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F3 Riding in the rain?

WillieB

New member
Newbie here, Question: How is riding in the rain with the standard windshield? Can you see clearly or are you inundated with water on your face making visibility an issue.
Are there aftermarket windshields that solve this problem if it exists.
Please understand, I am shopping for my first Spyder, thinking F3 Se6 Limited.
BTW, I am 6’2” tall.

Thanks for reading
 
If you have an F3T or F3LTD I definitely recommend you get the F4 Customs Windshield with side wings. That’s what I have on mine and I love it, I look over my windshield and don’t have a problem shedding water from the face shield on my helmet.
 
I have the 25" F4 with side wind rain deflectors. I got caught in a heavy downpour on the interstate last summer and could still see fine. Didn't get too wet ethier. Just my faceshield, shoes and lower part of pants.
 
I have a F3 Limited and I installed a Madstad screen on mine. I like it because it is adjustable up and down about 2 inches plus the angle can be adjusted.
 
If you have an F3T or F3LTD I definitely recommend you get the F4 Customs Windshield with side wings. That’s what I have on mine and I love it, I look over my windshield and don’t have a problem shedding water from the face shield on my helmet.

Ann, how tall are you and what is height of the F4 windshield you have?
 
You will need to upgrade the windshield and don’t use the cruise control

C'mon toolie, that recommendation went out with the old 'throttle lock' style cruise controls!! :gaah:

As I posted recently in another thread:

:hun: This one always astounds me. :dontknow: Maybe it was applicable in the past when all we had was 'throttle lock' type cruise controls, which are now considered ancient technology, and cruise control wasn't just a small part of a whole suite of integrated safety aids & applications that are pretty much State of the Art INTEGRATED SAFETY SYSTEMS, but that's not how the modern Cruise Control or the Integrated Safety Systems on our Spyders work?! Your Cruise Control is not going to spin up a drive tire or make any tire any more likely to aquaplane than it is with only your hand controlling the throttle - in fact, it's LESS likely to do that because it's generally steadier, AND even if something like that does happen, the Nanny will react to cut cruise far quicker than you can respond to back off the throttle manually! :lecturef_smilie:

Using modern Cruise Control (like that on our Spyders) in any CRUISING condition isn't a bad thing per se (ie, ryding along at a steady pace in whatever conditions) simply because it's just ONE part of that suite of Integrated Safety Systems - cruise control doesn't work alone!! :shocked: As you're ryding along and using either the throttle or cruise control to try & maintain a steady speed, the whole VSS/Nanny & its entire suite of sensors & systems is there to work FOR you at making your ryde safer! :lecturef_smilie: If the Nanny responds to anything adverse, and she WILL do that FAAAR Quicker than you can; the VERY FIRST THING she does (in milli-seconds) when any of the myriad of sensors reports an issue (in milli-seconds) is cut the throttle/cruise & reduce power, and she does that MUCH quicker than you can even think about backing off on the throttle too! So why would you NOT use a Safety Aid that can keep a steady throttle better than you; react far quicker than you to any issues/changes; cut power &/or apply one or more wheel brakes far quicker than you can; and basically WORK FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR RYDE SAFER?? :dontknow: :gaah:

Do you pull the fuse on your car's ABS every time it rains or you drive on a dirt road? People used to do that before ABS became as good as it is these days! Do you pull the fuse on the air-bag if you're only going to drive on the Freeway? People used to do that cos they thought the only time an air-bag would help was in a low speed accident around town, but they're better than that now! Do you ONLY use cruise control in fine conditions where ALL it's doing is maintaining a steady speed while you have little other competing demands for concentration and it's at its LEAST helpful?? Or do you use your Cruise Control as just ONE integrated part of that State of the Art suite of Safety Systems that is widely recognised as being one of the best there is, and that has components which have been very carefully designed and calibrated to work TOGETHER to keep you safe? :dontknow: Dunno about you, but I know what I do! :thumbup:

