Windshield review Givi A603 Airstar universal

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So I wanted a nice little windshield, something that didn’t detract too much from the appearance and yet was also functional.
I looked at and read up on a lot of potential candidates, in the end I chose the Givi A603
Universal handlebar mount. The Givi’s Dimensions are 14.8” high measured from the headlight cut out and is 17.3” at its widest points. It is made of plexiglass acrylic with a light smoke tint and has a rubber bead all around the edge. The mounting hardware is of a high quality with stainless steel mounting rods and plastic mounts.
The mounting system is really very clever, all components are built to swivel left to right and up and down simultaneously , giving an almost infinite adjustability. Mounting the screen was very easy, getting it adjusted to where I was completely happy with it took some time as I am too much of a perfectionist and every little imbalance drives me crazy, and these old bikes are like old houses that have settled, nothing is quite square. Haha!
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So....let’s go for a little test ride shall we?
The first thing I noticed when I started my bike, the windshield shakes quite a lot at idle, my bike would make a fine paint shaker at idle and the windshield sticking out from the handlebars on stalks only amplifies this effect. If you so desired, since the windshield has a rubber molding on it , you could mount it a little lower resting it on the headlight, and maybe it would help quell the vibrations. However since virtually all universal windshield mount in a similar fashion it is just the nature of the beast.
As soon as you are moving the vibes are forgotten and I was pleasantly surprised to find despite its small size it is a very effective windshield. I feel wind on my arms and some turbulence at my shoulders but to my surprise absolutely no helmet buffeting.
When I am sitting in my bike I would say that the top of the windshield is roughly at the bottom of my helmet chinbar. And I am 5’9”.
The windshield does have a curve up at the top that they claim helps to deflect air away from your helmet and apparently it does a pretty good job.
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The Givi A603 windshield retails for about $126, I bought mine through RevZilla on sale for $113, and I had $10 off in RevZilla bucks from a previous purchase. No tax, free shipping. Ding ding ding winner winner chicken dinner! And it was delivered two days after ordering it!
So all in all I’m very happy with it. I like the initial quality, the performance and the looks.
I’ll probably take it off in the summer. But it’s a great little winter shield!
 
Thanks guys! Yeah I have a model specific Givi windshield on my Suzuki DL650 and I have always really liked it.

Great write up Bob, looks great. I really like it.

How much clearance between the front of the pilot box and the windshield?

Oh, and who's Laura?

Hey Robin,
The way I have it currently set up there is not much clearance, you could stick your hand between the windshield and the instruments. But that is because I didn't want to extend the windshield beyond the front of the headlight.
It has plenty of travel left to gain extra space and I even experimented with moving the windshield up and out, it didn't look bad.
And Laura is my lovely wife, this was my 60th birthday present and it was her idea for me to buy another restoration project. I had that little decal made up and you can't believe how tickled she was when she saw it.
 
It has plenty of travel left to gain extra space and I even experimented with moving the windshield up and out, it didn't look bad.
OK, thanks Bob, maybe there would be enough clearance in front of my VM plate on my 78 BB. I will discuss this with you in a PM.

And Laura is my lovely wife, this was my 60th birthday present and it was her idea for me to buy another restoration project. I had that little decal made up and you can't believe how tickled she was when she saw it.

Classy move buddy, classy move! Well done!
 
So I wanted a nice little windshield, something that didn’t detract too much from the appearance and yet was also functional.
I looked at and read up on a lot of potential candidates, in the end I chose the Givi A603
Universal handlebar mount. The Givi’s Dimensions are 14.8” high measured from the headlight cut out and is 17.3” at its widest points. It is made of plexiglass acrylic with a light smoke tint and has a rubber bead all around the edge. The mounting hardware is of a high quality with stainless steel mounting rods and plastic mounts.
The mounting system is really very clever, all components are built to swivel left to right and up and down simultaneously , giving an almost infinite adjustability. Mounting the screen was very easy, getting it adjusted to where I was completely happy with it took some time as I am too much of a perfectionist and every little imbalance drives me crazy, and these old bikes are like old houses that have settled, nothing is quite square. Haha!
View attachment 110952 View attachment 110953
View attachment 110954 View attachment 110955 View attachment 110956

