Just got back from our fall colors trip to northern Michigan the 16″ dark smoke FREEDOM SHIELD was absolutely the best decision! Lisa & John are super helpful via email and great customer service! Amazing product follow all the guidelines/instructions for best fitment and do not hesitate to email for questions! HIGHLY recommend FREEDOM SHIELDS so much better than factory windshields Indian motorcycles have to offer. Honestly, FREEDOM SHIELDS should be the factory windshield Indian offers vastly superior product vs. factory options! Installs super easily and looks AMAZING functionally IMO the best! I am 6′ 2″ with the ultimate seat I see well over the 16″ shield dark smoke visibility even at night was better than expected! Thank you very much appreciate your product and customer service made our trip extremely enjoyable!
A little background: I’m 6′ tall, have a 30” inseam (without shoes or boots), use a stock Roadmaster touring seat on my Springfield, which positions me such that the top edge of the stock Indian windshield is a couple inches below my sight line. With the stock windshield, I was getting buffeting at highway speeds. I added the Indian wind deflectors and they improved things so that I could cruise at 70mph comfortably. After that, the helmet (full face helmet) buffeting would increase significantly. This is what led me to look into flared windshields. I opted the 16” size because: 1) That’s only 1” taller than the stock height. After doing some mockups on my stock shield, I still had the clearance of looking over the shield that I prefer, and 2) I plan on getting a custom seat for the bike and all options I’m considering will raise my sitting height by about 1/2”-3/4” and will keep me in about the same position I’m in now. I also chose to add the Freedom clear wind deflectors to replace my tinted Indian ones. My thoughts on the windshield: It’s about 3/4” taller overall than the stock windshield, is squarer at the top than the “tombstone” shape of the stock Indian which creates about an additional 1.5” of surface area at the top corners. Driving around town, I didn’t really notice too much difference in the windshield or the fork-mounted wind deflectors. However, as soon as I headed onto the highway, I could feel the difference…or more accurately, it’s what I didn’t feel -the turbulence around my head. I prefer to ride w/ the visor up on my full-face helmet but doing so with the stock windshield, I couldn’t cruise too much above 70mph. If it was at all windy, I’d likely have to close it to cruise at 70mph. With the Freedom shield, I can cruise EASILY 80-90mph w/ the visor up and there have been times I’ve thought I needed to shift up only to realize I was already in 6th gear and cruising at 85mph. Hitting 100mph with my visor open is not unusual. I’ve may/may not have done that a few times. 😉 I did a couple of rides back-to-back to compare the Indian wind deflectors to the Freedom version and I did notice there was a little more airflow around the feet which seemed to help move the heat away from the legs. If my Indian deflectors had not been tinted, I’m not sure I would have ordered the Freedom ones, but I wanted clear and as noted below, others had recommended them over the stock versions. Through the years I’ve learned to listen to the advice of others who have experienced similar things that I’m going through. Buying a Freedom Shield is another one of those times. I wanted to enjoy highway cruising without my head feeling like a punching bag and I kept reading about others who have had this experience and then when they bought the windshield, everything improved for them. Now I get to share the wisdom of “just get a Freedom shield and forget about it.” It’s nice to be able to set the cruise control at 80 or 85mph to give your wrist a break and not worry about being bounced all around by the wind during a 300+ mile ride. Placing my hand above my helmet and feeling for the airflow, there’s a good 4” of clearance before I start to feel any kind of wind. I’ve also installed a Cardo system in my helmet and do not have to turn the music up to hear it over the wind noise as there isn’t any. If you’re looking to smooth out your ride, be able to cruise at highway speeds including needing to pass comfortably, ride longer, I highly recommend getting a Freedom Shield and enjoy the ride.
This Freedom Shield is GREAT! I chose the 12 inch dark tint to match my Springfield Darkhorse. I tested it out yesterday on the way to work traveling 55-60 mph. Then I rode the I-10 on the way home traveling 75-80 and the ride was outstanding. I’ve been riding for over 20 years now and have gotten annoyed with wind noise over time. Not to mention the bugs at 75+ mph. So, I flip flop between half and full face. Anyway, there were 3 times I saw a bug catch the top flare of the windshield and just sailed over the top of my head. Because riders out there know that if you see something during that split second….it’s going to sting like bitch….haha. I told a friend of mine that rides a Chief Darkhorse to definitely check out the Freedom Shield!
Yesterday I tried the new windshield and I’m so so happy: it is great, it is wonderful it is absolutely perfect in all speed!!! Thank you so much John. Take care and best regards from a happy Achim from Bavaria!!
Dear John, (couldn’t resist), here are some pictures of the Springfield with the 16″ shield installed. I am one fussy, nit picky, son of a gun. I drive my self crazy. With that said I was absolutely blown away by the quality of your shield John. I can’t find one single detail that could be improved on. I do hate Styrofoam packing peanuts, they blow all over and are a mess to get rid off, but do to the quality of your product I’m going to forgive you this time. Do to my critical nature I seldom endorse anything, but I have been plugging your product on Indianmotorcycles.net. Good luck in business John, and good health and peace to you and your’s. David
Review By: David – Alburnett, IA
So far so good!! The installation was a breeze and now that I have it on the bike I can honestly say I would have bought the shield based on the look of the flare alone haha. That curve looks so nice with the flared front fender on these bikes. I did take it for a short ride and only got up to like 60 mph but I’m pretty sure it does work better than the old shield as well.
Review By: Tate – Mishawaka, IN
The shield is AWESOME….less wind buffeting on my helmet then the stock shield. Drove about 450 miles yesterday so a bit dragging today..LOL. Only Springfield at this ride, not sure where they are hiding, had a lot of lookers and one other guy with a Scout who had one of your shields already, so word of mouth was passed on. Working on getting the energy up to go clean the bike…killed a crap load of bugs yesterday…LOL. Long day.–
Review By: Daniel – Tucson, AZ
Been riding my Springfield with the 16″ Freedom windshield and really enjoying it. I have the light grey tint, and it looks terrific. At 6″ tall, the stock windshield just wasn’t doing it and I was getting heavy winds at highway speed. I was able to use my stock windshield hardware, and only took 20-30 minutes to swap the windshield onto the hardware. The fit and finish is superb; better than the stock windshield. As a plus, there is no distortion caused by the flare windshield. John at Freedom Shields was very pleasant to work with for ordering. I recommend this windshield if you’re looking for something different other than stock on the Springfield. I certainly was, and glad I chose this one.
Review By: Jeff – Santa Ana, CA
