8 Hour Ride

Saturday Ghost Ryder and I went out for a little shake down ride in hopeful preparation for some longer distance rides this summer. We got on the road a few minutes after 10am and returned home a few minutes after 6pm. Other than stopping for gas we only stopped twice. Once going up the mountain from Sherwood TN toward Sewanee to allow Ghost Ryder to check out some kind of plant she saw growing on the side of the mountain and then once @ the college in Sewanee for a pic at the church where my daughter was married.

All in all it was a good ride for a shake down. After 8hrs in the saddle I wasn't any more tired than I would have been riding in anything else. Definitely got REAL tired of the whistling created between the top and windscreen. Guess I'll get busy with the sun visors now! Audio system is fine below 60mph, above 60 it is useless. I wouldn't want it to be loud enough to overcome the wind noise at that point. I do want to retain what little hearing I have left! Guess I should once again take a serious look at the headsets and intercom systems.

Back in my younger days when I used to get to fly on a regular basis I got real used to wearing the headsets in the small planes I flew. They were comfortable enough to wear for extended flights and offered great audio quality for both the communications radio as well as music broadcast radio. My only concern in using a headset like that in the sling is the fact that they cut out so much ambient noise. It would be great to cut out the wind noise but there are other sounds that it is still important to hear.

Do any of you use a similar set up when riding in the sling?

I added the roll hoop speaker pods which made a big difference, but I am using an aftermarket stereo and amp.

Quote from MACAWS

you could always do what @rabtach did and steal some of those big ass emergency sirens and install them behind the seat. I bet he has about 200lbs of speaker magnets in the white beast.

I hear ya! I have plenty stereo volume but I'm not going to turn it up enough to overcome the wind noise at interstate speeds. I just don't want that much noise of any kind! LOL For a little while maybe but hour after hour it would become uncomfortable at best. I have looked at some of the portable intercom systems for small planes. They aren't too expensive these days. I'd just have to pipe the audio from the radio into it. Too much to do and too little time!

Quote from mytoy

hello gentlemen here is the LINK

Made a Sun / Wind / Rain Visor

Thanks for posting the link and that is a nice piece that you manufactured but mounting it on the slingshade "A" arms would be a big problem.

What I have come up with isn't as nice but preliminary tests indicates that it will work to stop the whistling and also assist in controlling the amount of air directed into the cabin. I just have to get busy and machine the needed pieces. There will be two individual visors and they will mount underneath the slingshade on the small flat space between the front edge and the opening for the top door. Space is very limited so it will have to remain tight to the roof for sure. Only time will tell how well they will do but if it works out I can see where someone could easily fabricate kits to be sold for this purpose. I am sure that I'm not the only person with a slingshade that would like to have adjustable sunvisors/wind deflectors. One other possible advantage when adjusted to direct fresh air into the cockpit could be to reduce the "negative" pressure area and thus reduce the possibility of having exhaust circulated back into the cockpit. I will make some pictures and keep everyone advised on my progress (which will be slow as we are gearing up for racing season here right now).

Quote from KayTwo

I'll chime in here. Another vote for the Seba SPH10 headset, since I almost never wear a helmet. We use them primarily for intercom when we ride together.

ALSO, I have taken to wearing a simple pair of foam earplugs whenever I ride, SPH10 or not. I have found that they block out the high pitch of the wind that does the most damage, but still allows me to hear ambient noise, as @Slingrazor mentioned. I used to wear them under the full face helmet on my bikes, and I just carried them over to the Sling. And even with the earplugs, I can hear the intercom just fine with the plugs in and the headset volume up.

Also, @ethermion is dead on about the water, even when the sun isn't baking you. It'll sneak up on you. Stay hydrated.

So, a question...in an 8 hr ride, what was your mileage total? Somewhere between 400-480 miles, I'm guessing?

Display More

My best guestimations is just over 400 miles. Most of the roads we took were the smaller roads with more stops and turns but it didn't matter because we really didn't have our heart set on going anywhere particular. We were just out riding and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Quote from SlingRider

The Sena's are great, but they do not get real loud for music. According to Sena this is a safety feature.

I have a set you are welcome to try out, just come to the cookout..

Quote from SlingRider

The Sena's are great, but they do not get real loud for music. According to Sena this is a safety feature.

I have a set you are welcome to try out, just come to the cookout..

Thanks for the offer and I would love to do that but Indiana is a little out of the way on my route to N.C.! LOL