National Cycle Tall Windscreen Broke Yam bracket

[vinnie]

After about 30k miles on my FJ with the National Cycle Tall windscreen for the FJ09, it successfully broke my stock Yamaha windshield bracket. I was on the my 3 week cross country road trip (about 4000 miles in) and it was flexing quite dangerously (between 4-6 inches of deflection at the end of the screen while riding at 65mph), so I did a JB weld repair (in the woods) to get me the remaining 5000 miles home to Pennsylvania. It also was making my cluster move/shake, since the windshield and cluster share the same bracket.
 
The JB weld worked pretty well, for the 5 bucks it cost. I ordered a new bracket from Yamaha for about $95 or so, but I'm going to add a gusset on each side and e-coat the bracket before bolting it onto the FJ. I'm not dealing with this again. I called National Cycle and shared pictures with them today. I'll report back what they say/do.
 
 
Here are a few pics:

[josh]

Nice field repair, I hope National will work with you....but I doubt it. Added to your adventure though

[angrygirafe]

Lame. Hope they work with you.

[xlxr]

I didn't think the stock brackets were strong enough for a tall windshield.

[vinnie]

The customer service representative said he was passing my write up to management and the owners of the company. I did more R&D than they did on the windshield. They must not test for simulating high mileage bikes. The best part is that I think the windshield is too short and want to put an extender on it to get the buffeting wind off my helmet.

[xcsp]

I didn't think the stock brackets were strong enough for a tall windshield.

Could the issue of the bracket breaking be more of a problem with it's (the bracket) design, not so much if a specific larger windshield is being used?   

[xlxr]

I didn't think the stock brackets were strong enough for a tall windshield.

Could the issue of the bracket breaking be more of a problem with it's (the bracket) design, not so much if a specific larger windshield is being used? 

The stock brackets were designed for smaller stock windshield, therefore, any larger windshield may cause them to crack over time.  Time will tell if this is a one time problem, or starts showing up more often. 

[vinnie]

Could the issue of the bracket breaking be more of a problem with it's (the bracket) design, not so much if a specific larger windshield is being used? 

The stock brackets were designed for smaller stock windshield, therefore, any larger windshield may cause them to crack over time.  Time will tell if this is a one time problem, or starts showing up more often.

That's why I want to add a gusset on each side before installing the new bracket. I definitely want to keep using the windshield because I have grown to really like riding with one.

[vinnie]

Radio silence so far. I will send them a follow-up email on Wednesday

[keithu]

I have about 12,000 miles on my tall National Cycle screen and haven't had any issues.
 
I did add washers to my right side height adjuster which stabilized the screen considerably. Search the forum and you'll see that people have done this mod for various windshields including the factory screen.
 
I also added some rubber washers to where the plastic windshield mounts to the V-Stream bracket. It seems like the mounting bolts from National Cycle were too long. So I'm not saying the National Cycle product is perfect, I just don't think the design inevitably breaks the Yamaha bracket either.
 

[vinnie]

I'll look into that for my new bracket. I still haven't installed it yet because I want to weld two more gussets on it first.
 
UPDATE: National Cycle ignores my emails and never responded after they said they would look into it. I do not recommend doing business with these guys. I spoke with Scott Durham.

[mikeplam]

i have same issue 40000km with large givi windscreen, i weld and add small gusset now 1 have 57500km no problem 

[vinnie]

i have same issue 40000km with large givi windscreen, i weld and add small gusset now 1 have 57500km no problem 

Hopefully, I'll weld the extra gussets on next week and then won't have this problem again

[angrygirafe]

Kinda want to remove my medium V-stream now...

[adjuster]

Yamaha designed this for the stock windscreen. It is not National's fault that the stock bracket is failing. Their product did not fail right?
 
Mods to the stock mount are common. I have the GIVI and I've added washers, spacers and changed it to fit my size/riding etc.
 
I do wonder about the flex of the entire cluster/screen mount, and your thread shows it fails over time.
 
Some simple welding and gussets added will cure this. And will make the entire mount bomb proof, while only adding a few ounces to the weight.
 
I'd like to see a better way to mount lights under the stock head light too, Yamaha sells a kit, and there is a vendor here to sells a very nice bent bracket as well.
 
If you hang a light (s) under the stock ones, and add a larger screen, you are going to put stress on the stock Yamaha mounting system. Mods to that mount are good insurance to avoid future failure, and being stranded like you were.
 
Also have to add, that based on your photos, this has been cracking for awhile. look at the rust, and then the fresh clean metal where it finally failed. Had you looked it over prior to your trip, you might have caught that it was failing, and fixed it before your trip, avoiding the whole mess, and allowing you to add the gussets you are talking about, while avoiding the cost of a replacement bracket from yamaha. (I would just fix the one you have, since you are going to weld on it anyway, sand blast it, weld it, sand blast again, and have it powder coated the color of your choice. )