I Need a Touring Screen

While I am really enjoying riding my new Capornord, one area where it really lacks is wind protection when out on the open road. The Aprilia windshield puts lots of noisy air right at my helmet and after a 250 mile ride a few weeks ago, I decided to pursue a touring screen.

Like anything for this bike, the options are few and far between. Givi is really the main supplier of larger screens for the Caponord, and I have read so many mixed reviews that I was not anxious to send them $120 to find out if it works for me.

I happened upon an old post by another Caponord owner who had a Suzuki Burgman windshield laying in his garage. He experimented with it and got it to fit, and it proved to be a huge improvement for him. My thoughts were, if I could find one cheap enough, I'd be willing to hack it up and see if I could make it fit.

My first step was to reach out to National Cycle. Their factory is 3 miles from my office, and after owning 3 of their shields in the past I wanted to give them a try. Someone got back to me within an hour, informing me that they had 40 of these Suzuki Burgman screens (part number N3221) that they were unloading for only $36.00. How could I go wrong with that! Out came my credit card, and during lunch I ran over to pick it up.

Now to mount an American made windshield intended for a Japanese bike, on an Italian bike. This should be fun...

I unwrapped the screen knowing that I could not use any of the original holes so I began planning on where to drill new holes to work on the Caponord. Below is a picture of how the screen looked when I bought it.


None of those holes can be used on a Caponord

The curvature or radius of the screen was too tight for it to sit against the mounts on the front cowl - I assume the Burgman must be narrower in that area. I solved this by firing up a small propane heater in my garage, and holding the screen over it. I used cotton gloves and kept it moving to avoid burning it. As the plastic became a bit cloudy, it also became soft and I opened up the curve of the shield (making it just slightly flatter, but it didn't take much). Be extra careful here because I did cause a few bubbles in the plastic with a touch too much heat.
Once the screen cooled I held it up to the Caponord mounts, got it square, and marked the 4 front holes with a Sharpie. I carefully drilled the four holes and mounted the screen with the original screws. I bought some neoprene washers along with some stainless washers at Home Depot to cushion the plastic from the screws.

With it mounted to the four main screws, the attachment points on the sides were next. Here, I very carefully used a propane torch to heat the plastic - again keeping it moving. The plastic grew cloudy and I gently folded it over to meet the side mounting point. Then it was a simple matter of marking and drilling.

When I was happy with how it was mounted I removed the screen and used a belt sander to remove material to take out the original upper and lower holes (the holes intended for the Burgman). For now I left the middle holes only because I haven't thought of a nice looking shape for that part of the screen if I remove that material.

Here is the end result.

Here you can see the remaining holes that were intended for the Burgman. Someday I may think about removing them.

I can just see over the screen when looking down the road, so if I get stuck in the rain I should have no problem seeing. The screen sends most of the air around me, and I only get the smallest amount of turbulence on the top of my helmet.

Overall I am extremely happy with the outcome!