Riding with the visor up always is it a no-no?

[94ZZR1100]

Everyone says you should ride with your visor down and I know why first hand I had a few bee stings to the face... But I have an issue with how it feels.

It makes everything feel unreal and I can't seem to concentrate plus mines scratched to the days. Anyone else have this issue with visors? Are they important as people say they are? Any non-visor wearing horror stories?

[Xsannz]

if your helmet is a cheapish one then the visor will not be optically correct and will feel unreal....

also if its scratched - replace it, imagine if you had a huge mark in your cars windscreen that was in your vision....

also in poor weather visor up is a pain ...

[94ZZR1100]

if your helmet is a cheapish one then the visor will not be optically correct and will feel unreal....

Ahhh that will be why! Thanks.

[mrchips]

if your helmet is a cheapish one then the visor will not be optically correct and will feel unreal

+ 1

Used to have an old HJC just like that.... couldn't put my finger on it, just felt freaky + it had a restrictive range of vision when compared to other helmets.

[paturoa]

I was following my brother one day and he slowed down and was playing with his helmit. When he stopped he dropped the bike on its side and he rolled down into the ditch. Fecking heck I thought to myself. When I got to him there was saliva flowing from his mouth, snot from his nose, and he was making a wierd gurgling noise. After a short while he worked out I was there and said that he had lost an eye. Fecking heck I thought again.

Well he still had two eye balls when I pulled his lids apart, but there was a big fat bee sting still in one of them. Several failed attempts to get the sting out and I thought he was going to punch me (but he couldn't as he couldn't see me ha!). He had long hair, so I pulled a couple of strands of it out. Again he wasn't very happy as apparently I didn't tell him I was going to pull out some of his hair.

I looped it around and made a knot, slipped it over the stinger, pulled it tight and out it came.

It was a couple of days before he could open the eye and no permanent damage was done. Lots of bleeding into his eye as well.

We would have been doing about 120ks at the time and best we can figure is a bee was travelling in the same direction as him with his visor up.

[blackdog]

Forget Katman.

Darwin will be along sooner rather than later.

[Xsannz]

i had a Vcan helmet and yeah the visor always felt funny, then i got an agv and it was better.

then a shark rsx with the ""optically correct visor" and now and HJC rpha 10.

here is what i have noticed as i still have all of these except the shark..

they sit on the shelf as momentos to age (agv passed it's service life of 5 years) and the vcan and accident.

Vcan visor seems to make the road surface and that of anything flat curve and bulge downwards in the curve of the visor.. giving issues of depth peception.

Agv is good at the centre and top and bottom but far side seems distorted and often i had to double check my life saver head checks a second time as i just hadnt seen stuff in the corners..

Shark well wo that thing was like wearing no helmet vision wise wide open and great ( also very little wind noise something the AGV suffers with.

and i'll let you know how the ride goes with the pha10 as its just arrived.

in saying that.


SINCE most of my riding is early sunstrike morning time or late arvo sunstrike time ( commuting or mid day fun blasts) i have a smoked visor.

but in my kit i carry a pair of clear safty glasses so if it gets too overcast or shitty and i cant use my tinited visor i slide it up and use the saftey glasses that way no shit in my eyes and i can ride in the rain and or etc without no issues.

also given CHCH and most areas Dusty drough conditions visor down is almost a must at the moment.

[jim.cox]

Visor?
What visor?
Dont need no stinking Visor

I hate the enclosed feeling of a full face helmet
But I like the protection of a chin guard
So I use a MX helmet

And a good pair of safety or sun glasses

[Road kill]

I usually have my visor open if I'm riding around town or under about 70kph.

100kph on the open road I usually have it closed.

I've always wore prescription glasses so haven't always worn visors.

I don't like the closed in feel of a visor but I do like it when a stone or some thing gets deflected from smacking me up the face so it's one of them things I use even though I don't like em'..

[\m/]

I often ride with my visor partially open around town, especially in summer, though I always close it over 60kmh.

[Dangsta]

The amount of crap that I scrape off my visor I'd much rather it be on the outside than the inside so "visor down". I did have the one cheap helmet that made me feel dizzy with the visor down (kind of convex sight thing) but I got rid of that and got a shoei with a mirror visor and an anti fog pinlock. Now I have it down all the time plus I can make faces at people. That shit never gets old.:wacko:

[wysper]

visor up because I like it that way.
Down in the rain.
Down following trucks.
Sometimes down on the open road, depends on how I feel at the time.

Never had issues with visors distorting my vision and have had cheap helmets through to mid range shoei helmets.

[sootie]

I usually have my visor open if I'm riding around town or under about 70kph.

100kph on the open road I usually have it closed.

I've always wore prescription glasses so haven't always worn visors.

