As Margaret has gotten more comfortable on her bike, she has had an ever-growing issue with the windshield. She's getting a lot of reflections and glare on the inside, affecting her ability to see the road due to its height. Everyone has their preference on how tall, short, fat, etc.; a windshield should be. Most articles, riders, and accessory places will recommend that your eyesight should be just above the top of the windshield. I tend to agree with this. Try having a windshield that you have to look through and ride in the rain. No wipers mean you can’t see through it, and you’ll have to crane your neck to the side of the windshield to see the road.
Getting Started
We started by having her sit on the bike in the riding position. As corny as this sounds, I took a builders level and stuck it close to her eye until the bubble showed level and marked that spot on the windshield. This gave us a good visual reference as to where her eyesight came into contact on the windshield. Then we measured down 1” from that spot for our cut point. This point was exactly 2.5” from the top of the windshield. I measured 2.5” from the top center around towards both sides and made a lot of pinpoint marks as I went. When you get to a certain point towards each side, you have to begin to taper your measurement to merge your cut line with the side of the windshield. This way, it won’t look like you just chopped off the top.
Next, I connected all the dots I made using a permanent marker. I did this freehand but had made enough dots to make it nicely rounded. Now I took painter's tape and ran it on the lower portion of the windshield along the marker line. This helps prevent chipping if the jigsaw blade catches too much. I made sure to put a couple of inches of tape to prevent the jigsaw base from scratching the plastic while moving it along while cutting.
For the cut, I purchased a Bosch Plexiglass blade pack at Home Depot for $8.95. This was our only expense on the project since I had everything else necessary
Beginning The Cut
I started at the blend point on one side of the windshield to make one continuous cut most of the way around without having to stop and reposition the blade. I didn't push very hard or force the blade to cut. Just hold the jigsaw firmly and let the blade do the work. I also held the windshield very firmly and close to the front of the cutting blade to eliminate any jumping that could happen from snagging. If the blade snags, it could cause the plastic to chip in that spot. Snagging will usually occur from a dull blade, pushing it along too fast, or trying to force the blade to cut faster than it is able. Snagging also occurs from a blade that is not fine-toothed enough to cut the material.
Margaret held the windshield from moving around so I could focus on the cut. Just follow the tape line around and try to keep it as smooth as possible. You might not get an absolute perfectly rounded cut, but you’ll be sanding any points or other imperfections afterward.
Cut Off The Large Rounded Piece That You Just Cut
When you get about ¾ of the way around, you'll want to stop cutting. You'll want to cut off the big rounded piece you've been working on. This is to prevent the plastic you've already cut from snapping off due to the weight, which could cause damage to the windshield. After you do this, continue your cut on the remaining small piece until you're done.
I took off the tape to better view the cut and began sanding the edge with 100 grit sandpaper. I used 100 grit to smooth any areas that might not have been rounded well or any points that I needed to blend. When I was happy with the shape, I moved to 400 grit and used this one to begin rounding the edges to match the original cut. I finalized the sanding with 600 grit without using the electric sander. Doing this allows you to feel any rough spots with your hand that you might need to go back to using courser sandpaper.
This is the edge upon completion.
And that's it! The whole job took about 2 hours and came out well. She's ridden with the shorter wind shield 3 times and is very happy with the results.
Great photos. Who takes them? What type of camera is used? I really was impressed with the water images on your filter post. I never seem to catch action or movement well.
Margaret and I both take the pictures. Who takes them kind of depends on whats going on at the time, like those water shots, I had both hands full so she was snapping away on that one. If its a stationary object like a tube of lube I might end up taking it. Unless my hands are all greasy. We have a couple cameras but all of the pictures on the blog have been taken with a Canon Rebel EOS XT. Its an older digital camera which is not even made anymore. I think its about 6 years old and it only captures 6MP. We manually set a wide aperature to catch the water in still motion. You can close the aperature more though and get streaked water shots which will show it more in motion.