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Do the "Fork baffles" work?

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Old Aug 20, 2014 | 08:34 PM
  #31  
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My 06 and my 11 street glide have the holes drilled and tapped in the lower tree from the MOCO but neither came with the dog bowl from the factory. I added one to each bike as I have found them to be very helpful with the wind buffeting.
 
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Old Aug 20, 2014 | 09:21 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Sqr
The dog bowl was standard equipment on pre 08 bikes and was removed as the engine size increased. The Manufacture became worried about airflow change around the engine so they removed it. I had one in my hand and was ready to purchase it when the guy behind the counter cautioned me about installing it on my 110ci.
Originally Posted by Leftcoaster
That guy behind the counter is full of ****.
My '06 had no baffle right from the factory. And I don't recall ever seeing any twin cams with the baffle either. The last bikes I recall seeing with a factory baffle were EVOs.
I see a new parts man in your future - hope you do too.
Originally Posted by nvsteve
Leftcoaster said

That guy behind the counter is full of ****.
My '06 had no baffle right from the factory. And I don't recall ever seeing any twin cams with the baffle either. The last bikes I recall seeing with a factory baffle were EVOs.
I see a new parts man in your future - hope you do too.


Nope. Fork baffles were installed well after the evos. Mostly, if not all they were on the Road Glides. Up until at least 2008 the upper trees were still drilled and tapped for them.


That might have been the case for standard bikes but not sure. As my 2009 CVO, it came stock.

But, not chrome. Thank god, one less piece to clean!

As for the parts guy.... That's another story.




YB
 
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Old Aug 20, 2014 | 09:59 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Leftcoaster
That guy behind the counter is full of ****.
My '06 had no baffle right from the factory. And I don't recall ever seeing any twin cams with the baffle either. The last bikes I recall seeing with a factory baffle were EVOs.
I see a new parts man in your future - hope you do too.
My '09 RG came with a black one. I removed it and installed the Road Glide wind deflector kit, two paddles that clip the crash bar and front tank mounts. I also have my own version of Sancho's Wings. That coupled with a Cee Glide windshield from Cee Baileys gives me pretty clean air. Could it be better, yes, but it is much better than it was. I have been tempted to put a GoldWing style vent in a windshield (probably the stock one to start with) to see if that will give me the kind of clean air we all are looking for.
 
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Old Aug 21, 2014 | 09:09 AM
  #34  
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I stand corrected. Looks like Road Glides come with that baffle. My mistake, I'm not a fan of Road Glides and rarely ever look them over.
As I said, my experience is with Electra Glides and I found the baffle to be ineffective on those models. What really works well for me is the combo of elephant ears, fork deflectors, and an 8" recurve windshield - no baffle.
 
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Old Aug 21, 2014 | 09:42 AM
  #35  
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Keeping the baffle and the fangs on year round is not a big deal in regard to the heat, and here in Alabama that would be a big deal to me.
With Road Kings, some wind still comes thru the windshield opening gap around the nacelle.
Also, the inverted bowl shape of the HD Baffle redirects the air down toward the front jug of the twin. As for the DK I do not know the shape of that one, hopefully, it will be similar.
Ride safe!
 
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Old Aug 26, 2014 | 01:52 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Leftcoaster
Just to add to my previous reply - I don't have a Road King. My experience is with Electra Glides only. On those models that triple tree baffle is useless..
Wrong

Originally Posted by Sqr
The dog bowl was standard equipment on pre 08 bikes and was removed as the engine size increased. The Manufacture became worried about airflow change around the engine so they removed it. I had one in my hand and was ready to purchase it when the guy behind the counter cautioned me about installing it on my 110ci.
Some stupid rumor. It directs more airflow to the motor. My friends '11 CVO SG came with one (110ci) iirc. At moderate speeds I feel less heat. Less turbulence too.
 

Last edited by Deuuuce; Aug 26, 2014 at 01:59 AM.
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Old Aug 26, 2014 | 10:17 AM
  #37  
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[QUOTE=Deuuuce;13144054]Wrong



Guess it's all just a figment of my imagination. Glad you pointed that out to me and also that you're so very close to the heartbeat of the Moco engineers.
 
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Old Aug 26, 2014 | 10:25 AM
  #38  
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No "bowl" on either of my baggers from the MOCO ( 1992 and 2009 FLHTCU's )
 
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Old Aug 26, 2014 | 10:52 AM
  #39  
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Hey, no one more than me wants to end this debate. But the filthy bastiges whom I bought it from, didn't even ship it out till yesterday. So I will be lucky to see it this week. Rest assured, I will post before and after results. If it does nothing, I'll tell you. If it works great, I will say so. I am just bummed they farted around so long. I even orderd from Amazon instead of ebay hoping to get it quicker. I will leave crappy feedback, but that doesn't get it here any quicker.
 
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Old Sep 4, 2014 | 06:09 AM
  #40  
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Just an update:


I installed the baffle, and have a solid 100 miles on the bike. The fork baffle in my case did NOTHING. That being said, I think the minor buffeting that was created by adding lower fairings, is what caused the issue, the fork baffle was not meant to address this wind on a Road King. I think they are to help fairing buffeting more than anything, and since I have a windshield and not a fairing, it was of little or no help. OR..... it just doesn't do very much anyways???? I just don't know. That being said, its chrome, I like chrome, and its staying on the bike for now. Remember, these are just my impressions. I could be entirely wrong about why they work or don't work in my case. So there's no need to flame me with aerodynamic explanations. I'm just reporting my impressions.
 
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