I just purchased the Freedom Shields 9” Ultra in the dark tint for my 2011 Harley FLHTK. I was immediately impressed by the quality of the new windshield. It is superior to the factory Harley windshield in fit, finish, strength and overall appearance. It looks like what Harley should be putting on their bikes. Because I could do a test run if I leave the protective film on, I thought I would try it under all my riding situations. I rode for about 3 hours and put about 175 miles total on it today. I rode some back roads at 45-60 miles per hour and I rode some interstate at 75-80 miles per hour. I took my half helmet and my full face so I could check both out. On my half helmet I was surprised to find a gentle breeze mostly on the sides of the helmet and on the full face I had no noticeable wind noise. In Utah we have a lot of canyons and the wind sometimes gusts to as much as 65 mph. I purposely rode in the canyons and one notoriously windy area to see how it handled the wind. THAT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE! The wind was still there but the bike didn’t move around as much and I could feel the wind hitting me and trying to blow me off the bike but it didn’t grab the handlebars like the Harley windshield does. This was a huge improvement in keeping control of the bike. Next noticeable improvement was when on the interstate and passing huge tractor trailers I didn’t have as much turbulence as normal. It may be because I don’t have as big a “Sail” as with the Harley but you feel slight pressure as you pass the rear of the truck but nothing after that. I usually get bounced around when passing the big trucks. On another note, it seemed that my engine noise was louder than it normally is with the Harley windshield and I finally deduced that the new windshield had better acoustics in the bubble behind the fairing and less wind noise meant I could hear other things better. I wondered how I would like the dark tint but I love it. It is dark and looks great on the Candy Root Beer bike but it was very easy to see through if you have to. I also found that the 9” was almost exactly at the height of the tip of my nose and gave me plenty of room to comfortably see over it without having to move around. Another bonus that I never thought of is when there is a big difference between the dark tint and seeing clear road ahead is the fact that I didn’t follow cars quite as closely as I did before. If I got close enough that I couldn’t see the car in front of me without looking through the dark tint, I backed off a little until I could see them clearly without looking through the windshield. That’s just a little safety bonus for me. When I got home I pulled off my full face helmet and set it down and then looked at the front of the bike. The fairing and the windshield were covered in about 300-400 bugs I collected on the trip which is pretty normal this time of year. The surprise came when I looked at the front of my helmet and it only had 2 tiny bug spots on the entire helmet. I was very surprised because at least 4 to 5 inches sticks up above the windshield and it really proved to me that the wind was moving above my head like it should. It is so much nicer and easier to see the road now and I thank you for a great product and for superior customer service.
Review By: Jerry – Clearfield, UT
