My Honda PC800 came with many aftermarket parts, including a ClearView windshield. The previous owner was a bit shorter than me, and while I’m sure he chose the right height windshield for himself, wind coming off the top of it hits the top of my helmet. If I hunch down a little I’m completely hidden from the wind, but that gets uncomfortable quite quickly. One day I saw that a friend of mine has a clip-on windshield extension on his ex-cop Harley, and I knew that was the solution for me.
After some research I ended up buying a Puig clip-on windshield extension from Revzilla. It’s super simple, and at first doesn’t look worth its $108.85 sale price for a piece of clear plastic and two small brackets. But as I assembled and installed it, I could see that the money goes into a well thought out design and high quality parts. There’s no drilling involved, and single Allen wrench is all you need. Naturally I lost all of mine in the move to my new house, so I took a quick trip to buy a replacement after tearing the place apart looking for them.
Replacing my wrench set was the most time consuming part of the installation. Two bolts attach each bracket to the visor, and a single bolt loosens and tightens the clamp onto the top of the existing windshield. The clamp is extremely well padded where it clamps down, and shouldn’t hurt the windshield at all.
I never understood why fancy bikes have power windshields that you can raise and lower – until now. All the way down, it still sits just tall enough to greatly reduce the noise in my helmet. I can leave my helmet visor open for fresh air but still be protected from the direct wind blast, bugs, rocks, alien spacecraft, etc. Raise it all the way up, and it blocks everything – great for cold mornings, fast highways, and especially cold mornings on fast highways. I have to look through the extension rather than over it, which I don’t prefer, but that’s the price of total coverage, and sometimes it’s worth it.
While not operated by motors and switches, it’s easy to adjust up and down, even while in motion. The notches in the hinges’ movement are stiff enough to not vibrate, even on rough roads or at high speeds. It hasn’t been warm enough yet for me to do this, but it’s even possible to angle the extension to deflect air toward me instead of away if I want to cool off. It’s far more effective than the vent built into the ClearView windshield.
Arguably the right way to fix the problem is to replace my windshield with a taller one, sized specifically for me. It would also be far more expensive, more work, and it wouldn’t provide ventilation when I want it like the extension does. It may not look as sleek as a single piece windshield, but I don’t care. It’s effective, and between its added protection from the elements as well as allowing them in when I want to, it’ll actually extend my riding season. It seems like a lot of money for a piece of clear plastic and two brackets, but I think it’s well worth it for the advantages it provides.