I don't like the closed in feel of a visor but I do like it when a stone or some thing gets deflected from smacking me up the face so it's one of them things I use even though I don't like em'..

Pretty much my thoughts on the matter, but perhaps 50kph rather than 70kph.
Sometimes when the road surface & visibility is suspect, I like to see as much of it as possible & I raise the visor.
Sometimes I just raise it enough to see under it.

[bosslady]

Sometimes it's nice to have the visor up a little, get a bit of a breeze in there but I tend not to do it for anything above 50kmph, probably less than that now I think of it, just pootling a long in traffic really. Anything higher than that my eyes start to sting and cry...

[f2dz]

I try to keep mine down as much as possible but if it's really hot or I'm fogging up I'll ride away from lights with it up for a little while before pulling it down, usually when I pass 30km/h or so.

I've been hit in the visor by a handful of rocks so that's reason enough for me to keep it down. I've also had a bug to the eye whilst turning through an intersection and a guy blow crap into my eyes with a leafblower as I went through a carpark. Stuff getting into your eyes is really not fun.

Not to mention I've had my cornea dented before too, not sure if motorcycle related, but that was extremely painful.

[The End]

You're one up on me, I don't even wear a helmet. :woohoo:

[PrincessBandit]

Lots of people wear open face helmets and obviously feel no compunction to change. With the number of stones I've had flick up into my neck, bug splurge on the visor etc. not to mention that often I find it hard to breathe with my visor open at speed, I always go for the "visor down but open just a tad when I need". Definitely down in the rain. The sensation of having my face tattooed is not pleasant.

Husband though often rides with his visor fully open as he has a very large wind shield on the burgman which protects his face from lotsa the shit I just mentioned.

[imdying]

*snip awesomeness*
<img src="http://eduncovered.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cool-story-bro.jpg" />

First time I've posted one of those without sarcasm!

[paturoa]

First time I've posted one of those without sarcasm!

Shit, I should have stretched it to reach the sarc threshold.

[awa355]

Visor?? what visor.:shit:

Next thing someone will ask if they should do up the chin strap.

280749

[Coolz]

[QUOTE=awa355;1130524362]Visor?? what visor.:shit:

Next thing someone will ask if they should do up the chin strap.

[QUOTE]

Chin strap? I thought those little rings were for locking the helmet to the bike.

[Angel_of_Metal]

I tend to go with visor up when I am doing under 60km, above that visor down.

1) In winter, visor up above 60km, gets pretty chilly pretty fast first thing in the morning
2) I don't especially want to feel what it would be like to have a stone get intimate with my face at any speed really...
3) It gets kinda hard to breathe when you are on the motorway with it up!

And hell, if it is super hot or foggy, you can always crack it open a little bit and get the best of both worlds

[Subike]

Back in the day before helmets were made compulsory by the safety brigade, then by common sense,
100mph with no helmet on was a sensation you could get almost nowhere else.
We rode with sunglasses on, or goggles, or nothing at all,
Yes stones, bees, night beetles, etc were I agree part of the environment
But the bikes were not as quick, the road were not as congested,
motorways did not exist, and the PC brigade was still wearing their nappies.
I only use my visor when it is raining, dusty or cold,
I use a full face as I understand the gravel rash risk, something that we didn't understand way back when.

[NordieBoy]

Visor up if in 70kph zone or slower.

Always sunnies/safety glasses though.

Open face helmet with peak and visor.

[Banditbandit]

I ride with my visor up unless it is raining - or above 200 klicks ... I did forget to drop my visor chasing a mate to Pareoa last year .. and got hit on the cheek by a big furry bumblebee at 235 klicks (painfull )


But the important think is eye protection ... so I always wear shades ... I like the sharky style ones because they fit better and don't allow a wind blast round the corners and into my eyes ... (they're also only $20 to replace at the next petrol station if they get fucked up .. like getting hit by a stone a couple of months ago .. big crack on the lens ...)

It is a problem when it rains, because I don't check the cleannes of my visor nd often get caught out by a filthy visor (both sides) when it does rain ... (if I know I'll be ridign at night I do wash my visor)

[sootie]

It is not a cure all, but a good visor clean & then a coating of Pledge considerably reduces the annoyance from visor scratching if the scratching is not too bad. :) :)

[speeding_ant]

Someone I know was riding with his brother - his brother had visor up at 100ish km/h. Got hit by a bird, knocked out, bike completely obliterated, and in a coma for a few weeks. Didn't do pretty things to his face.

I always wear visor at higher speeds.

[nzspokes]

Ive got some photos of riders in open face helmuts that have not worked in a crash. But may not fit within the rules of the site.

[NordieBoy]

Ive got some photos of riders in open face helmuts that have not worked in a crash. But may not fit within the rules of the site.

