Modern Vespa

Here I am visiting Easter Island on my scooter

That is my favorite windscreen, 13" is perfect size. How did you like assembling those expansion nuts?
looks really nice jess!

The instructions were almost (but not entirely) worthless, but even still it was actually not too hard. I just looked at all the parts and guessed the right way to put them together, occasionally looking at the pictures in the instructions for guidance. Took about ten minutes, start to finish.

Hey Jess: Please give a review on that windscreen in a couple of weeks.

I want/need to know how well it holds up......stays in one spot(does not shift into headlight, etc)....but mostly.....

Wind noise....I put a little screen on my LT and the wind noise was awful. I had to remove it because of the noise.

Let me know.....thanx in advance

R

I can tell you this much right now -- wind noise is higher than not having the Faco, absolutely, no doubt about it. I haven't been over 50ish with it on, so I'll let you know when I get somewhere in the 60-70 range how well it does. Kinda nice not to have the wind on your chest. Kinda sucks to hear all that wind going past your head.

I can definitely tuck behind it and get a nice quiet cocoon, but it's an awkward position for me to ride in.

I have been using the faco screen since 2004, the handlebar reacts less adversly in x-winds and headwinds with this screen. I also wear eyeglasses that are pretty big, like Bus Windsheilds, so i sometimes wear a trooper helmet where the 8" windscreen was completly useless and the wind was buffeting between my eyeglasses and my eyes making my eyes water uncontrollably, the 21" windscreen is tooo big and makes the bike yaw and pitch in headwinds and/or X-winds, acts like a spinnaker sail in tailwinds. Its the best screen I have ever used and i recommend them to this day. I always buy them from alex and max in san diego. dr

Motorsport Scooters... Check.

Very nice windshield Jess! Sometimes i wish I had gotten that on instead of the one I did, Beale.

nice pics too. didn't know you also dabbled in photography.

Looks great Jess. What else do you have planned? 8)

The exact same windscreen's been quite stable for me on my GT. I did have to make a minor adjustment after I had first installed it. It looked straight at installation but I think there was a bit of torsion in one of the two risers and after some vibration it shifted the screen a bit. Just loosening and retightening everything took out the torque and it's staying in place nicely.

I do, but I don't think I would put these pictures in the same category. They were really just snapshots from a point & shoot. Glad you like them, though!

Can anyone with the same screen tell me if I did the beveled collars correctly? You can see how I did them in picture two, the part that the long bolt goes through. The directions kind of seemed like they wanted the collars to go against the underside of the headset, and the lock washers on the outside, but it was grainy and I couldn't tell for sure. I did them this way, and they seem to hold fine (and look better this way, too) but I'm not positive it's actually correct.

I'll have to check when I get home (rain kept the scooter home today). I think yours looks different than mine but that doesn't mean either one is correct. The pictures in the instructions were much less than adequate. There was some guessing involved there and regarding which rubber bushing went on which side of the shield. I think I got that one because of the way they mated with the adjacent parts. :?

I haven't really noticed wind noise that much since adding this windscreen. Now, running 70 mph without the windscreen seemed pretty noisy, so the windscreen felt like a big improvement!

I'm really happy with it. Like DR said, it seems a lot more stable at high speeds and it definately improved gas mileage. Rock solid installation.

I only wish it was about 1 inch taller. Now, I have to keep my eyebrows trimmed! The slipstream hits me right between my glasses and the bottom of the helmet. It's not really an issue unless it's really cold, and then I wear goggles to keep my eyes from watering.

I have this same windscreen on my ET4-- I suspect my 'ride height' is lower than some of yours, so I've not noticed increased wind noise. I really like it; have not noticed decreased stability, but have appreciated the wind / cold protection. We'll see if I miss the breeze w warmer weather on the way (s'posed to be 78F today...yippee! ).

Looks great, Jess.

--Deborah

Jess, did our avatars suddenly grow?

For some reason PDX's looked more... vibrant today. (maybe I was just away from my wife too long this week....)

Just Deborah's -- I resized it for her.

Well, I did mine with the lock washers exposed.....your way looks better Jess.
Doug

'damn good job, son!

I know this is a bit late... but here's how I had assembled it. If I remember the logic (since the picture wasn't too clear) I reasoned that the beveled collar seemed to go against the compression bolt, possibly even aiding in its expansion when inside. Also, this last washer is a split/spring washer and I believe those should always go against the bolt heads to try to maintain the bolt stretch and to keep the bold from turning out by digging into the head.

It probably makes little difference. If it comes loose, rearrange it and see if it stays tight.

That is a really nice looking windshield. Not too big, or small.

