What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Fast Eddie said:

I so strongly agree with this discussion !

Feeling the wind is a huge part of the fun / character of riding a motorcycle (on the road) for me.

I think folk often do lose sight of this. I’ve got a mate who’s obsessed with fitting screens to everything he buys. More often than not they actually make things worse as the wind noises and buffeting is worse than simply riding through the ‘clean air’ without a screen.

Of course fairings and screens have a place, but so does riding without !

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It's a constant quandary for me
I don't like fairings or screens unless it's a classic race fairing
But with a neck injury I find it very hard to maintain high speeds without a screen
So both my trident and commando have fly screens but not my BMW bobber or my A10 and no plans to fit one as yet

+ 1 on all above sentiments. I had a Honda ST 1300 for seventeen years and sold it a year ago . Amazing motorcycle just made for eating up miles . I sold it because I just wasn’t riding it much .
It wasn’t a Commando.

I think fairings and screens are overplayed. I've toured on unfaired bikes. However, on 2 trips last year, I did Spain, Andorra, France, Germany, Austria and Italy. About 7,500 miles, on a GS 1250 with a touring screen, 200 to 300 miles is a breeze, literally. On one trip I had a mate on his Z900RS. Although he was sore after the motorway sections, he was fine otherwise. 90 minutes at 80mph+ without a fairing is enough for me, but we rarely needed to do that. Maybe once.

Now proper luggage, that's a game changer. Especially when hot and tired at the end of each day. Just one key turn and out with the overnight bag, helmet and gloves into the now empty case and then an easy stroll to the bar before check-in.

That first beer is one of life's great pleasures!

I especially loved hanging MAD wheelies on the understated gray Condor.

In 2006 I bought a new R1200RT when I was living in various locations across the western states.In what seemed like no time it had over 110,000 miles.When I finally had a mailbox and could ride my Norton the BMW just sat.The enjoyment it brings as just a basic motorcycle is priceless.

Mike
RT now has a sidecar for when the wife wants to go out!

I got scared off windscreens years ago when I was following a rider up the Oregon coast. He was a big guy on a big Honda with a Windjammer fairing. A wind gust caught him and his front wheel came off the ground. Luckily he kept it together and didn't crash. I have done a lot of touring with sidewinds for miles. With no fairing it was manageable. I think with a fairing it would have been dangerous. I am a small person and can tuck in low on the tank.

nortonmargie said:

I got scared off windscreens years ago when I was following a rider up the Oregon coast. He was a big guy on a big Honda with a Windjammer fairing. A wind gust caught him and his front wheel came off the ground. Luckily he kept it together and didn't crash. I have done a lot of touring with sidewinds for miles. With no fairing it was manageable. I think with a fairing it would have been dangerous. I am a small person and can tuck in low on the tank.

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Blimey
I've never affected yet on my bikes by a sidewind

I don’t ride huge or even high mileages but the difference between riding the FJR with the adjustable touring screen at highish speeds and one of the other bikes is really noticeable nowadays, though riding them is no less enjoyable. A couple of caveats being that one has a bikini type fairing and one doesn’t do highish speeds!!