For those of you who have purchased a National Cycle Switchblade Windshield, I have a question about the mounting. I haven't called National Cycle yet because I won't be able to get them until Monday.

I purchased a Switchblade Windshield for my '01 Fatboy. The instructions for the mounting brackets that go on the side of the fork trees say to remove the upper and lower mounting screws for the stock fork cover. It also says that when you remove the screws there's a vertical bracket that comes off. Well, I don't have a stock fork cover. I have a large nacelle on my headlight and the fork cover is part of the nacelle. There's only one mounting screw on each side for the nacelle/fork cover and it's at the top.

I'm guessing that once I remove the nacelle/fork cover, I'll find a lower screw mounting hole under the cover. If that's the case I should be able to drill a hole in the cover to expose the mounting hole underneath. Does anyone know for sure if that's the case? Also, am I going to need the stock vertical bracket even with my fork cover?

Thanks.

 

Okay. Here's the deal with National Cycle Windshields.

National Cycles windshields and mounts are only designed to work on stock front fork arrangements. If you have a large nacelle on your headlight, the windshield will not fit. If you have a one-piece nacelle/upper fork cover, and don't have the stock side brackets that came with the upper fork covers, you'll end up with a gap (approximately 1/4") between the Switchblade mounting brackets and the fork cover. So, you'll need to fabricate a spacer or live with the gap.

Also, in my particular case, my turn signals are mounted where the lower fork cover bolts go (which is where the Switchblade mounting bracket lower bolts go).

Given all that, I still like the Switchblade (quick disconnect) setup. In fact, I like it so much that I'm going to try and make the necessary modifications to make it work. That's going to mean enlarging the cutout in the windshield for the nacelle (already talked to National Cycles about that), fabricating a spacer for the mounting brackets (probably from 1/4" x 1" aluminum bar stock), and fabricating a longer stud for turn signal mounts to use in place of the lower mounting bracket bolts (5/16"-24).

If I'm successful, I'll post some pictures and all the specifics when I'm done.