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Hybrid Test 1.0, What Buffeting?

5K views 30 replies 12 participants last post by  Chattanooga Mark 
#1 · (Edited)
I've been dragging my feet for a couple of months on removing my CCT lowers in favor of the Victory forged bars, Victory forged bar highway pegs and JTD Lowers. I had the JTD lowers and the forged bar tops color matched to my CCT about 8 weeks ago. Tonight I removed my right side CCT lower and installed the forged bar and the highway peg without the JTD lower. I wanted to do a standard 'step' test of changing only one thing at a time to evaluate the buffeting differences between the CCT lowers and the forged bars. I've been reading the horror stories of Cross bike buffeting long before I bought my CCT in the Summer of 2013.

So on the right side I have the forged bar with the highway peg going commando, no JTD lower. On the left side I have the full oem CCT lower setup. I greatly enjoy the aesthetics of the forged bar setup. IMHO, these bikes just look 'right' with them. Anyway, a quick 25 mile high speed (80 to 90) highway run produced no buffeting at all. I mean none. I also didn't feel any engine/exhaust heat pooling in front of or behind my right upper leg. The familiar heat pooling was present on my left leg. I didn't even see the familiar red glow of the right exhaust reflecting off the front belt cover. Oh sure, when it rains, my shins would be soaked through in quick order. But my calves won't get hot in 95F+ degree temperatures.

I have a 15" 7jurock windshield on my oem CCT brackets which I've had for a couple of years now. It's the same width, just 3" lower than the oem CCT shield. I was wearing my Shark Evoline ST 3 helmet, in full face mode, which is also standard fare for me. I've also been running the Victory ape handlebars for the last 10K miles.

Tomorrow afternoon the left CCT lower assembly will be removed in favor of the Victory forged bar and Victory forged bar highway peg setup. Both sides will be going commando. Once I fully test the commando version of the forged bar setup, I'll add the JTD lowers for another step in the evaluation process.

I have the Victory billet floorboards with matching billet shift/brake pegs. I also added the matching billet foot pegs in favor of the foot pegs that come standard with the Victory forged bar highway pegs. It's a sweet looking setup for sure. I first tried the pegs in the 'lower' position by installing the left peg bracket on the right side. But it placed the highway peg too close to the foot brake. I was quick to remove the left bracket and install the right bracket on the right side.

More buffeting testing to come.
 
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#2 ·
As I said in the other forum, I'm eagerly awaiting your results....
Maybe @broggyr can post a pic of his CCT with forged bars.....This setup really looks great thumb up
 
#6 · (Edited)
Here ya go. I'm really digging this look.
 

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#4 ·
1) Please post pictures
2) Do you find it necessary to remove the wind controls from the bottom of the upper fairing?
 
#5 ·
2) Do you find it necessary to remove the wind controls from the bottom of the upper fairing?
The fairing winglets do have to come off when going to forged bars.
 
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#7 ·
Pain,

If you can swing the forged bars, I'd suggest you get them. I installed the left forged bar and peg tonight and did the same road test from last night. Is there some air coming up under the tank? Yes. Was it an issue for me, no, not at all. To remove the heat pooling around my upper and lower legs is very nice and well worth it. I wear a modular (full face) helmet as well as my BFC vest. If I wore a loose fitting t-shirt or something, I suspect it would move around some. I don't smoke but I think it could be done with the forged bars at speed.

I was sent a front air dam by forum member jjpilot to test. It's a bit smaller than the ones he's posting about since he made it to fit with the forged bars. I'll install that tomorrow and go for another ride to see how much that effects the air coming up under the tank. But like I said, I don't have an issue with it at this point. My head is not getting battered around from buffeting, not at all. This has been a very hot Summer and the CCT lowers are usually fine when I'm moving but when I get caught in traffic, my right calf feels like it's baking. Because it is. Plus I get hot air pooling in front and behind my upper legs and seat area. This is simply not the case with the forged bars. In hind sight, I should have installed these a year ago.

I still have the option to mount the color matched JTD lowers or the Victory vinyl forged bar air dam. I held the JTD right lower in place tonight in the garage and well, it looks great!

One of the reasons I waited to get the forged bars was I like ease of having my phone in the left CCT lower. I thought I was going to have to move it to the saddlebag which would basically ruin using the iHeart radio app after most start ups. Come to find out the harness for the CCT left lower phone/12VDC outlet was very easy to route up along the left side of the handlebar. I simply tie wrapped it to the existing wires along the left side of the handlebar. It connects to the main harness at the front of the tank anyway.