I am having trouble installing the FACO mid on an '06 GT. Here is what I did. I pushed the pins into the holes. Obviously they didn't go in. So I tapped it with a hammer like the directions stated. Well, they went in but the tabs on the compression piece bent in and it didn't take. So I can pull them right out. How did you all get them in without bending the tabs?

Thanks!

What do you mean by "bent the tabs"? The assembly should be loose going in and I don't have anyhting on mine that I could see getting bent....

Pictures?

Here are a couple pics of the rod and the tabs that are attached. It is these little tabs that bend when I push them into the whole on the front of the handlebars. Any ideas?

thanks folks for the great posting on the FACO 13 inche screen, is warming me up to get one.

could those that have this screen post how tall they are please
i have a red gts.
a friend here in sydney has a 21" and it looks good and is good to ride with but the 13 seems sexier to me.
i think i would buy a smoked one

thanks

Those tabs that bend inward hold the threaded insert into the mounting tubes. When you removed the bolts, they will stay in place.

I understand these tabs are to hold the mounting bracket in place. When i try to insert them, however, they are bending to the point where they don't hold the bracket in at all. They fold up completely. It seems the plastic is stronger than the tabs are. So they don't dig in at all to the plastic and therefore, don't hold the brackets in either. Hasn't anyone else had this problem. I must be doing something wrong.

I will look at my mid sized again, but I don't understand why you are having a problem. I change screens as they have differing brackets. I just had my full off to install my Jettin chrome. The tabs were extended as pictured but as long as I seat the entire bracket deep enough and tighten, the conical bit on the end spreads the unit and tightens it.

Did you insert just the small piece the bracket goes into first? And then insert the bracket? I have been trying to insert the little expandable piece pictured above while attached to the bracket. And the tabs fold down as it all goes in. they fold down on themselves so there is nothing sticking out any more. Maybe I will try inserting the tabbed piece first.

I insert the entire unit just as shown in your bottom picture. The cone shaped bit at the end just barely threaded on. I tap the unit gently until it will go in no further and then tighten the hex. Sorry I don't know how to better describe the process any better, and I just can't imagine what the problem is. I've had my mid and full screen brackets in and out a half dozen times now...

Best,

Tom

OK, this is really stupid. I was just being overly careful. I hadn't tightened it enough to cause the spreaders to spread fully. I was overly worried about cracking the plastic housing in the cold weather we have been having. But got it installed and it works great now.

I just tried one out for wind noise and had to return it--too noisy. I was hoping it would be better than the Vespa flyscreen, but it is worse.

Also, the high end collided with my helmeted head when I tried to push the GTS off its center stand, sitting on it.

Back to the flyscreen for me.

since there has been so much discussion about windscreens, although I was going to thank you by PM, I thought I would bump this to the top for a bit.

Thanks, Jess, for your great pictures. As mentioned, the instructions were pretty useless (and per the prior discussion, the washer was illustrated to go in the wrong place).

Your pictures made it easy even for me. Thank you again.

Dee

nice windscreen. I have the prima mid-size screen-not too much different from yours. However, ours didn't come with instructions but assembly and installation was pretty straight forward.

My wife has the mid size Prima on her LX. It seems to be a copy of the Faco. She is 5'4" and loves it. Im 5'7" and hate it. Even though its adjustable I cant find the right position for me. I have the Flyscreen and really like it. (wife hates it). I hope to buy a Vespa tall screen for cold weather and then cut it down to a custom height on the blue bike.

Here is me with the flyscreen. I like to look over the screen. The other one is too big and I look at the edge. I would look completely thru the tall screen.

This is the screen I just put on. It is a Faco mid-size, but I am 5'3" and I knew it would be too tall. I decided to give it a try for a few days, but really plan to cut it down, maybe 2". I hate looking through it. I hit it just where it will be distorted a little, and then with the FF, it will be even more so.

I think I need to adjust the upright bars a little. I noticed that the top "plugs" sort of walleye off to the sides. Hummm. I am looking forward to the hand protection, though.

So, a week testing will tell me, then it will be to Charlesm's instructions to cut it down How To: Cut Down a Windscreen and break out my dremel.

Dee

The tabs on the inserts help for holding the expansion nut/bracket in place. We all know this much. Yes on my GTS I had an issue with one of mine bending the tabs down prematurely. I pulled it out with the help of the long bolt provided, eased the tabs out with a small screwdriver. Then I repositioned the tabs (i guess that sounded right) and drove the expansion piece back in and had no problems afterwards. If the expansion piece is bad you might be able to order one from like scooterworks or like companies.
Hope you get it worked out.

I should add that while I like the small flyscreen on my 150 which I ride mainly at 30-40mph it might not be a good choice for the GTS250 which would likely be ridden faster. I prefered larger windshields on my bigger bikes.