I bought my FLHP used and I've been slowly picking away at the unnecessary parts. It's a retired police bike from a local department so as you can imagine, I've had my hands full.

The bike came with windshield that's too high. I'm a fairly tall dude (6'2"), I want a shorter shield. How short should I go?

 

The rule of thumb for a conventional shield is nose high. That way you can look over the top, or slouch and look through it, which will give you the best protection against wind, especially at higher highway speeds. If you are thinking of looks or style over function, bear in mind that wind takes the shortest route. If you chose a low windshield the wind will hit you straight off the top edge.

 

Not looking for style. The shield is purely functional. My big thing is to not have to look through it when I'm riding in the rain

 

You just answered your own question! I prefer to look THROUGH my windshield. Others want to look OVER it. It's just personal preference.

 

Yeah, true, but some people use recurved and once you start looking at those, things get confusing. That's why I like asking people on the forum.

 

Most metric riders are used to looking through their shields.
Then when they switch over to HD's they run em' like that.
That's my take on it anyway.

 

All I can say is better a bit high than low. Low ones just drive the bugs up your nose farther! I usually get around eyeball height when you are slouching so you can pop up a bit if you have to look over and hide behind it when you need to.

 

I like mine at nose level. I don't like looking thru it, as I ride thru the cuyahoga valley nation park to and from work, and this time of year there's a lot of fog.

I bought mine from fxr_dave on eBay. Smoked lexan, 6" tall and fit perfect, all for $30. Might be the way to go for you since you may want to try a few different sizes to see what ya like best.

 

I'm 6ft. and use a 8" windshield. Tried a 6" and didn't like it, too much wind buffeting. The 8 is low enough to look over. Found that this size is good in the rain as it allows you to look over rather than through. Had taller windshields and rode in the rain, and it was terrible. Had a hard time seeing the road due to having to look through a rain splattered windshield.

 

I've been riding behind windshields for over 40 years! Nose high if you want to be able to look over. The 'rule' hasn't changed since before then!