Victory used to have a nice machined aluminum brake or clutch half moon mount that would hold up to 3 RAM balls. I'm glad I bought one for each side while they were still available. So the RAM X-Grip I have on the left side works great for my iPhone and the audio system works just like it did before. Of course the phone isn't in a rain proof place anymore. Nothing a zip lock bag can't help with because that's what I use for my GPS when I mount it on the left side. I have a RAM cup holder on the right side as well as a toll road transponder when I'm in an area that has toll roads.

All in all, I'm very glad to have mounted the forged bars onto my CCT. I won't sell my CCT lowers but I'm also not sure when or if they'll go back onto my CCT.
 
#8 ·
Thank you for your time and that excellent write up......I'm going to strongly consider going to forged bars because I love the look.

@Diamond Jim was kind enough to include me in a test run of his prototype "tank wings" to control buffeting, with these I may not need any forward(on the forks or highway bars) deflectors and can have FULL air flow and cooling. More on these later
 
#9 ·
... prototype "tank wings" to control buffeting, with these I may not need any forward(on the forks or highway bars) deflectors and can have FULL air flow and cooling. More on these later
Looking forward to hearing about these. While I am pretty much set with no buffeting, I'd still like to know more!

Here ya go. I'm really digging this look.
Looks good! I am REALLY digging the LED pods you have mounted at the turn signal stalks. Pretty bright I assume? What brand did you go with?
 
#11 ·
I always wonder just below the headlight if the fairing was to short.
I though if you ran two or three strips of duct tape from fork to fork to see if it stopped the buffeting.
Yes you laugh but you never know till you try
 
#15 ·
I now have about 1000 miles on the CCT with the Victory forged bars. I like them, a lot. For the first time in 1000 miles of the over 40K I have on it, I haven't felt engine or exhaust heat. None, not at all. The last 1000 miles have been mostly in 85 to 95 degree weather with likely 70% highway and 30% back road riding. No more red glow of the exhaust pipe reflecting off the front belt cover either.

So, is there some buffeting? Not really. Is there wind? Of course there is, I went from CCT lowers to open forged bars. I guess it depends on your expectations and tolerances to air and wind management. There is most definitely an updraft that comes from under the tank that wasn't there before. For me, it's not noticeable till 75 mph to 80 mph. Is it a problem for me? No, it really isn't. I rode with a couple hundred riders the last few days. Most of them on various H-D's. Every single one of the H-D riders with facial hair had it blowing up into their face. The updraft from those bikes is noticeably more than my CCT with Victory forged bars. One of the guys had his young son on the back of his H-D and commented on my forged bars at a stop light. The dad said those bars look like Batman bars. I simply smiled and said, that's where the Victory gets some of its super powers from.

The jjpilot front air dam does reduce the updraft. I think he's really onto a nice design here. With his air dam installed, the updraft went from the mid point on my CCT tank to the last 1/3 of the tank. It was also reduced. Great job jjpilot, I love this kind of R&D.

My wife was on the CCT for about 800 of the last 1000 miles. In her opinion, she's getting some head buffeting that wasn't there before. But, she was also wearing a Specilized half helmet instead of her normal Shark Evoline ST 3. So I'm sure that plays a part in the buffeting and wind she experienced. On another note, she loves the Victory passenger arm rests with the cup holder!

What's next? I'll install the JTD lowers sometime this week to give them a go and report back. For me, I should have removed the CCT lowers a long time ago in favor of the Victory forged bars. Especially since it was so easy to mount the iPhone connection to the handlebar.

More to come.
 
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#16 ·
What happened?

Mark,

What happened? Did you install the JTD lowers in your new forged bars? How is that working for you?
 
#17 ·
I'm currently running the air foil from jjpilot with the forged bars and have no issue with buffeting. At some point I will install the JTD lowers. But likely not till the 'winter' month here in Southern TN. The current set up is working fine for me.
 
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#18 ·
Still hardened from Chicago living, I guess.
 
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#20 ·
I think there are a few variables in place as well, like:

1. Tolerance for wind and/or noise. For me, I ride with a full face Shark Evoline and am nearly always listening to something through my Sena Bluetooth system. Wind...noise... yup, it's a motorcycle so I guess I know what to expect.

2. Expectation of 'still' or 'calm' air. As in point 1 above: yup, it's a motorcycle so I guess I know what to expect. Some people seem to expect very calm and still air all around the rider and passenger. Actually that's pretty close to the case with the oem CCT setup. That setup is also what causes the heat so many have an issue with.

