You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I expressed some disappointment with an annoying wind whistle I experienced while riding the CB650R. There is a little airflow issue at the front of the bike, and any time I went over 72 km per hour, I could hear almost nothing but this whistle. It got so bad that I had to create my own bodged fix by slapping some tape on the offending part.
Honda heard my plea for a fix to the issue and immediately dispatched part number 08R71-MKN-D50 to my house. Inside the box was a short flyscreen and associated mounting kit to redirect the air over the nose of the motorcycle. It’s a genuine Honda accessory, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t solve almost every issue I had with the CB.
Once I had the package in hand, I set about installing it with a couple of hand tools. The instructions are pretty simple, and most of the hardware for this kit is already on the motorcycle. The brackets mount with the two headlight bolts and two of the bolts holding the gauge cluster in place. It requires removal of the headlight to install, but all-in it was a 20 minute job, give or take.
Here are the brackets installed. From here it was just four bolts and a handful of plastic and rubber washers to mount the flyscreen to the brackets. This is a super secure mounting point, and the quality feels absolutely spot on for this bike.
Once installed I stood back, hands on hips, to admire my handiwork. Good golly, that looks great! I couldn’t explain it until I’d seen it fixed, but in stock form the CB650R has an almost unfinished look to the front end. The gauges are just floating out in space, and the slightly ugly headlight mounting seems incongruous to the rest of the bike.
This little tiny fairing ties the front of the bike together, linking the headlight to the gauge to the handle bars. Honda positions the CB650R as the middle of its “Neo-Sports Cafe” lineup, and nothing says neo-sports cafe quite like a jaunty flyscreen. This is a good piece.
And the whistle is gone!
In a test ride earlier on Monday, I found the screen didn’t do much to block wind. Perhaps a bit of my chest was alleviated from being beat by oncoming air, but it simply moved that air up a bit. My helmet was still distinctly stuck out into open air. Even still, I am forced to recommend this screen to any CB rider as it improves the bike aesthetically and audibly. For a quick $US50 ($73) purchase and 20 minute install, it’s well worth it.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Honda should just ship all new CB650Rs with this screen installed.
It should probably also come with heated grips and a USB charge port, too. But that’s a story for another time.