Helmet buffeting in the wind

I have recently purchased an 82 XJ650J and gotten back into motorcycle riding. My bike has a small clear wideshield that really helps keep the wind pressure off my head and chest.

The problem I have is that at speeds over 55 MPH, I hear a lot of wind around my helmet and it shakes my head a lot. I drive 21 miles each way to and from work and much of that is freeway with a 65 MPH speed limit.

I believe the windshield is moving the wind to up around the top of my helmet and causing it to shake my head around. I'm wondering if a different helmet would do the trick or if I should look at a different windshield.

My helmet is actually a full face Lazer (made by Cross in Belgium) snowmobile helmet. It's DOT/Snell approved, has lots of padding, and a great anti-fog shield.

Has anyone else had this issue with a helmet before and what helmets seem to be the best for aerodynamics?

 

I do not have a windshield on my bike and I have a similar ride to work. Some mornings if it is windy out the wind noise will actually start to hurt my ears. My helmet at the moment is a low level HJC and I've heard from the forum and from talking to friends that have higher grade helmets that they greatly reduce these factors and make your ride more comfortable.

my 2 cents.

 

Minnesota XJer:

I suffer the same problem on my 40-mile commute on my naked Seca 400. I think it's fairly common, unless you have a full fairing or a windshield which gets the air completely above your head.

I wear ear plugs every time I ride, which takes care of the noise, but the buffeting causes me to do the bobble-head thing sometimes, especially behind 18-wheelers and SUVs.

The wind blast off of the headlight/gauges hits me right in the face. If I sit completely upright it's nice and quiet with no buffeting, but that gets tiring after a while.

WebBikeWorld, at http://www.webbikeworld.com/ , reviews helmets for wind noise, and even has mp3 files for some helmets that they have recorded inside the helmets while riding.

I have an HJC CL-SP, which is supposed to be one of the quieter ones. I've never used another helmet, so I don't have anything for comparison.

I think the main factors are probably how they fit your head, and where the wind blast hits them. I've heard that a neck roll around the bottom of the helmet really helps with the noise, but haven't tried it.

Good luck!
Herb

 

try changing the angle on your wind shield. I have the same problem with mine if I lower the angle.... but it almost completely disappears when I move it up. also, I noticed that the shaking is worse with an open-face helmet, but the full-face hardly moves as long as the wind screen is down.

 

When I first got my Seca 550 it had a windshield, and the height of the windshield basically just blasted the air directly at my forehead. Made it impossible to hold my head still, and really annoying. I agree with stereomind -- try adjusting your windshield.

 

I've tried all different angles on the windshield. The best angle is with it nearly straight up and down. That gets me up to about 60 MPH before the wind hits the top of my helmet. If I lean it back some, then the wind starts hitting my helmet at a lower speed.

Today I took my left hand and moved it up and down while going 65 MPH down the freeway to feel where the air is going. I could tell that the air is only hitting my helmet just above the top of the visor (right around my forehead).

I'm not sure if any stores will let me return a helmet if it doesn't work well. It wold be nice to be able to take a helmet for a 'test drive' to see if it works well with my head/bike/windshield. Given my choice, I'd rather buy a new helmet than a new windshield. A motorcycle helmet will probably be cooler to wear in the summer than a snowmobile helmet.

 

Yesterday I bought a nice full face helmet at Mills Fleet Farm for only $69.95. It works quite a bit better than my old helmet. I was thinking the padding in my old helmet was getting worn and then I remembered that I bought that helmet large enough to wear a ski mask underneath. When used in the Summer without a ski mask the helmet was too loose.

Besides being a better fit, this helmet doesn't buffet around in the wind as much.

A good fitting helmet that is both DOT and Snell approved for only $69.95 was a good deal.

 

Just mentioning that I read about a study done in saskatchewan, finding that 43% of damage to helmets in an accident occured to the bottom front quarters. I for one would not like that to happen to my face! Full face helmets athough a little mild on the cool factor seem to be even safer comparatively than I had realised. take care out there, ride safe.

 

I had a similar problem when I put a National Cycles Flyscreen on my V Star. At any speed over 55 mph the wind buffeting was like someone was hitting me in the helmet with a 2x4. I took the Flyscreen off the V Star and the buffeting went away.

I did add the flyscreen to my Seca (mainly to hide the wires from the instrument cluster) and i'm not having the wind buffeting problem I had with the other bike.

I think your best solution will be a taller windshield (or no shield).

BTW, I wear a full-face Shoei Z-II all the time.