Introduction

If, like me, you cover a lot of motorway miles on your Hornet, you will probably find that the constant buffeting from the wind quickly gets tiresome, and can quite literally be a pain in the neck. If so, you will want to fit a decent screen to shield you from the blast.

Most people tend to fit small flyscreens which do not extend much higher than the clocks, but I found that this didn't really help with the continuous wind-blast you get at motorway speeds. The Givi Airstars A620 provided the solution for me. This screen gives good wind and weather protection, and is extremely strong. When correctly fitted, with all the bolts fully tightened, the screen will not move at all, even in the strongest of winds.

This tutorial explains how to fit a Givi Airstars A620 windscreen to an unfaired Hornet CB600F. The photo shows what mine looks like so you can get an idea of whether you will like it or not before you buy one.

Requirements

Warnings

• Fitting a large handlebar mounted screen could affect the handling of the bike. I have been using mine for several years with no difficulties, but that doesn't mean that you won't have any problems. If you do experience problems you can always remove the screen again as nothing in this guide is irreversible.
• If you received instructions with your kit please refer to them as well as this tutorial. They may be more specific about the item you are fitting, while probably being less specific about the bike. By using both sources of information you should be able to solve any problems you encounter.
• Do not be tempted to rush ahead and do something you're not sure about. If you encounter any problems please re-read the instructions carefully and make sure you haven't missed anything. It is better to take twice as long and get it right, than to rush it and end up breaking something.
• Follow these instructions at your own risk. While every effort has been made to ensure that this tutorial is safe and accurate, I can accept no responsibility for any damage you do to either yourself or your bike while following the instructions provided. If you are not sure about something, check the instructions again, and if you are still not sure then ask someone more experienced to help.

Instructions

Before you start working on the bike you should make sure that that your windscreen kit contains all the parts it should. You should have an instruction sheet which will give you a full parts listing. The parts will include the plastic screen, four screen mountings, four mounting arms, two handlebar clamps, two fork-leg clamps, and enough nuts and bolts to hold it all together. These main components are themselves made up from smaller parts which I will list in more detail later.

If everything is included you are ready to start fitting it.

The first thing to do is to prepare the screen itself. You should have enough bits to make up the four screen mountings which will need to be fitted to the plastic shell of the screen. Each mounting is made up from two bits of foam padding, a couple of bolts and 4 plastic parts (I will call these the "front plate", "back plate", "arm clamp" and "clamp holder"). You should notice that there are left-handed and right-handed versions of the "arm clamps". For each mounting use a clamp which will allow the bolt to enter from the nearest edge of the screen. In other words, when building a mounting for the right-hand side of the screen, use a clamp which will accept a bolt from the right. This will make it easier to tighten the bolts later. Also make sure that you use the "arm clamps" which have the top sealed to prevent the mounting arms from passing through.

For each screen mounting

• Bolt the "arm clamp" to the "clamp holder" using the appropriate sized bolt. Do not fully tighten the bolt yet because you will need to adjust it later when you are locking the screen into it's final position. Just tighten it enough to prevent the clamp from moving.
• Hold one of the foam pads over the hole on the front of the screen, and then place the "front plate" over it. If I remember correctly there will be a pair of small stumps on the plate to help line it up correctly with the corresponding holes in the screen.
• Now put the bolt through from the front of the screen to stop the "front plate" moving. You will need to hold this in place until you get the "back plate" fitted.
• Put the other foam pad over the protruding bolt on the back of the screen, and then place the "back plate" over it. The bolt should still protrude right through into the recess on the rear of the "back plate".
• Finally fit the "clamp holder" into the recess on the "back plate" and tighten the bolt to stop it all falling apart. Again it is not necessary to fully tighten the bolt because you will need to adjust it later.

Repeat the above process for each of the remaining screen mountings.

Once you have finished preparing the screen you need to prepare the handlebar clamps. Each handlebar clamp is made up from an "arm clamp", a "hinged bracket", two plastic spacers and a bolt.

Repeat the following process to prepare each handlebar clamp.

• First check that you have sufficient space on your handlebars to fit the clamps. I found that the best place to fit them was on the lower central section of the bars as shown in the picture. This space should be available unless you have already fitted something else there. Obviously you will need a clear space at the same place on both sides of the handlebars.
• Fit the "hinged bracket" around the bar so that the ridged area is above the bar. I found that if the bolt also goes in front of the bar (as shown) the screen will provide better wind protection because it is more upright. If you feel this leaves the screen too tall you can always swap these clamps around later so that the bolt passes behind the bars.
• Insert the spacers between the bar and the bracket, checking that the bracket will close and get a good grip on the bar. If you still have the bikes original bars you should need to use both spacers, but some of the aftermarket bars may need less.
• Place the "arm clamp" over the ridged area on the "hinged bracket" and insert the bolt through the hole in the clamp. Tighten the bolt enough to stop everything falling apart, but leave it loose enough that you can move the clamp during the final adjustments.

Next you need to prepare the fork leg clamps. Each of these is made from another "arm clamp", a "clamp holder", a large "hose clip" and a "rubber sleeve".

• Open the "hose clip" and test it against the fork leg to be sure you know which way you want it to fit. It is best to fit it so that the screw is behind the fork leg (to protect it from rain and spray when riding) with the screw head pointing towards the frame of the bike. This way it will still be possible to tighten the screw when the bike's steering is turned.
• When you are happy you know which way the clip will fit, feed it into the protective "rubber sleeve" so that the sleeve comes down over the top edge of the clip. This will prevent the sleeve from trapping any water. The sleeve should be pushed far enough along the clip to touch the screw, which will leave space at the loose end to fit the "clamp holder".
• Thread the loose end of the clip through the slots in the "clamp holder" so that the holder is on the outside of the clip when it is closed.
• Wrap the completed clip around the fork leg, just above the bottom yoke, and feed the loose end into the screw. Tighten the screw enough to hold the completed clamp onto the fork leg, while still allowing you to move it for the final adjustments.
• Finally bolt the "arm clamp" loosely onto the "clamp holder".

You should now be ready to fit the screen to the bike. At this stage you will probably find it useful to get someone to help you hold everything in position.

• Insert the "mounting arms" into the "arm clamps" on the back of the screen. The two bent arms should be used for the lower clamps and should have the shortest sections nearest to the screen. In the final position the bends will point towards the center of the screen as you should be able to see in the picture.
• Raise the screen into place and insert the free end of each of the "mounting arms" into the corresponding "arm clamps" already fitted to the bike.
• The screen should move very easily to allow you to move it into it's final position. Adjust it until it is sitting just above the headlight, and the front of the screen is level with the front of the headlight. Obviously the screen should also be straight up when viewed from the front of the bike, but angled slightly backwards when viewed from the side.
• Now tighten the all the bolts without moving the screen. You will probably find this very tricky to do unless you have someone helping you, because the screen will still move until the last bolt is tightened.
• When the last bolt is tight the whole screen should be locked firmly into place.

Congratulations. You should now have successfully fitted your windscreen. All that remains is to take the bike for a test ride and see how it feels. If you think it is too upright you can always adjust it back a bit simply by loosening the clamps slightly and moving it to a new position. I found that when the clamps were arranged as described above and the screen was in the best position all the mounting arms were just the right length. If you angle the screen back slightly more you might end up with some of the arms protruding through the handlebar clamps. As mentioned above you can always turn the handlebar clamps around to avoid this problem.