So....let’s go for a little test ride shall we?
The first thing I noticed when I started my bike, the windshield shakes quite a lot at idle, my bike would make a fine paint shaker at idle and the windshield sticking out from the handlebars on stalks only amplifies this effect. If you so desired, since the windshield has a rubber molding on it , you could mount it a little lower resting it on the headlight, and maybe it would help quell the vibrations. However since virtually all universal windshield mount in a similar fashion it is just the nature of the beast.
As soon as you are moving the vibes are forgotten and I was pleasantly surprised to find despite its small size it is a very effective windshield. I feel wind on my arms and some turbulence at my shoulders but to my surprise absolutely no helmet buffeting.
When I am sitting in my bike I would say that the top of the windshield is roughly at the bottom of my helmet chinbar. And I am 5’9”.
The windshield does have a curve up at the top that they claim helps to deflect air away from your helmet and apparently it does a pretty good job.
View attachment 110957 View attachment 110958
The Givi A603 windshield retails for about $126, I bought mine through RevZilla on sale for $113, and I had $10 off in RevZilla bucks from a previous purchase. No tax, free shipping. Ding ding ding winner winner chicken dinner! And it was delivered two days after ordering it!
So all in all I’m very happy with it. I like the initial quality, the performance and the looks.
I’ll probably take it off in the summer. But it’s a great little winter shield!
Windshield shake must be driven by handlebar shake; anything you could do to tame that would help. I've seen lots of ideas on the forum, including some kind of pliable "snake" inserted in them that absorbs vibration. When I bought my '82, it had the infamous "rototiller" bars that I filled with grout - sounds pretty lame, but boy, it did clear up the view in the mirrors a bunch. Got the idea from seeing a 4"x4" basketball pole filled with concrete to keep it from flexing when the ball hit the backboard - it didn't move at all.
 
Looks great Bob and an excellent write-up. It took me a couple of looks back at the photo and drawings from the instructions to realize that the entire mounting system is those two clamps on the bars (i.e. nothing goes down to the headlight mounting ears) - clever and effective.

An XS650 certainly shakes at idle but as you say, it all calms down once you are underway. I recall observing the front wheel on my '75 XS650B literally moving about 1/4" in and out (fore & aft) as it sat there idling while I put on my gloves for a ride. It is amazing how much flex there is in the fork system of these old gals. Oddly, the '76 XS650C that I have now doesn't seem to do that nearly as much.

Anyhow, I have a GIVI tailbox (one of their big 48-52 litre units) on my ST1300 and their stuff certain has great quality and is very well designed.

Very nice overall - I like the look and that is a great price from Revzilla!

Pete
 
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Hi robin,
back when I first owned my Heritage Special the local Mountie asked me
"Hey Fred, where's your plate?"
I looked to see the plate had suffered a double vibratectomy and had to tell him
"You can still see the corners, the rest is somewhere on Hwy 44."
Like my avatar shows, they've been rubber mounted ever since.
It took a while before I noticed your plate's vibration failure because I couldn't decode it's message.
My XS650 is plated XS "because XS650 may be issued as a normal number in the future"
When I said that any of today's 9 year olds could fix their program to avoid that problem they said they didn't employ any 9 year olds.
They let me buy XS11 for my XS11 and we bought my son 3UMPH for his Triumph BUT 3HOW5? What's that mean?
 
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BUT 3HOW5? What's that mean?

LOL, no meaning at all Fred. That's the plate the gal pulled off the top of the pile on the shelf at the Ontario Ministry of Transport.

I'll try gluing it to a backing plate (too cheap to pay for a replacement) and use your rubber washer trick. O-rings obviously weren't enough.
 
Bob will be interested to hear your long term report. I ran a similar windshield on resto the last year and a half but running back to back with no shield I find my back kinda prefers no shield. think it has to do with wind helping hold up torso.
On the plate I sandwich an old plate behind the new and sqirt some silicone between. Gotta take care of my plates the Wisconsin collector plates never expire.

resto-mods 008.JPG
 
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Yeah, I’ll do some follow up reports after living with it for a while. It’s only going to stay on for the winter. In the warm months I like being “In the wind!”

Now you guys got me thinking about my license plate. Arizona has historic vehicle plates that you can pay extra to get if a vehicle is over 25 years old. They are made of solid copper, maybe a little more malleable? But I probably should rubber mount it or sandwich a plate behind it.
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LOL, no meaning at all Fred. That's the plate the gal pulled off the top of the pile on the shelf at the Ontario Ministry of Transport.
I'll try gluing it to a backing plate (too cheap to pay for a replacement) and use your rubber washer trick. O-rings obviously weren't enough.

Hi robin,
so, a small addition to my store of trivia; Ontario bike plate layout is number/letters/number.
Has it always been that way or does it get swapped about every so often?
But no, the glue won't hold. I'd say attach the licence plate to the backing plate with pop rivets.
My avatar shows the strip of truck mud-flap that was bolted to the bike's plate bracket with the plate bolted onto the bottom part of the strip.
My current methodology uses 2 plain washers and 3 flat rubber washers each side, lined up like this:-
Plain washer/rubber washer/PLATE/rubber washer/BRACKET/rubber washer/plain washer.
Then put a fastener and Nylok nut through the lot.
And for your inner cheapskate, I found the truck mud-flap laying in the street and a 6-pack of flat rubber tap washers costs $5 at a plumber's store.
 
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Bob, I have to say that I really enjoy reading your posts. It shows that you put a lot of thought and effort into your writings. Your posts are always easy to read and flow really well, and you accompany with pictures posted in the appropriate places. You could/should be a column writer for a magazine somewhere. Anywho.... just thought I would share my appreciation of your contributions to this forum!
 
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