parabellum windshield review

[Eville Rich]

I've had my 2016 S10 for about a month now. Break-in service is done. Right off the bat I knew I'd need to deal with the buffeting and wind noise. I wear a Schuberth C3 Pro - a quiet helmet that is quite lovely when in reasonably clean air.

Anyway, I installed a Madstadt bracket and winglets first. This improved things a bit but not enough. Still getting buffeting from about 40mph and up. So I read all the reviews of various windshields. I decided to go for a Parabellum Tall windshield. It's advertised as 25 inches. Received it last weekend and installed it. It's big but not totally crazy big. Just taller and wider than stock. I believe the 25 inches is about correct.

I spent yesterday riding and trying positions. I'm just a hair over 6 feet and 33 inch inseam. That matters for what I found.

I started off with my seat in the low position. Pretty quickly found that I had to drop the bracket to the lowest setting or just accept watching the world through the windscreen. Then I found that with about a 60 degree angle, I had the top of the windscreen right in the middle of my site line. It was not great and sort of like bifocals, with the screen giving a slightly different image. So I tilted it back (very nice to have the bracket to do so). Better but not quite.

I put my seat on the high position, which I prefer, anyway. That pretty much solved the visual issue. I have the screen tilted not all the way down, but maybe a 1/4 of the way up from the lowest tilt the Madstadt bracket will do. I find that in this position I am able to maintain a comfortable posture and see where I need to. A little lower would be nice, but it's OK for all but parking lots and not bad even then.

I will say that I am very happy with what this windscreen has done. I was able to ride to work today (25 miles each way) at 70-80mph and lower and was pretty comfortable the entire time. I didn't use my earplugs, which I normally ride with. I could hear the engine and the wind, but it wasn't buffeting or pinging on my helmet like with the stock screen. The air coming off the scree just hits the top of my helmet, which is perfect. Additionally the air coming around the screen is far less turbulent. Sticking my head up or around to get into the stream simply isn't that bad anymore.

Anyway, I'm not saying the Parabellum is perfect or other screen options aren't. But it's pretty darn good and I feel like I can really enjoy the bike and move on to more fun farkles. Hope this helps someone looking for a solution.

Eville Rich
2016 S10

 

[Maxified]

I am still running my Parabellum windshield I purchased back in 2012. Found a way to fit it to my 2015. I generally run it when distance traveling and in cooler weather and use a smaller Madstad for the hot times in central Florida. I get 1 or 2 MPG increase when using the Parabellum but as they say YMMV.

 

[BadNews]

I've had my 2016 S10 for about a month now. Break-in service is done. Right off the bat I knew I'd need to deal with the buffeting and wind noise. I wear a Schuberth C3 Pro - a quiet helmet that is quite lovely when in reasonably clean air.

Anyway, I installed a Madstadt bracket and winglets first. This improved things a bit but not enough. Still getting buffeting from about 40mph and up. So I read all the reviews of various windshields. I decided to go for a Parabellum Tall windshield. It's advertised as 25 inches. Received it last weekend and installed it. It's big but not totally crazy big. Just taller and wider than stock. I believe the 25 inches is about correct.

I spent yesterday riding and trying positions. I'm just a hair over 6 feet and 33 inch inseam. That matters for what I found.

I started off with my seat in the low position. Pretty quickly found that I had to drop the bracket to the lowest setting or just accept watching the world through the windscreen. Then I found that with about a 60 degree angle, I had the top of the windscreen right in the middle of my site line. It was not great and sort of like bifocals, with the screen giving a slightly different image. So I tilted it back (very nice to have the bracket to do so). Better but not quite.

I put my seat on the high position, which I prefer, anyway. That pretty much solved the visual issue. I have the screen tilted not all the way down, but maybe a 1/4 of the way up from the lowest tilt the Madstadt bracket will do. I find that in this position I am able to maintain a comfortable posture and see where I need to. A little lower would be nice, but it's OK for all but parking lots and not bad even then.

I will say that I am very happy with what this windscreen has done. I was able to ride to work today (25 miles each way) at 70-80mph and lower and was pretty comfortable the entire time. I didn't use my earplugs, which I normally ride with. I could hear the engine and the wind, but it wasn't buffeting or pinging on my helmet like with the stock screen. The air coming off the scree just hits the top of my helmet, which is perfect. Additionally the air coming around the screen is far less turbulent. Sticking my head up or around to get into the stream simply isn't that bad anymore.

Anyway, I'm not saying the Parabellum is perfect or other screen options aren't. But it's pretty darn good and I feel like I can really enjoy the bike and move on to more fun farkles. Hope this helps someone looking for a solution.

Eville Rich
2016 S10

::026::

I just tested out the exact same setup today. 28-29 degrees F with NW winds in the lower teens with some higher gusts. My stats are a bit different from yours, I'm 6'2" with 36" inseam so I have a short torso. I am very happy with my Madstad bracket and 25" Parabellum.

I ride with the seat in the high position, but I have a build date scheduled for a Russell Day Long saddle of March 1st. So I put on my Airhawk R and overinflated it to try to simulate the lift I will get with the RDL (about 1"?). I found that with the Madstad all the way down and leaned almost all the way back, I got a smooth airflow and still had several inches of visibility over the screen. I still have air to my top helmet vents. The air is much quieter, so much so that I am going to try riding without earplugs (although at speeds of 70-75 mph the noise increased, so if I'm planning any travel on the interstates I will still use earplugs.)

For a windy day with higher gusts, I was surprised at how much less I was blown about with the tall (25") Parabellum than with the mid-size V-Stream I had before.

Anyway, I am happy with this setup and will likely use it fall-winter-spring, and swap in my Calsci shorty for summer use.

 

[rush2112]

Another fan here of Parabellum. Have the tall and their shorty to replace the stock shield. Can't say enough about how they perform and look. No crazy design, just great quality and performance.

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