Hi everyone, just returned from a trip to Belgium and France on the 'Dreamliner'.
The bike went well, although fuel consumption was a little disappointing, more of that later.
Stability with the storm strip was better than expected, no worse than conventional fairings see :-
:-http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/introduction-cross-wind-solutions-motorcycle-streamliners-28298-14.html?nojs=1#links
Comfort is good enough for 200 miles without stopping, and top speed is in excess of 70 mph. (downhill), just a little short of 70 on the flat but will cruise at 60 – 65 all day.
I had one little ‘off’ at 20mph. on an oil covered roundabout, no real damage apart from a scratched fairing and grazed elbow. I attribute this to the low seat height (less distance to fall), and a certain amount of protection offered by the fairing.
Getting back to the fuel consumption, I filled up on the way home having covered 1050 miles and used 8.5 gallons, giving a shade over 123 mpg. , nowhere near my personal best of 160 mpg. I believe this is partly due to carb settings. I was reluctant to use the alternative carb needle and jetting for such a long trip as I had no time to tune and test properly before setting off, the most economical setting caused a ‘flat spot’ at quarter throttle. More work to be done in this area.
Ironside.