FIA Rollover Bar + Hood

[Glen]

How many people use their seven day-to-day all year, without hood/screen/heater?

 

I'll concede that the heater's not strictly necessary - it doesn't do much anyway. But when its properly raining and I'm on my way to a work meeting (or anywhere else that I'll be unable to change clothes when I arrive) there's no way I could do without weather protection.

 

Now, if my seven was my second car (one day I'll get a second one) I'd be seriously tempted to forgo screen and hood and use it summer months mainly. Get caught in the rain every now and then, sure - but that wouldn't matter if the primary purpose of the journey was leisure. I wouldn't try and claim that this was how I preferred to get around though.

 

If anyone seriously does practical journeys without weather equipment I stand to be corrected, but I can't see how it could be done without carrying spare clothing and head protection, which would add up to similar weight and bother as using the hood.

[Geoff Johnson]

Surely in Summer if you do not wear a helmet then you get insects up your nose etc etc, if you do, you cannot feel the sun on your face & you get hot & sweaty. At least with my windscreen the insects explode before they hit me & & I can get sunburn on my bald bits.

[I.Mupferit]

Maybe this whole debate can be neatly summed up as follows:-

Caterham owners fall into two main categories, namely Poofs and Diehards. Poofs, of which I freely admit I must be , prefer the comfort of arriving at their destination dry, presentable, wig in place and no flies in their teeth. Diehards, on the other hand, don't mind arriving with wet undergarments, blind in one eye (due to the bloody huge Bee they ran into) and loose facial skin from the battering of the wind.

Much as I love my Seven, if the rain is p*****g down I use my Bee-Em where I can remain dry and composed.

 

[Geoff Johnson]

Know the feeling, when I drive down to the Alps in February I plan to take the scooby & not just because I can get the skiis in.

[Simos]

 

As long as your head isn't sticking up over the top of the aeroscreens (too tall) or you've got a teensy wind deflector (too small) then you don't get any bugs or stones or other nasties. I have several dinks in my aeroscreen attesting to their effectiveness and after a summer blat it is covered in insect detritus. I've never been hit in 9,000 miles odd.

 

Further more I can wear my baseball cap at 80+ without worry which is more than I could when I used to have the full screen on. Don't look up at that low flying plane though or it's gone.

 

I find the buffeting is more evenly distributed and therefore more comfortable than with the screen and I don't get wet even in heavy rain at speed damn those lights at Flimwell) aside from a damp baseball cap.

 

I carry my lid for use on motorways because of the continuous buffeting (too much of a good thing etc) and when it hails (too much pain etc) but then I used to with the full screen on as well.

 

No I don't feel a prat for wearing a lid in a seven anymore than I feel same when hooning round a track with a lid on. I'm sure people think me more of a prat for having aeroscreens in the first place; and that using a lid is my last tenuous grasp on sanity !

 

Soon as I get off the multi-carriageway though, the lid comes off...

 

I do sit fairly low, and I have my aeroscreen on the stanchion and cover the gap between the two with some aluminium tape which looks ok and makes sure everything goes over my head. Also a bottle of rain-X is a must, that stuff is the dog's twitcher. A must for every 7 owner but esp for aeroscreens with no wipers...

 

Cheers, Simon.