Helmet Noise

[vinmansbrew]

I must admit I don't really understand this. Wind noise has almost nothing to do with a type of bike. Maybe cruiser with full upright windshield would get less wind in the face but all other bikes even with no or bigger windshield your head is way above that line where you can hide behind it!

FZ6 with stock exhaust is not loud bike at all (thank you Yamaha!). I tested it hundreds of times. Engine noise is the least of the noise problems. At 80-90 kph (60 mph) and up engine sound is almost not there any more. I was driving for hours at speeds of about 70-80 mph at about 6300 RPM and my ears were full of wind noise and buffeting, nothing coming from engine. Who doesn't believe me just try. You can try same with sunglasses, no helmet and result is the same.

Actually it kinda does. It depends on the a number of factors, a primary one is the windscreen. Riding position is another one. Try putting clip-ons and rearsets on to lower your position and you will notice a noise difference.
Or take the screen off and the wind isn't as concentrated when it hits you in the upper chest.

If I manage to lay low on my tank, I can stuff myself behind the screen and then it is fairly quiet. The bike noise is more from the engine than exhaust too since the exhaust exits behind the bike, very little noise will reach the rider unless it is really loud. My cb750 is louder by some and at highway speeds, I don't hear it. But if you block enough wind noise, you will hear the engine. I hear the fz engine when wind noise is less.

 

[FinalImpact]

3m Tekk has NRR of 32db in a pack of 80 but I find them a tad short to place easily and have been giving them away on rides.

Moldex, Pura-Fit, 6800 are long and work great with NRR 33.

With both products i've pulled over a time or two and redid one side or the other when I put them in in haste. If I didn't have these I'd go insane at speeds over 65.

This winter it'll be naked. 08 Forks anyone?? Edit: I will add that the FZ1 bars likely place your head smack dab in the middle of it. Me being 5'10" with a 32" inseam (shorter legs, longer torso).

 

[RJ2112]

I must admit I don't really understand this. Wind noise has almost nothing to do with a type of bike. Maybe cruiser with full upright windshield would get less wind in the face but all other bikes even with no or bigger windshield your head is way above that line where you can hide behind it!

FZ6 with stock exhaust is not loud bike at all (thank you Yamaha!). I tested it hundreds of times. Engine noise is the least of the noise problems. At 80-90 kph (60 mph) and up engine sound is almost not there any more. I was driving for hours at speeds of about 70-80 mph at about 6300 RPM and my ears were full of wind noise and buffeting, nothing coming from engine. Who doesn't believe me just try. You can try same with sunglasses, no helmet and result is the same.

Bigger windshields, and larger fairings actually make more wind noise than little ones do. Aerodynamics. The bigger the hole in the air, the more the air has to rush in to fill the hole. A wide fairing, plus a wide windscreen make a large partial vacuum. If your head is near the edge of this difference in pressure, you suffer all of the popping and rumbling of the air as it pours into the low pressure area. The bigger the low pressure area, the more violent the movement. The 'dirty' air flow is slapping your ears.:spank:

Ride near the tail end of a semi truck, and feel how much the airflow is buffeting you as it closes the hole behind the truck. It can change your direction of travel..... quite a violent uncontrolled flow of air.

The ZX6 has a very small windscreen, and a tiny fairing compared to what is on the FZ6. I'd estimate roughly 50% of the surface area. My head is outside of the turbulence, and experiences 'clean' air. All flowing in one direction in a predictable manner.:thumbup:

No fairing at all, means the only direction changes the air has to make to get around your head (and your ears) is around the helmet. That's a much easier design to model than the interactions between various height riders, on a nearly infinite combination of bikes and wind conditions.

If you want to check out how quiet our helmet is, get a ride in the back of a pickup truck, and stand up so your helmeted head is past the top of the cab. As you move farther away from the top of the cab, the helmet will get quieter. Or, stick your head out the window while someone else is driving. Once you get far enough away from the disrupted flow at the body (boundary layer flow), you'll see how much quieter it gets.

 

[jrevans]

2004-2006 wind noise is horrible!

Hey Original Poster, you are not hallucinating. :BLAA:

I bought my 2004 new in 2004, and it has the worst wind noise of any bike that I've ever ridden.

I wear ear plugs and they only block out the high frequency stuff, but the wind noise is still nasty.

