Roadless Gear's Polyshield

with Bob Norman

When building the Killer Bee this past year, one necessity that had to be put in was a new windshield (wind screen for you "pure English" folk) The old one was cracked and wiper scratched pretty bad. I didn't want to replace it with just another piece of glass and have the same problems in a year or so. I wanted a piece that was:

1. Light. I'm always trying to control my rig's weight

2. Flexible. I have a tendency to bounce my windshield frame off obstacles as I pass by. This seems to limit the life of real glass.

3. Scratch resistant. Mud + wipers = junk windshield

So, after browsing through the extensive Zook aftermarket dealers, the only person who had what I was after was Roadless Gear and their Polyshield. After giving them my credit card and shipping address, I just waited 3 days and it arrived. Not bad time from Idaho to Wisconsin.

I was immediately stunned when I picked up the package, it was light and VERY flexible! I think the box had more rigidity to the package than the glass! Also, an added bonus (you learn these things when you read the complete product description... ) is you also get a new windshield gasket. Bonus!!

I have prior experience installing glass in vehicles, so I figured this would be a cake walk. Well, I did run into a glitch or two. First, the windshield is very flexible, and that seemed to make it more difficult for me since I was used to installing "old style" glass windshields. Also, the windshield was slightly larger than the old one.. only about 1/8"... but it added to the difficulty since I had to fight it a little more. I did trim off the excess with a jig saw and it fit just fine. I did talk to Figmo from Roadless Gear about this problem at ZookiMelt '02, and he was upset there was a problem and promised to check his pattern immediately upon returning to Idaho. He also assured me that this was the first he's heard of any problem at all regarding this product. Since then the Polyshield has taken off for Roadless Gear. They have dedicated a new website just to this product and also purchased a CNC machine to cut them... perfect every time! High Tech strikes the Zook aftermarket! Plus, they are also being offered for Zook hardtop side windows and Jeeps.

On the trail, you don't even know it is there.... isn't that the way it's supposed to work? It is very clear, water beads off it like it's treated with Rain-X or similar product and extremely strong. I have hit a tree branch straight on, hit the windshield frame hard enough to pop the corner of the windshield out of the rubber, and even had a log chunk that I was hand splitting fly up and ricochet of it and there isn't a single mark on it. This is one tough piece!

The performance of the Polyshield has me completely satisfied, and at only $149 from Roadless Gear, it's also a good deal. For a related article from fellow iZook staffer Jeff Pollock... click here.