Having splitting headaches after riding.

[Water Warrior 2]

A lot of wind and wind noise comes from below the wind shield on many bikes. This can be quite sucessfully remedied with lowers attached to the front forks to divert the wind. Take a look at some of the bigger cruisers and you will see them.
The lowers can also eliminate the buffeting your helmet receives and shakes your eyes half way out of your head.
Another method used is putting a leather or fabric panel on the crash bars to redirect the wind, rain or cold air in the chilly season. The panels just happen to do the wind noise, buffeting prevention thing as a nice by-product.

[fatoldfool]

This windshield worked well for me and it was a cheapie.

[dentheman]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

A lot of wind and wind noise comes from below the wind shield on many bikes. This can be quite sucessfully remedied with lowers attached to the front forks to divert the wind. Take a look at some of the bigger cruisers and you will see them.
The lowers can also eliminate the buffeting your helmet receives and shakes your eyes half way out of your head.
Another method used is putting a leather or fabric panel on the crash bars to redirect the wind, rain or cold air in the chilly season. The panels just happen to do the wind noise, buffeting prevention thing as a nice by-product.

The wind noise I hear comes directly from my helmet. Does the windshield make its own noise, or does it cause more noise to come from the helmet due to airflow?

[Water Warrior 2]

A lot of helmets create their own noise with or without a windshield. My older back-up helmet is quite noticeably louder and windier than it's newer replacement. Both are HJC helmets but the shape and slightly altered areodynamics make a world of difference. The newer Modular does not suffer from speed induced buffeting and rattled eyeball syndrome.
If possible always try for a test ride with a new helmet before purchase. I lucked out with my online purchase. I was and still am satisfied with the helmet but I made the mistake of trying on a Shoei Multitech Modular helmet a couple years ago. OMG, what a difference in fit and comfort. It was the exact fit for my head and felt like a second skin on my skull. If the cost hadn't not been an issue that day I would have likely bought it.
Go to webbikeworld for comprehensive evaluations of helmets. They do real world testing and come to some surprising conclusions now and again. A helmet should never give you a headache or blur your vision.

[Water Warrior 2]

Second part of the reply. Some windshields will do more harm than good. When trying to determine a noise/wind/buffeting solution there are many factors involved. First is the type of bike. Second the rider him/herself. Tall in the saddle, wide in the saddle. Do you lean back or forward? Speed in general. There are so many variables that a definitive answer is nearly impossible to suggest.
Experimenting with the Vstrom. Stock bike with original helmet. Noisy, uncomfortable and lots of buffetting around the helmet. Always wearing ear plugs and glasses. Not real happy. Crappy stock seat good for 15 minutes and then get off for a smoke or die of pain. Gel pad on seat, not much better for the butt but sitting higher in the wind. Nuts. Ordered Factory Gel seat and adjustable windshield brackets from aftermarket. Very successful long distant ride through the Rockies.
Sore wrists on ocassion, ordered bar risers and grip puppies for grips. Great.
New bigger windshield from Givi to keep drier in rain.
Foot pegs on crash bars to stretch out even more and a change in weigh distribution.
Now I have a drivers backrest, a Corbin custom seat, all sorts of minor creature comforts including heated clothing top to bottom and I have lost interest in riding. Everything changes from year to year for me with the same bike so I can safely say there is no real answer to wind, noise, comfort or whatever may be bugging each individual on a bike. Even folks on newer GoldWings spend big bucks making them better for their personal comfort and fit. There is no one size fits all bike made for the masses. Buy the bike you like and make it fit you by spending money and experimenting. The Vstrom is a great platform to build the bike I always wanted.

[Water Warrior 2]

More to say on the subject. Lynda graduated to a M-50 from her GZ. It didn't fit her that well. New bars made all the difference in reach and leverage. Wind was a problem so a wider windshield that provided hand protection had to be modified to fit the bike. The seat was so-so, not as good as the GZ which she found perfect on every ride including a 5000+ km trip.
A drivers backrest helped some on the M-50. Foot pegs on the crash bars were too far forward so I fashioned some extensions to mount the pegs further rearward of the crash bars. Perfect fit but ugly in my eyes. What the H***, function before form.
I made a physically larger bike fit a smaller(shorter)rider with a few hours of tinkering and experimenting. Was it worth it? Yes indeed. I just glad Lynda didn't buy a GW and want it lowered and lighter in weight.

[northsidegz]

No headaches for me. Have the Hellfire windshield (from slipstreamer) and seems to work fine for my GZ. I wear a full face helmet too and actually really prefer that over my 3/4 (since I'm normally going 60-65).