I tried the stock shield, the tall Yamaha shield and now the Puig Double Bubble. They all suck, but the Puig looks cool.

You 2007+ owners really don't know how bad the earlier bikes are with regards to wind noise.

I still hope to work on modified the stock windshield with a series of holes/slots. I hear that totally removing the windshield makes it quiet, but I'm not willing to do that yet.

 

[BlueMoON]

Stumbled on this thread/post from skeleton at fz6-sportbikes:



>>>
few weeks ago I experimented with noise abatement for a few hours on a long straight ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPEED

- The following measurements pertain to a stock FZ6, riding with a full face helmet and with the visor sealed, wearing high quality custom moulded ear plugs. Rider is seating in upright posture, with helmet above the wind screen level. Speeds are as read by the speedometer (which is known by gps to over-estimate by 8%).

- The noise level is proportional to the square of the speed (physics).
- The noise level is perceptable as slow as 40 kph.
- The noise level becomes mildly uncomfortable as slow as 60 kph.
- The noise level is tolerable indefinitely at 100 kph (I can ride for hours here).
- The noise level is very uncomfortable at 120 kph. (I can bearly hear myself talk.)
- The noise level is painful and eventually causing harm at 140 kph.
- The noise level is intensely painful and unbearable at 160 kph. (I can bearly hear myself scream.)

- Conclusion:
Long distance riding is only sustainable below 120 kph, and 100 kph is ideal.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EARPLUGS

- I have tried the following ear plugs. The following data lists their audible attenuation rating; this is consistent with my own perception. (Note -3 dBA is perceived by human ear to be half the noise level - this is very noticeable.)
20 dBA = Conventional mp3 music ear phones (Sony).
24 dBA = Moulded mp3 music ear phones (Klipsch).
28 dBA = Conventional cylindrical shaped plugs.
33 dBA = E-A-Rsoft FX earplugs (bell shaped plugs).
36 dBA = Custom moulded silicone ear plugs ($100 pair).

- Conclusion:
Music ear phones should be used only for limited time period and at lower speeds.
Earplugs are essential and custom moulded silicone is the best.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HELMET

- I rode with a borrowed Arai non-flip helmet to compare it with my flip-up helmet. I could not perceive any significant difference in the sound attenuation.
- I wear mostly a Shoei Multitec (flip up) helmet. This is a very good helmet as far as flip-up types go.
The underside of the chin is open, which allows air turbulence to occur and make noise.
If I plug the underside with a rag, then the noise appreciably diminishes (but no one would ride that way).
- I also have a BMW System-6 (flip up); this is slightly better than the Shoei but more expensive.
The underside of the chin is sealed with a body fitting foam section. This precludes any air turbulence.
This feature seems to be why the BMW helmet is quieter than the Shoei.
- I have added a small strip of soft foam against the inside edge of the helmet at the ear cavity. This foam will then contact with my ear plugs and maintain a constant pressure against them - essentially pushing them in and sealing them to the skin of my ear. This significantly increases the noise attenuation of the earplugs; however the added pressure eventually causes discomfort to the soft tissues of the outer ear.
- I have experimented with taping over all the seams and joints of the Shoei helmet - even the visor. This resulted in a helmet more sealed and aerodynamic than non-flip helmets. Regardless, this taping had virtually no benefit to sound attenuation.
- I have ridden momentarily with my hands in front of my helmet to block the wind flow. There were two positions where my hands obstructed wind flow sufficiently to reduce the noise: 1) both hands fully in front of the helmet about a foot away and completely obsuring my vision - this functioned equivalently as a blind wind screen, and 2) one hand beside and in front of my ear but sticking outwards, akin to Dumbo the Elephants outstretched ears - this functioned to move the boundary layer away from the side of the helmet.

