DIY windshield

I have been looking at getting a new windshield. I really liked the look of the clearview shield but I didn't want to shuck out $250. My solution was to buy a 25x28" piece of 1/4" plexiglass and go for it.
The first step was to take all the hardware off the stock windshield. I then cut out a piece of cardboard 25x28 and sketched out a template using the old shield to mark the holes. I cut the edges using my first cut to mark the other 3 and then cut out all the edges. Then I taped my template onto the plexiglass.
I then traced my template onto the plexiglass. I took a 3/8 drill and drilled strait through my template all the holes I had marked. I then cut the plexiglass with a jigsaw with a metal blade on the slowest setting. I then sanded the edges using a hand sander. This is where stuff got difficult. I had read where guys on smaller bikes with smaller windshields would just throw there shield in the oven at 100 degrees for 10 minutes and then set the shield on a mold. My shield is to big to throw in the oven. So I go outside and fire up my gas barbeque I held the shield over the heat and little by little I was able to bend the 1/4" plexiglass. It was a royal Pita and took me hours until I could attach the hardware. It is done now and from the bracket above the headlight to the top measures 20 inches. I still have head buffeting even though I drilled 3 half Inch holes above the stock bracket. I'm thinking of getting a madstad bracket and putting another shield over the one I just made but that is for another day.

Big Norm, looks great! Nice step by step write up.

You must have some Scottish blood in you you cheap bastard only kidding looks good now you will be making one for everybody on this site except me I ride naked

scot in exile you are not alone been riding 45 yrs. without a windshield.

I like my windshield and radio plus the cup holders are nice. OOPS forgot that is on the car not the bike. #AMN. Looks good anyways.

While I was working on the windshield I had been riding without. It's been nice and I don't note the buffetting that I get with the shield. Wierd huh? I'm just getting ready for colder weather.

Don't you love retirement and time to fiddle for-ever!


You thought US$250 was dear I was quoted over US$500 on top of any Clearview just for freight to Australia!!

These worked great on my 20" Roadster screen and has adjustability High/Low wide/extra wide mounting height/widths as well as different rubber pads for thick and thin screen plexi. Roadster 5/16" thick, I think yours is the thinner 1/4".

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Great job BigNorm. I know how cold those northern Nevada winters can be. I mainly rode a dirt bike when stationed at NAS Fallon, but was not smart enough to leave it home on January weekends up in the hills. I love riding the trails full of snow back then on my CR500. There were times I wished I had some sort of wind screen but as often as I crashed it, the screen would have never made it through a single ride.
I did ride 50 from Tahoe to Utah on a Magna with no screen. A buddy of mine wanted to do this for some challenge and needed a partner. No one else would go till I heard about it. I was still you enough not to notice the wind at 80-90 MPH. The good old days...

@Ishrub that is what is next for my windshield. I'll have to see if it is more cost effective to build my own or buy those made already.

@Boog I want to meet up with you some day and buy you drinks and listen to your life's adventures. It sounds like you have had one or two.

BigNorm said:

@Ishrub that is what is next for my windshield. I'll have to see if it is more cost effective to build my own or buy those made already.

@Boog I want to meet up with you some day and buy you drinks and listen to your life's adventures. It sounds like you have had one or two.

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That will take a lot beer. Being a rescue swimmer means I have big lungs and that means I can talk till I passout.