Loose Cee Bailey Windshield

While installing a Cee Bailey windshield I noticed that even with the original hardware installed the original mounting screws shoulder bottoms out before the screw head even making contact with the windshield. Comparing the the original and Cee Bailey windshield I find that the original windshield is offset a small amount (~1/8") at the mounting plate area and the Cee Bailey has no offset. So with the Cee Bailey installed and the screws snug (not even touching the windshield) the windshield moves around the screw shoulder shaft.

Is it normal for the Cee Bailey to not be offset at the mounting hardware area? Anyone else notice this? I'm considering insert nylon washers to fill in the gap so the Cee Bailey will not woble around.

I tryed taking pictures to clear this up, but windshields are clear, so taking a picture of something clear didn't work for me.

Thanks for any help on this.

Got it yesterday from Cee Bailey. Curvature is fine, it must be 2nd run. So, does a Cee Bailey windshield normally have an offset in the acrylic at the mounting screw area identical to the Honda windshield? Mine don't.

The CB does not have that little molded area of the stock windshield. My CB does not "move" once the screws are snug.

No, they don't have that offset flat spot. At least the 1st run screens didn't. The difficulty with the 1st run screens was (and is on mine) that the mounting holes didn't quite line up. They pull the adjustor mounts outboard a tad and the "notches" at the five detents are harder to feel. But since I have only moved my screen once since I discovered the perfect place (with my +2" screen and my height, that perfection is attained in the 2nd notch from the top), that hasn't been an issue at all.

I love my CeeBailey screen.

I'm emailing & talking with Cee Bailey to resolve this. Thanks for the inputs.

Here are a few pics; one showing the Honda mounting screw with shoulder, one with the screws and mounting flange, and the last showing how far the screw shoulder extends beyond the windshield (taken from drivers side before screwing it in).

I measured the thickness of the windshield and the Honda is .18 and Cee Bailey is .15". Website says Cee Baileys is made from .187". I think they use the wrong acrylic stock.

Never thought I would need a camera and micrometer to install a windshield

Cee bailey agreed that it was too thin of acrylic and is going to send another windshield. Cee Bailey doesn't have the recessed area in the mounting plate area.

Well, I was curious, so, a micrometer showed that my CB +6 is 0.163" thick at the outer edge. FWIW, my honda screen is 0.160"

The shoulder bolts on mine are snugged up, slightly compressing the plastic part and holding the screen tight.

My measurement were taken with thin piece of plastic (.011" thick for both sides) to protect the windshields from my metal micrometer, so actual thickness of each of measured windshields is .011" thinner. Cee Bailey = .14" , Honda =.17"

The important part is that your windshields are very close in thickness, mine are noticeably different by touch, and my Cee Bailey measured ~.03" thinner......they used the wrong material from stock to form the windshield. My shoulder bolts didn't compress the plastic mounting plate & the screen was free to wobble and move with the screws shoulders bottomed out.

Cee Bailey is sending me a replacement and allowing an upgrade from a +2 to +4 at no charge. So I am happy.

I am not surprised at CB fixing your problem. Given the response to others with NT's I'd trust them to do the right thing any time.

charlie b said:

Given the response to others with NT's I'd trust them to do the right thing any time.

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Cee Bailey has the best customer service I have dealt with in a long time. When I was upgraded to a second generation windshield, a +2 light gray "flip", rather than pay to return the old first generation they let me e-mail digital photos of it after I carved it up with a screwdriver to prove it was destroyed... They even complimented the tic-tac-toe box I carved to ruin it...

UPDATE! Been talking to CB about "why no windshield yet?". Their belief was all original Honda NT700V windshields were .15, so their CB windshield's were .15 and they updated their website to say that (instead of .187 that was described a month ago). The problem is that my original Honda windshield (yes, it's a Honda windshield) is .187, so Honda must have made 2 different thickness windshields. So CB is scratching their heads.