Sure, if you are changing speed ALL the time in any condions, then you might not want to select cruise; but if you are travelling along at a steady speed for any distance of much more than a few hundred yards in ANY conditions, selecting cruise at an appropriate speed for those conditions is surely a GOOD thing to do?! :dontknow: It allows you to concentrate on being more aware of what's happening around and ahead of you without having to devote any real effort to keeping on moving at your chosen appropriate speed for the conditions! And YES, that appropriate speed you set on cruise might be a little slower than if you were concentrating solely on getting the best safe speed you could given those circumstances/conditions, and concentrating on THAT (your speed) to the exclusion of putting any more effort into watching for any variations in speed or tracking of the vehicles ahead, the road surface, the spray patterns, any standing or running water on the road, keeping an eye on the cage alongside you with the driver on his phone, watching the rear-view mirrors for the tosser coming up too fast to see you thru your spray, and all those other things that you SHOULD be considering, especially in adverse conditions! Using Cruise Control to (slightly?) reduce the amount of concentration devoted to maintaining your speed and freeing up some 'extra concentration' to put towards monitoring the potential for increased dangers all around you that are present due to the adverse conditions should be a good thing, shouldn't it?! :shocked:

Trust the Nanny a bit more! Use Cruise appropriately to help make your Ryde safer, regardless of the conditions. The Nanny WILL respond to feedback from all those sensors FAR QUICKER than you can; and to NOT use your Cruise Control in circumstances where it & the VSS/Nanny could help keep you safer simply because of some old, outdated, & possibly irrationally ingrained fears about completely different technology is pretty short-sighted in my view, and is very likely putting you and other road users around you at greater risk to boot! nojoke
 
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Show Chrome has a nice large windshield that works wonders in the rain, and is a lot cheaper than others, and works just as good. I went with that one on my F3T. But I recently went back to the stock shield, and it does great most of the time. Seldom do I ride in the rain.
 
I speak from experience about the cruise control. At 50mph on blacktop during the rain with water pooling I broke loose several times witch is unnerving. I had to take it off cruise.
 
I speak from experience about the cruise control. At 50mph on blacktop during the rain with water pooling I broke loose several times witch is unnerving. I had to take it off cruise.

Or you could've knocked the cruise control's set speed down a bit! :lecturef_smilie:

The point is that if you broke loose several times at that speed while on cruise, you STILL would've broken loose AT LEAST several times if you'd been riding at the same speed on your hand held throttle!! ;)

Cruise control CAN be a great benefit in the wet, IF you use it properly - it's not the cruise control being set that was your issue, it was the speed you had it set at; and it's almost a certainty that riding on Cruise at that speed and having the Nanny step in if & when necessary would happen much quicker and in a more controlled & controllable way than you could do when doing it by hand. If you ONLY broke loose & didn't end up going all over the road uncontrollably, then the Nanny WAS very likely stepping in & doing her thing, even if you didn't notice because it was so unnerving otherwise - but she would've been keeping things basically controllable instead of you ending up in the ditch!

You should learn to use and trust the (very capable) systems that these Spyders have - yeah, it does mean some things you've learnt over the years on 2 wheel bikes & driving cars might need to change a little so you can reap the benefits, but there ARE some very recognisable benefits to using Cruise Control APPROPRIATELY when riding in the wet, and no down sides IF you are doing that 'appropriately' bit! :thumbup:

But we are digressing from WillieB's Windscreen question, so should let the thread get back on topic! Sorry Willie. :opps:
 
I don't use cruise in the snow, and won't use cruise in the rain. To me, it's just common sense...
 
On a better note, while driving at near highway speeds with my F4 25” windshield and bakerbuilt leg shields on my F3 limited in the rain I did remain dry even with the passing semis.
 
I'm using the Show Chrome windshield. I've had no problem with riding in the rain; it mostly passes over the top of my helmet (I'm 6'). I did adjust the angle a little forward with spacers at the top bolts, but nothing else.
 
Newbie here, Question: How is riding in the rain with the standard windshield? Can you see clearly or are you inundated with water on your face making visibility an issue.
Are there aftermarket windshields that solve this problem if it exists.
Please understand, I am shopping for my first Spyder, thinking F3 Se6 Limited.
BTW, I am 6’2” tall.

Thanks for reading
nojoke

You will most likely be looking over windshield , better consider full face helmets :thumbup:
 
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