Should You Look Over Or Through A Windshield?

Copied, Renamed, and Heavily Edited By RedLdr1

EDIT: This thread was created for the discussion of whether it is better to look Over or Through a windshield. The posts in this thread were copied from Bob's "hijacked" thread "Cee Bailey Windshield Review In RoadBike Magazine, December 2011 Issue..."

Please use this thread to discuss the Pros and Cons of looking Over or Through a windshield...

I'm betting that CeeBailey, a manufacturer of aircraft windshields, makes a product that will last a long, long time...If your bike doesn't fall over in such a way that the screen hits an object like a parked car.

I only have a two/tenths of a million miles on motorcycles, so maybe you won't pay attention to my opionons. But, on the Concourses I rode, Rifle and Clearview screens were both better than stock. Neither was as good as the stock NT screen, but the stock screen on the NT isn't as good as the CeeBailey.

Unlike John, I do like to look through the screen a lot of the time. If it's raining or dark, I'm usually looking over it. With the +4" CeeBailey, and the Russell DayLong saddle, I keep my screen in the 2nd position from the top and have no trouble looking either over or through for long, long distances.

I don't feel as if anything I've ever spent on windscreens has been a total waste of money...except maybe Saeng edging on the Connies.

makes sense, seems to be something to just use your best judgement on. if it's a clear day, and your windshield is clean....i'm sure there is little problem with looking through it unless it has a bad habit of picking up glares. if the windshield isn't in great shape, dirty, or conditions are rain/snow/dark/etc are when it would be more dangerous.

LOL, yep, I haven't died from looking through the screen either. I like to look through it when it is really cold out.

OK, got pictures of the CB +6. One reason I got the +6 is for a reason John mentioned. For some reason Honda has the shield change angle as it goes up. Which means the top edge of the shield is "far" away from your head when it is all the way up. I wanted the top edge closer to me so chose a screen that I would set at the lower positions most of the time. You can see that geometry in this series. All the way down to all the way up. But, the downside is I never use position 5, so I only have a choice of 4 positions. All the way down keeps the air off my chest so if in really hot weather you don't get a lot of flow there. I have ridden with this shield in >90F heat and it does fine for me (with mesh jacket).

FWIW I normally ride with it in position 2 or 3, very quiet unless there is a lot of turbulence (trucks) or crosswind. In that case I raise it to position 4 and look through it (unless it is raining, then it stays lower and I suck it up).

Oh, and you can also see how much flip there is on the +6.

Lowest position


Position 2


Position 3


Position 4


Position 5 (I never use this position as it puts the screen too high)

Only John has experienced all the weather there is I guess riding with ice on the shield doesn't count

Kinda hard to look thru or over this windshield. Looking thru ....blocked by Ice and snow. Looking over.......Face shield is blocked by Ice and snow.

Yep, BTDT too.

I rode 50 miles from west of Laramie on May 8, 2008 in heavy, wet snow. It was about 2" thick on the front of my Concours (except for the headlight), about 2" thick on the right side of my 'Stitch and the right side of my helmet. I had followed the one semi that was only doing 45 on I-80 and a VW Passat. When the Passat and I stopped at the first motel in Laramie, she got out of the car and ran over and asked me if I was from Laramie. I told her I was 145 miles SE of Laramie, and then she asked, "Do you get snow here in MAY?" I scraped the snow off my helmet, looked at it, threw it down on the ground and said, "Well, I guess we do." She was from Vermont and said that they never get May snow there.

She got the last motel room in Laramie and I was glad I had friends who lived there.

BTW, I looked over the windscreen and through the helmet screen, and survived. It took till sometime about 11:30 that night to get the saddle pried out from between my wildly clenched buttocks.

I get vertigo. Riding in the back seat of a car is not fun, front seat passenger is tolerable, driving is the only way I can spend long periods in a car. It's all caused by sensed movement in the brain not equal to sensed movement in the eyes and ears. Lots of clear vision of outside world is best.

Riding a motorcycle is so nice because all the sensed movement in my eyes, ears, brain are equal.....until I look through my Cee Bailey +4. Yep, distortion, gets me everytime. It's minor distortion meaning it doesn't cause me to immediately stop and barf, but there is definately distortion in my CB windshield, I can feel it. The distortion can even be seen looking through it and is very noticable at the flip.