3. Equipment such as the helmet type/fit and windshield style/height. My Shark fits properly and I have a 15" (-3" from oem) CCT windshield installed. If I were wearing a puddin bowl/skid lid/half helmet that was also a bit oversize to fit a ball cap; yup, that could very likely be an issue. If I were also running a short CC style 'blade' windshield, I also wouldn't expect much calm air around me.

Fact is I'm thrilled with the air management of my CCT with the Victory forged bars and jjpilot's aerofoil. I hesitated for 3 years on getting the forged bars because of all the buffeting horror stories I read on the forums. After finally making the move to forged bars on my own CCT, I just don't understand what all the fuss was/is about. See point 1 through 3 above.

I mostly only rode the CCT in Northern IL for the 2013 season. I bought it new in May of 2013 from Randy's Cycle in Marengo, IL. I was off the bike for most of the 2014 season and about half the 2015 season. Northern IL doesn't have too many days at 95+ degrees. Not so in Southern TN. Here it gets over 95 and stays their for weeks at a time. I'm so glad to no longer have hot air swirling around my butt and legs after removing the CCT lowers.

Many of those I ride with are on batwing faired H-D's. All of the guys on those H-D's that have a beard, it either gets flattened against their face or gets pushed straight out. It depends how long their beard is. The air coming straight up under the tank on those H-D's seem a lot different (worse) than it was on my CCT. Plus they complain of heat way before I ever noticed it.

Yea, I'm a happy camper with my CCT.
 
#21 ·
RE: Calm Air...

Many folks assume that the Gold Wing is the pinnacle of luxury (Wingabago is a popular nickname), and they do deserve some respect in that category. I had one for 10 seasons. However, I had MUCH calmer air on my XCT as set up by the dealer than I ever had on my Wing.

Fast forward a few years (to this past winter) and I swapped out my complete lowers for a set of forged bars. Due to that, I had to remove my lower fairing winglets. Definitely got more wind, but didn't make a big deal out of it because "motorcycle".

Fast forward again to a few weeks ago, I bought a CFAD from PaiN and my CCT is almost as buffet-free as it was since new, and I like it just fine.

I think one of the main differences in opinion are those folks who don't ride a faired bike on a regular basis; when they have a constant, steady stream of wind in your face, it's usually _smoother_ than the turbulence caused by a windshield, fairing, etc.

I am curious to hear how the JTDs work; perhaps it could be a cold weather consideration...
 
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#22 ·
I've been following this thread on both site and it's interesting to read and then only find my own issues. I bought my CXT new in 2012 it came with the factory lowers and for some reason I have always been drawn to the look of the forged bars but never wanted to spend the money to " Just try the out " as the whole swap over can get pricey.

Well about a month ago I decide to go for it, I bought a new set of the forged bars with matching color tops in Sunset Red, the JTD lowers and the highway peg mounts ( along with a Corbin seat But that's another story and is in the classified section ) . I changed everything out about three weeks ago and have put about 800 miles on it and I guess after 63,000 miles I'm still partial to my factory hard lowers. I had no buffeting before at all and with the current set up I have a little around 75-80 with the forged bars , not bad just a little annoying. Air flow is ok with the JTD lowers and the bike does feel a bit more planted and not getting blown around as much with passing truck as such. My factory lowers gave me the option of directing the air where it was needed and about a year ago I made some air deflectors that also helped alot with air flow.

Living in south Florida and riding every weekend I'd rather have the option of more air than less air that I seem to get with the forged bars and JTD lowers , don't get me wrong as I love the look and function of both products but for me I think I'll be going back to the factory bars. I have thought about getting one of the CFAD or some sort of fork deflectors but I'm not sure I want to keep going trying different things or rather sell everything and go back to the original parts .

Here ar some pictures of my homemade air wings that go on top of the factory lowers , in the summer I run with the flip up to direct air to my chest and in the winter ( or cooler weather ) I take them and switch sides and turn them upside down to direct some of the cooler air downwards away from my body. They work really well and I think for me that's what I'm missing with the Forged bars.

Keep your eye on the classified section as there might be some good stuff listed soon. :grin

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#23 ·
Buffet and CFAD

I'm going to video some this weekend.
Had a strange experience the other day. I was riding with a hoodie on, and the drawstring came loose and out, and it went straight forward, pointing at my radio, straight as a pole, and just stayed there!!!! No flapping around, just straight out.
Kinda shows that there's some weird looping airflow going on, like Vindex reported when he said he had raindrops coming forward on his helmet.
Clearly there's a big low pressure area behind the fairing, and without the cfad there's high pressure between the forks that gets pulled up into that area, beating you up. The cfad forces that air down, so there's still the low pressure void there behind the fairing. Guessing the madstadt helps get rid of that.

