When I actually have my windshield on, I look through it more than over it. The reason being is, my normal riding position puts the shield right in my eye sight so I slouch a little bit to see through it, insteand of sitting really straight up to look over it. One of my next investments is a shorter smoked windshield.

 

If you've ever ridden in a downpour ( a real cloudburst) with a shield that is either too tall or too short, you already know the answer to the question, neither is the right height. Looking a little over the shield is more or less what most suppliers recommend. If it is too high, it's impossible to look through covered with streaming rain.

You may have to experiment with a couple of different shields till you get one that suits you best. I have a fairing on my RK and started with a 6" shield (looks good, too much wind) and went to a 10", great protection, but impossible to see through in bad weather. I settled on a Long Rider (sponsor here) 8.5" shield with the curve at the top, best one so far. Good protection and I can easily see over it when I'm riding.

 

Over it.

 

I've had both, and frankly don't see any advantage to looking through a windshield. For me, protection from wind, rain, bugs etc. was NOT increased by looking through the shield. Whereas vision is greatly increased by looking over it.
Mine comes up to about mouth level.

 

Over it. Replaced OEM windshield with 19" Memphis Shade. Harley windshields are too easy to scratch up anyway.

 

+1 on both. I see about 2 inches of distant roadway above and the close stuff through the windshield...

 

For a very short time I had a tall shield on my Valkyrie.....we rode thru
a horrendous hurricane on our trip to Rolling Thunder.
Watching streams of rain wash up the outside and down the inside of my windshield was pure hell....
making it very hard to concentrate on traffic.

I have a dark smoked 10" shield on my RG....easy to look over.
A set of WWII 'Red Baron' goggles keeps the rain out of my eyes.

 

I want my windshield so that I can sit up and see over it when it rains.

 

I wear a fullface helmet if that makes a difference and before I cut my windshield down I couldn't stand it. I cut mine down so that I always look over the top when riding, but still offers protection from bugs and stuff. Depending on my speed I have some annoying buffeting, don't know if cutting it down made it worse or better. I never felt comfortable with the windshield edge in my line of site. Its great now and if its not to hot I usually have it on.

 

Over, always over. Looking thru is a very bad unsafe habit.