MRA Vario Touring Screen Review
by
Jed Wible

I’ve been looking at windshield options since I picked up my multi as a used bike in January. The previous owner changed the screen to a touring screen, I think, and said it was a vast improvement over the stock one.

After looking around a bit and reading reviews I decided on the MRA VarioTouringScreen. Not because of reviews of this screen, but more because the other screens seemed to generate a lot of love it or hate it comments. I like the look of the laminar lip, but it looked a bit clunky. I figured I would be different and order up the MRA.

So I ordered one in smoked grey from TwistedThrottle. It was out of stock and took about three weeks to arrive. Since I never saw pictures of a Multistrada with an MRA I had a vision of a Teutonic Laminar Lip affair with an adjustable spoiler. I was partly right.

When I opened the box and pulled out the screen I thought it was either crushed or flexible. When I compared it to the screen on my bike it looked like a pancake. It was nearly flat and had the adjustable spoiler attached. Honestly I was disappointed when I held it up to the bike. I figured the buffeting can only be worse with this. But hey! It sure looks cool!

So I took the 10 minutes to install it and then had to chase my two year old around. A ride would have to wait. The next day I did get a chance to ride it about 20 miles. “Wow, my helmet sure is quieter” was my first thought when I got up to about 50mph. The screen with the spoiler set all the way down gave me a nice clean air stream from mid chest on up. Below my ribcage I was sheltered. I raised the spoiler to it’s full height. Helmet noise returned but there was no buffeting. I decided I liked it in the lowest position.

Yesterday I took it out for a longer run. I still like the spoiler on the lowest setting. It’s a nice clean stream of air across my helmet and body. No buffeting, no booming in the helmet, just a nice ride – if you don’t mind the wind. I had the bike up to about 105mph to see what it would be like at speed. Still nice clean air. No squirrelly turbulence or back pressure.

The only downside is my Garmin Ique M5 and FAMSA tank bag. The Garmin is on a RAM mount with the standard length arm. With the old screen I could get it set so that the gps wouldn’t contact the bag in slow left turns and was still protected from the air. With the new MRA screen the gps is out in the air on it’s own. The antennae flipped up from air pressure a couple of times at high speed but the device didn’t fly out of the cradle.

Also - and this may be the case with the original screen – the top quarter of the instrument gauges are covered by the top of the MRA. I have to duck my head a bit to see the temp gauge.

In summary if you are looking for clean airflow go for it. If you want protection from the wind look for something else.

 © 2006 WolfCentral Productions

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