adjusted to the highest setting and normally keep them set on position number 2 of 3. The side cases are first rate and mine are water tight but the Guzzi top case will eject itself from its mount unless you bolt the top case to the mount. The fit and finish of the bike is not that of a Honda or BMW but the ease of maintenance makes up for it. I've owned the Norge for 11 months now and have put 13,000+ miles on it. Very happy with it so far and like the fact that I don't see very many on the road.
 
Thanks for all the information in the great replys.

In looking I've found new or demo Norges as 2007, also a 2008 demo, and seen pictures of a 2009.
Other than price, is there any difference or issues I should be concerned about?

Again

Thanks


bob
 
For an '07, you really want to make sure it has the upgraded spring on the rear shock, as the original spring was defintely too soft. There is also a potential issue of grinding the center stand in corners if you ride 'spiritedly' (you can search here and find a lot oc comments).

I have an '07 and am very happy with bike and the dealer here in Seattle.
 
I have an 07 as well - the main differences are the color Black was available in 08 and in 09 they only have silver and beige. In either 08 or 09 they added a plug on the left lower fairing so you can get to the dip stick, otherwise you need to remove the fairing or get a dipstick extension. The upgraded rear spring and center stand dragging were already mentioned. The bikes are the same otherwise.
 
jdgretz wrote:
I have an 07 as well - the main differences are the color Black was available in 08 and in 09 they only have silver and beige. In either 08 or 09 they added a plug on the left lower fairing so you can get to the dip stick, otherwise you need to remove the fairing or get a dipstick extension. The upgraded rear spring and center stand dragging were already mentioned. The bikes are the same otherwise.
Click to expand...

Is there something different about the '08/'09 centerstands? I wasn't aware that there was. And only the very early '07's had the weak rear spring, although it is something you definitely don't want.
 
jdgretz wrote:
In either 08 or 09 they added a plug on the left lower fairing so you can get to the dip stick, otherwise you need to remove the fairing or get a dipstick extension.
Click to expand...
You can get (quite cheaply) the Guzzi kit to add the new dipstick and rubber plug to the earlier Norges. No need to remove fairing, or buy expensive dip stick extensions.
 
You'd need to cut a hole in the left flank yourself then? That part of the fairing is NOT CHEAP.

The late 2008 and 2009 Norges also have the same clutch as is in the 8v motors. That's a considerable difference. The 2009 model also has a slightly longer 6th, which is nice for highways here but which may be an issue in places with lower speed limits.
 
RJVB wrote:
You'd need to cut a hole in the left flank yourself then? That part of the fairing is NOT CHEAP.

The late 2008 and 2009 Norges also have the same clutch as is in the 8v motors. That's a considerable difference. The 2009 model also has a slightly longer 6th, which is nice for highways here but which may be an issue in places with lower speed limits.
Click to expand...
Cutting the hole took all of 15 minutes, and they supply a template to show exactly where it goes.
Have they changed the ratio of 6th gear? About time, I keep looking for 7th on mine.
 
RJVB wrote:
The 2009 model also has a slightly longer 6th, which is nice for highways here but which may be an issue in places with lower speed limits.
Click to expand...

Do you have the specs on the new gear? The web site (yeah, I know, it's always up to date) still show the 29/25 = 1:0.862 that is shown in my 07 owners manual.

jdg
 
Brian UK wrote:
RJVB wrote:

Cutting the hole took all of 15 minutes, and they supply a template to show exactly where it goes.
Click to expand...

I asked JSG here in Oz about the kit, they say they don't have a template.

Can someone point me to a pic of a bike with the new dipstick and hole, and if I do buy ti and there's no template, how big and what's important about the hole?

Zebee
 
Unfortunately I didn't keep the template.
But the hole is 42mm diameter.
It is on the main side fairing, on the recessed bit exactly in line with the dip stick of course. The top of the hole is 10mm from the top edge of the recess.
I did it with a circular hole cutter, the saw type which fits into a drill, using a size a little smaller than the hole required, then opened it out will a half round file. Then trimmed the burrs off with a modelling knife.
Took 10 minutes, and all done with fairing in situ.
 
Sounds like a reasonably simple job.

Got a photo of the finished result? I'm not sure if I want to do it, the TL dipstick works even with the crashbars on, but filling with it is a right pain. Problem is balancing that with the look of a hole.

I went google image hunting and while I saw lots of Norge pics, couldn't find one with the fairing hole.

Zebee
 
New ratio is 30/24. Not a big difference, just enough to make 6th more of an overdrive ... a true 7th speed would have been more beneficial!
(for that, get a Mana GT ;) )
 
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