- Conclusion:
Flip-up helmets are not appreciably louder than non-flip helmets.
A tight fitting helmet is much quieter than a loose one as it helps to seal the ear chamber.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WIND SCREEN

- I have a stock screen on my FZ6; I have not experimented with any others. Instead, I have experimented with my helmet position with respect to the screen.
- The air flow streams off the edge of the screen essentially horizontal, regardless of vehicle speed, and regardless of location around the radius of the screen. Thus, air flow does not continue on the same geometric path as defined by the slope of the wind screen. Once it reaches the top of the screen, it transitions to a horizontal trajectory almost instantly past the trailing edge.
- The human ear is about level with our eyes. The boundary layer of air (where turbulence starts) streaming back from the screen can be kept above the ear by merely alligning one's eyesight at or just below the top edge of the wind screen. For the FZ6, this requires me to lay my chest upon the tank, with my head and neck cranked back. (I'm in good shape, for which my body can tolerate this posture for a few hours with little discomfort. I would image many riders would find this very uncomfortable. Regardless, I will lay on the tank solely to relieve the strain on my ears.)
- Try this: ride with helmet above the wind screen level and note the high sound level. Now, duck down with helmet below the wind screen and note the sound level is only marginally lower. This is because allot of noise is created *AT* the small wind screen of the FZ6; then it propogates to the rider's ear, regardless of him ducking under the wind screen. Additional noise is created as it eddies about the front of the bike which has minimal fairing. Contrast this with riding a full sized touring bike with its large and continuous body fairing and tall and wide wind screen. The touring bike causes much less eddies and turbulent air flow as it rides into the wind compared to the sport bike design of the FZ6. I test rode a Honda ST1300 with its wind screen placed in the lower position, and I sat up to position my helmet above the boundary layer. That ride was no louder than me riding the FZ6 with my helmet under the boundary layer.


- Conclusion:
Placing helmet at eyesight level (or lower) to the top edge of wind screen is adequate to be below the boundary layer.
A larger (tall and wide) wind screen is significantly better than tall and narrow.
A wider body fairing is significantly better than little or no fairing.
Placing a tall screen on the FZ6 is not sufficient to compete with the quietness of the broader fairing and wind screen of a full touring bike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENGINE NOISE

- Try this: park the bike, put it in neutral, then rev the engine to 7000 or 8000 rpms. It is screaming in your ear, right? Well that same sound level is arriving at the rider at full highway speeds. But is this the primary source of noise? Nope!
- Don't try this but I did: park the bike on center stand, put it into 6th gear, and rev the engine to 7000 or 8000 rpms. Notice the sound that additionally comes from the running drive chain. Most is from the engine but the chain does add an appreciable level of noise.
- I rode at 130 kph, noticed the noise level, then quickly pulled in the clutch and let the engine wind down to 1300 rpms. Surprise: the loud noise level is almost unchanged! That's because most of the noise is not coming from the engine, despite it screaming loud level. Note, the chain is still spinning of course.
- We all know tires rolling on the road make impact noise. This is actually significant. Slick tires are quieter than treaded tires, and narrower ones are quieter than fat ones.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BIKE COMPARISON

- I did some subjective measurements of noise level on the FZ6, and compared it with the BMW K1300GT. For noise attenuation, most full-sized touring bikes should be essentially similar, as their screen, body fairing and engine displacement are similar.
- This analysis serves to question:
1) What is the reduced noise level of a touring bike compared to a sport-touring bike?
2) What is the required reduced riding speed on the FZ6 to yield the same noise level on a full touring bike?

- Conclusion:
A full touring bike produces about 30% of the noise level as a sport-touring bike to the rider's ear.
A full touring bike can travel at double the speed of a sport-touring bike to yield the same noise level.

<<<

I, myself, was bothered during the ride (4-5 hours) today (err.... yesterday) by wind noise. I have been using these earplugs with Shoei RF1100. And thought they were the best (most noise reduction) of the ear plugs that I could find in local stores.... I will definitely be looking for substitutes...

 

[filitosa]

I have been riding the Schuberth S2 now for a month. Great helmet BUT....I can't get rid of the wind turbulence without riding with a gentle throat hold with my left hand. Have tried all types of neck wear. My S1 did not have this problem. I cant hear the SRC unit with the S1. I hear the Scala rider II fine with the S!. i am so disappointed in this $700 helmet. If anyone has a solution please post. I have sent pictures and talked with SchubertUSA they have no fix and just say sorry.

 

[ltdillard]

I have an old screen or two for my 2004. I have thought about researching a bit about various holes that some have added. I think the purpose of which is to decrease the pressure difference and put your head into more of a "clean" air stream.

Anyone carved up their screens to try this?

 

[lazamus69]

Do what your moms says...WEAR PROTECTION!!


Motorcyclists are at special risk for perminent hearing loss if they don't test and protect their hearing.





copy and pasted the link...perminent..haha