So, yesterday was beautiful here in the foothills and there was a person interested in buying my Superglide, so I set out on the 20 mile trip to Richmond to show it to them. I hesitated and then decided to leave off the detachable windshield since I would be just cruising the back roads anyway.

About 5 miles down the road it literally began to hit me that I might have made a bad call on leaving off the windshield. Man it's like I was a bug magnet or something. Forget the flies and such, these huge friggin bumble bees were everywhere and this went on for miles! I was only going 35-40 and usually I would see them when they were about 10 feet in front of the bike and I would go into the waist up bob and weave. Managed to actually avoid quite a few this way. Even so I took one to the forehead (ouch but no sting), and 3 or 4 bouncing off shoulders and arms. I didn't even see the one that made it under my t-shirt. He lit me up 3 times before I could catch and crush him under the shirt while doing the funky chicken at 40 mph.

Now I remember why I like windshields so much!

LiiT

 

Bugs are why I'd never ride without a face shield. But a windshield...no.

 

Caught one of them flying grasshoppers to the glasses this morning Been lucky, never ran into anything with a stinger yet.

 

From the mosquitos and gnat's while living in South Florida, then moving to the country in Tennessee I don.t ride without a windshield at all. Swarms of bug,s that have not even been discovered here in Tennessee..

 

During certain times of the year I go out for a ride and when I get back I glance over at the winshield and think to myself, Man thats a lot of protein I missed out on.

 

I used to always grow a beard in the summer... always felt like it softened the blow of bugs.

 

Was going to take my windshield off for the summer but decided that functionality over looks was to prevail... And the bugs are just now starting to get plentiful.

 

I often catch an angry bee that gets stuck in the helmet padding. Either I end up pounding on my helmet to smash it while going 50 mph or make a panic stop to throw the helmet off.

 

For me, very simple.
No windshield, no ride.

I've been riding for 45 years and I've only had one really bad bee sting but I'll bet that my windshields have deflected million beesand bugs away from me.

In '75 we had a group of about 8 bikes (all family members) heading north through Ohio farming country in the early evening hours.
I was the front bike ('75 FLT) and I noticed a mosquito hit my windshield, then another, and then another so I instinctively ducked down behind my windshield just before we hit the swarm!
All but two of the bikers had face shields and they made out okay but the two who didn't also had beards and it was a messy evening in Ohio!

 

I prefer a face shield on my helmet. Windshields just don't look right on a v rod. The bike came with one but I took it off the first day, might as well sell it