Here's a thought. If you made the opening at the bottom of the windshield bigger (higher) would that help imitate the madstadt effect, while not looking like it does???
I see a mutaza windshield that's scratched on ebay for 50 bucks, I may try that. Will let you know.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I'm going to video some this weekend.
Had a strange experience the other day. I was riding with a hoodie on, and the drawstring came loose and out, and it went straight forward, pointing at my radio, straight as a pole, and just stayed there!!!! No flapping around, just straight out.
Kinda shows that there's some weird looping airflow going on, like Vindex reported when he said he had raindrops coming forward on his helmet.
Clearly there's a big low pressure area behind the fairing, and without the cfad there's high pressure between the forks that gets pulled up into that area, beating you up. The cfad forces that air down, so there's still the low pressure void there behind the fairing. Guessing the madstadt helps get rid of that.

Here's a thought. If you made the opening at the bottom of the windshield bigger (higher) would that help imitate the madstadt effect, while not looking like it does???
I see a mutaza windshield that's scratched on ebay for 50 bucks, I may try that. Will let you know.
I was going to try and shim my WindVest at more of a back angle to see what that does.
 
#25 ·
I'll definitely stick with the MaStad! Not only does it have very little buffeting (because of the gap or for whatever reason), but I can change the height and angle of the shield in five seconds. It's not as convenient as the Vision, which lets you dust the shield height *while riding*, but I set it when I start out, according to temperature and rain conditions.

As for the appearance, 1) function is far more important to me 2) most of the pictures that I see of the MadStad show it with the shield in its ugliest position -- all the way tilted forward and at the highest height. I rarely have it that way, and if I do, then it is because I really need extra protection, so I;m glad that I can get it!
 
#27 ·
I'll definitely stick with the MaStad! Not only does it have very little buffeting (because of the gap or for whatever reason), but I can change the height and angle of the shield in five seconds. It's not as convenient as the Vision, which lets you dust the shield height *while riding*, but I set it when I start out, according to temperature and rain conditions.

As for the appearance, 1) function is far more important to me 2) most of the pictures that I see of the MadStad show it with the shield in its ugliest position -- all the way tilted forward and at the highest height. I rarely have it that way, and if I do, then it is because I really need extra protection, so I;m glad that I can get it!
That seems to be the only way I seem to see it.
 
#31 ·
This is the latest on my no buffeting non issue. Cut and pasted from the other forum, post 306.


Yes, there is certainly a left and a right side lower and door. They really only go on one way. I'll just use a Dremel tool to shave off a bit off the right door where it hits the master cylinder protrusion. I could use a few rubber washers to move the JTD insert forward a bit, but that would look goofy.

I put nearly 400 miles on the CCT today. It was 49 degrees and a bit damp when I left the house this morning. It only reached 51 after the first 100 miles. I actually used the heated grips for a while as well. There is absolutely no, none, nada, zip, zero buffeting with the forged bars and the JTD lowers. I did notice the cool air coming above the forged bars and below the fairing hitting my thighs. This would be the air the CCT lower fairing air deflectors would redirect this airflow. The air was coming straight back, without any buffeting or swirling at all. I was impressed with the smooth airflow design of the Victory fairing as well as the JTD lowers in the forged bars.

When I left where I was this afternoon it was 83 degrees. My lowers legs were getting hot because the JTD doors were still fully closed. Moving my feet a bit off the floorboards made an improvement though. Once we were able to stop, I fully opened the doors (parallel to the CCT) before getting back on the highway. Oh my, what WONDERFUL air flow. I had just a nice breeze on my lower legs, not hot at all. No hot air pooling in front of my legs or upper thighs at all. VERY slight warm, not hot, air behind me where the passengers legs would be. Not hot and no buffeting, why oh why couldn't the Victory designers have done this on their own with the oem CCT lowers.

The jjpilot fork airfoil will be residing on my work bench until next Spring. Once the temps get and remain high, the JTD lowers will likely come off and jjpilot's airfoil will likely go back on.

If you have a CCT or a CC and have ever thought about the Victory forged bars and a set of the JTD lowers - GO FOR IT. It's an excellent setup. Besides, the forged bars IMHO, just look 'right' on the Victory Cross bikes.
 
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