Took an extended test drive on a 15 Street Glide Special. At 5ft 6in I am still getting quite a lot of dirty air with head tapping and head buffeting. It was literally giving me a headache. I have previously owned an 09 SG and traded that for a road king because of the buffeting. The new one with a vent didn't seem much better. My dealer and I also tried a short wind splitter and it was about the same. So my question, is there an actual fix for this? My dealer suggested fork baffles and obviously a higher different wind shield with possibly side wings. Has anyone else experienced this with the 14 and newer fairing? I don't mind wind but I'm getting beat up behind this bike. Is that just inherent with the batwing?
Conversely I also took a ride on the new 15 Road Glide. I experienced more wind on the face and body but zero buffeting. Just smooth clean air. Just not sure if I could get used to the fairing being so far away.....
Any ideas or suggestions? Or should I just buy another King?
Thanks

 

Unless you're 4' 10" the stock windshield is to short. I think they throw that on only to look good. A taller shield should solve your problem.

 

For years, the effective go to modification to reduce buffeting has been the "fangs" fork deflectors.

The test to see if they would work is to hold your arm over your chest. If the buffeting is reduced, the fork deflectors would be effective for you.

 

How are your legs positioned? Try riding with your legs tight against the tank, then try it with them on your highway pegs and then on the footboards but loosely not hugging the tank. Do you notice considerable differences?

For me the head buffeting was coming from under the fairing and tank. Once you determine exactly where it is coming from, you can find a fix that works for you.

 

A taller windshield like the one that comes on the Ultra or Limited, should fix your issue. I have a 14 SG, but don't have a problem because I wear a full face helmet. I test rode the bike with no helmet though and there was a lot of wind to the face like that. Enough, I would switch to a taller windshield if I didn't wear a full face all the time.

 

Just get another Road King...

 

......... sure you could

 

Probably a new windshield. The "fangs" absolutely help too, but they work on the air that is hitting you in the torso.

 

How tall are you? I am 6'1" and I had significant buffeting with even a 12" HD windshield. I found that my HD brawler solo did as much to cure the buffeting as my 7" Freedom Shield. The seat moved me down and back and the windscreen flipped the air up just enough to to miss me. In concert with each other I am extremely pleased with the reduction in the turbulence.

 

I put a 9" screen on '14SGS (Im 6'2"), it worked to stop the buffeting, but the top edge is now right in my line of sight. Gonna try a 7" to see if it keeps the buffeting down and improves the sight line.