I'd recommend that if you have a micrometer to measure your original Honda windshield thickness. I measured mine at several places on the perimeter. If it is .15 and your CB is .15 you're probably OK. But if your original Honda is .187 and your CB is .15...... you may not be OK because the hardware wont tighten down on the windshield properly (or not at all in my case).

Talking to CB, this problem is independent and new from the the "bad radius causing the sliders to bind" issue.

And I just wanted a windshield.

dnktng said:

CB windshield's were .15 and they updated their website to say that (instead of .187 that was described a month ago).

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...and now CB's website is back to saying .187

If you have a micrometer it would be interesting to hear a reports of the thickness of your original windshield or a CB windshield.

I just received a CB's windshield last Thursday and installed it on Friday and had the same problem of the windshield being loose after the mounting bolts were tightened down. I don't know the thickness of the new CB's shield, but it is thinner than the stock shield. I sent an e-mail to CB's last Friday describing the problem but have not received a reply yet.

Lars said:

I just received a CB's windshield last Thursday and installed it on Friday and had the same problem of the windshield being loose after the mounting bolts were tightened down. I don't know the thickness of the new CB's shield, but it is thinner than the stock shield. I sent an e-mail to CB's last Friday describing the problem but have not received a reply yet.

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Lars, that sounds exactly like my issue. If you don't have a micrometer, the difference in the windshields' thicknesses is about 1/2 the thickness of a dime. Small, but still easily noticeable by comparing the thickness with your finger & thumb.

I asked CB if it was safe to use the thinner windshield by installing flat washers under the mounting screws so that the screw (thru the plastic plate) snugs up to the windshield instead of bottoming out on the screws shoulder first. The reply was non-committal.

After talking to a manager/engineer at CB I think they are convinced that they are making the windshields out of too thin of material and promised me (again) a replacement in 4-5 days. Time will tell.

I wonder if Honda went to a thicker material at some point, since mine measures significantly thinner than yours.

I love my CB +6 and would not trade it for anything else. FWIW, I only consider the stock screen marginal for my needs.

charlie b said:

I wonder if Honda went to a thicker material at some point, since mine measures significantly thinner than yours.

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Charlie, thanks for measuring your windshield thickness. I'm not sure why the two different Honda windshield thicknesses. This was new news to CB also. My NT700 serial number is 000120, so it seems odd that this hasn't been noticed earlier.

charlie b said:

I love my CB +6 and would not trade it for anything else. FWIW, I only consider the stock screen marginal for my needs.

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...if only my CB windshield was the same thickness as my Honda windshield I would love it too. I like it's superior wind deflection, and it looks great. But if I'm not safe, NO LOVE!!

Mine is ....0028 so it might be a mfg change.

If Honda changed the thickness of the stock shield as a running change, and the different thickness causes problems if your aftermarket doesn't match your stock shield, then when Honda changed shield thicknesses they must have changed the mounting hardware, too.

I just went and looked at the parts catalog and I don't see anything about those parts changing.

elizilla said:

when Honda changed shield thicknesses they must have changed the mounting hardware, too.

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Agreed, so I don't think they changed it either... However the OEM supplier may have screwed up the thickness on a production run of windshields.

elizilla said:

I just went and looked at the parts catalog and I don't see anything about those parts changing.

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That is true. I looked at the windshield & hardware part numbers for both USA models and the aren't any substitute part numbers. However I haven't checked other (euro) models part numbers.

What I was told was that it would have cost Honda in the $250,000 range to redesign, change a mold, change hole location (and it would be a slight change), hardware change, testing, blah, blah, blah. That is a lot of profit margin on a lot of motorcycles. It is a strange case. The markings on my thick Honda windshield matched the markings on CB thinner windshield. The markings are:

Jupilon
DOT-293 (mitsubishi symbol) M-1040M
AS 6&7
HONDA >PC<

Any one else measure their stock windshield? CB windshield?