Wow, Thanks for the kind words guys! I will post some more Info here.
The History of The TRAILWAYCAFE Sport shield or AKA "The JIMBO Shield" for those who have the time and intrest.
The Café Shield is designed to take the wind load off your chest, this eases the pulling stress on your hands and arms, and significantly reduces the wind pressure and buffiting the body takes at speeds above 40mph &
does this remarkably well. It will give you something to duck behind when bees are crossing the road etc., but it does let the wind hit your face/helmet when sitting upright in a normal posture.. I tried designing the
shields higher(Taller) but the side to side wind induced torque on the helmet made things much worse than letting the smooth stream of air flow over the shield onto the helmet. I also discovered that when I rode with a
taller shield off-road and attempted a medium size hill climb that the long shield chopped me in the face. I guess I am the official test dummy for TrailwayCafe Sport Shields. The bigger the shield on a lightweight bike
like the TW the more unstable it can get in gusty conditions, (additionally) someone else already makes an excellent BIGGER shield called a "Spitfire" it wasn't the look and function I wanted for my TWs so I struck a
compromise, I went for :
(1) Appropriate size for a light weight bike for a myriad of riding conditions including off-road.(The shield rises about 6 inches over the cowl)
(2) Considered the load and stresses on the headlight-cowl mount hardware and tried not to exceed the potential limits of the fasteners and brackets that are already there.
(3) The look had to fit into the great look already there (the TW look) I wanted it to be as if the bike came with this Café Shield from the factory.
(4) Easy to install and truly functional. (The feed back I have recieved on and off this forum has been positive.)
The TW has always struck me not only as a great practical bike but it is attractive to look at bone stock, It looks like an Offroad Café Racer. I wanted to keep the great TW lines intact when I made the first protype
shields for our TWs. Before even thinking about designing the shield I had made several 60+ mile runs to the Anza Borrego Desert State Park from my home near San Diego CA,I explored twisty sand washes,Dunes and mud
hills then rode back home to discover that I was exhausted, not because the TW was not up to the task, the TW was smooth, relaible, miserly and more capable than I thought possible. I was exhausted because I was
fighting those wind forces all day long.I hunted for days on the web looking for some trick cafe like shield for my beloved TW to no satisfactory avail. I was going to have to do it myself.Yep! I first made them for me,
my-self and I "the unholy trinity" (selfish but true), they represent a well researched solution to Jimbo C's impulsive desert runs to see what the Lil'TW DualSport Cafe Racer could do.
I was very satisfied with their performance by the time the forum members spotted the shields in my avitar photos and aggressivly persued the shields by encouraging me to make them. The first year I didn't pay the slave
who was making these things out in my barn and he almost quit. (That Slave would be me) I thought I had created a monster. I manned up and asked for a little money for my effort, and I discovered that several dozen of
my friends here loved them too! On reputation alone the first year I sold about 250, the next year about 150 and this last year 2011 roughly 120. I not rolling in the big time money wise, but I do feel really blessed to
have made so many friends, and chatted with so many of you on the phone and especally the old forum. I have TW shields running around the world ,The Arctic Circle,England, Singapore,South Africa, Italy, France,
Moskow Russia, Austraila, Many to Canada, all over the USA,Alaska,Hawaii,& Guam.
Enough of this: Thank you guys for your great support and kind encouragement.
Ride Well, Jimbo