Wish I wasn't sensitive to the distortion, then I could have the option of looking through the shield. I vote for looking over the top of the shield, and keeping the inside of my helmet clean.

RedLdr1 said:

So Right or Wrong let's just see what manufactures and distributors have to say...

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I would assume many of those quotes are for non-adjustable windshields. If you can't adjust it, you had darn well be able to look over it when it rains.

With on the fly adjustable windshields, I would think we have more options.

Myself, I don't like a windshield set just below my line of sight because that makes the edge ride up and down through my line of sight as the road varies up and down (normal here, maybe not in the real flatlands).

Ken

ken45 said:

I would assume many of those quotes are for non-adjustable windshields.

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Ken,

Those are fitment statements from manufactures who make windshields for bikes with adjustable and non-adjustable windshields. They do not change their fitment statement based on the windshield being adjustable.

ken45 said:

With on the fly adjustable windshields, I would think we have more options.

Click to expand...

I agree, we do have many more options...but I wouldn't call the NT "on the fly". While I can easily "smack" my Cee Bailey down while moving I have to stop to bring it back up...

RedLdr1 said:

I agree, we do have many more options...but I wouldn't call the NT "on the fly". While I can easily "smack" my Cee Bailey down while moving I have to stop to bring it back up...

Click to expand...

Even if you have to stop, it's more adjustable than most windshields. But most importantly, if it starts to rain, you can get it out of your line of vision quickly and safely without having to stop. Beats the windshield on a Harley or Goldwing.

Ken

My first bike was an '83 Honda GL650i Silverwing Interstate. A previous owner had bought the biggest Goldwing windshield available from JC Whitney. It was at least 6" above my eye level. I will grant that it created an enormous area of calm for the driver (not so much for the pillion). I was a pipe-smoker in those days and, even though I never did it, I know I could have lit and smoked a pipe on the Silverwing.

But, my goodness...you should have seen what it was like to try to ride in the rain, especially in the rain at night. Not quite (or I wouldn't be writing this) but nearly impossible. The worst thing in those conditions was reflections from headlights behind me hitting the drops on the inside of the screen.

Even though I do look through a windscreen at times, I really, really, really like being able to look over it.

BTW, at the rate we're going, this could become the most-viewed, most commented-upon thread in the history of motorcycling. What would that say about our teeny-tiny minds?

OK, so YES! If you have a fixed windshield you best be able to look over it!!!

But, that's one of the best things about the NT. The windshield can really be moved up and down! Amazing I know, but, true!

So, I can set it to look through it when I feel like it. And can move it down so I look over it when I want. TaDa!!!!

Heck, if it is adjusted up and I run into rain or sun in my face I can slap the shield and lower it to look over it immediately. (BTDT)

End of argument.

Now let's get back to whether the CB series of shields are good or not so good. I still vote that my +6 is the second best farkle I have, right next to the Russell seat.

Okay the new Over or Through thread is now open for business.....

Wayne,

I am also 5'10" and the +6 is perfect for me. Just goes to show how opinions of what works best is different

IF the screen is distorted then it can screw up your vision enough to get you in trouble. Mine does not.

Yes, all mfg's will recommend you look over a fixed screen. For the reasons that have been given many times. They cannot even mention looking through the screen in case some idiot tries to ride when it is covered with mud.

My visor has so little distortion that I can't see it. My glasses cause more distortion than the visor and the screen put together. I have learned to adjust to that distortion. I also have trouble when I wear polaroid sunglasses, so, I don't wear them when on the Honda (I do when on the Guzzi).

All this takes is a bit of common sense. If you can see well when looking through the screen, then do it if you want. If you don't want to look through the screen, then don't. I am not going to change just because some of you are afraid to ride that way.

So, how do we all feel about looking around the windscreen?

I have done that in rain, just because it clears my visor so much faster.

Phil Tarman said:

So, how do we all feel about looking around the windscreen? I have done that in rain, just because it clears my visor so much faster.

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Sounds like a plan to me... Dogs love to "hang out" around the windshield of a car so it can't be all bad...

Never thought of looking around the screen to clear a visor. Interesting.

I like to look over the windscreen. But, if I have the GoCruise set while driving through the snow, I like to have the windscreen all the way up so I don't get any buffeting while I use both hands to text. Then, if it's very hot out, I lay down on the tank and don't look through or over the screen; I just use the map on the gps to navigate.