I've got photos of riders in full face helmets that have not worked in a crash.

Also got photos of riders in open face helmets having no problems at all. Still may not fit within the rules though :devil2:

[JamesTrick]

The other day I was riding around 50km/h and this (what seemed like) reasonable sized rock slammed into my visor. I think I'm pretty lucky for using my visor :laugh:

[Mom]

I come from the age of the protests against being made to wear helmets...

Used to wear open face helmet with goggles, or goggles/face mask, or sunnies/scarf combos, or just a helmet and my eye balls against the wind :headbang:

Then a friend (wearing an open face helmet with a duckbill peak) removed his chin after taking a flying lesson over a car that was driven by a blind woman.

He thanked his lucky stars he had the peak on or he would have been sans his nose...

These days I wear the very best full face helmet I can afford, complete with pinlock visor. I get claustrophobic in my helmet at slow speeds. Generally I wear sunnies in summer, or clear safety glasses in winter, and leave my visor open up to 80kph. My eyes have turned all "soft cock watery" as I have aged. I now tint the lashes as opposed to mascara :blip:

Like anyone that has ridden a few kms on a bike, I have experienced the stinging bug in the helmet scenario, I have never been stung, but have made a few very fast stops/helmet offs when said stinging beasts will not go away with a head turn or 5.

I have been known to open my visor just to get the full benefit of the freshly mown grass or what have you, regardless of my speed.

[Daffyd]

a bee was travelling in the same direction as him with his visor up.

I've never seen a bee travelling with his visor up.

[Daffyd]

Over here most riders who are wearing helmets have the visors up. (This is in the city.) It's compulsory to have a helmet, but most riders carry them on their arms. Bloody useful! Funnily enough the poor wife/girlfriend on the pillion has none. She has to look out for herself.

I think of all the bikes I've seen, and there are millions, I've seen ONE where both rider and pillion are both wearing atgatt.

This, of course is in the city. Out on the open road the percentage may be a little higher. I saw a group of about a dozen obviously leaving town on a group ride the other day and they were all kitted out. Funny to see a group ride with everyone riding underbones. (Stepthrus.)

Apologies if a little off topic.

[swbarnett]

3) It gets kinda hard to breathe when you are on the motorway with it up!
Funny, I find the exact opposite. I almost always ride with the visor completely up (unless the weather dictates otherwise) because I often find it hard to breathe with it completely down. Even when I have it closed it's almoist always open a crask to let more air in.


Like anyone that has ridden a few kms on a bike, I have experienced the stinging bug in the helmet scenario, I have never been stung, but have made a few very fast stops/helmet offs when said stinging beasts will not go away with a head turn or 5.
I've been stung on the cheek while riding with visor up, had a rather large bug spill it's guts all over my cheek (nearly in my mouth :sick:). I've also had a bruise on my fingers from a flying rock (through gloves) so I have a fair idea of what the impact would be like on the face. After all this I still haven't felt the need to have my visor down all the time.


I have been known to open my visor just to get the full benefit of the freshly mown grass or what have you, regardless of my speed.
Exactly. Afterall, connection to one's environment is among the major advantages of a bike over a cage.

[Banditbandit]

I've got photos of riders in full face helmets that have not worked in a crash.

Also got photos of riders in open face helmets having no problems at all.

Yeah ... seen both senarios myself ...


Over here most riders who are wearing helmets have the visors up. (This is in the city.) It's compulsory to have a helmet, but most riders carry them on their arms. Bloody useful!


Great elbow protection ..

[Maha]

Like Anne said, up till about 80kph I am happy with, I have the drop down/retract internal sun visor which is a great help. 90% of the time I have it one click open anyway.
Had it all the open one time during heavy rain because it kept fogging up (slow riding in Devonport ) and when I went to close it, I had rain on the inside of the visor as well!

[Botany Honda]

Full face, visor down, open face cheap sunnies, each has good and bad points but I allow myself to decide:baby:

[The Reibz]

My eyeballs are good up to about 140kph - around 160ish if I get below the screen. After that I just turn my head down and the visor slams shut automatically.
Bugs and stones don't really worry me, dust coming off the back of trucks is arsehole for the eyes though

[kevinator9]

I enjoy riding with the visor up around 50km areas. My eyes dry out after a few days and get all itchy because they are constantly getting little pieces of crap in them as I ride along. Have started wearing sunglasses now and seems to work much better. Still put the visor down over 50km areas as the amount of crap on the visor after a ride up the country tells me I should.
I assume the type of bike ridden would make a fair amount of difference here?

[imdying]

Shit, I should have stretched it to reach the sarc threshold.

Just read it again, still awesome.

[DamianW]

Similar to Xsannz and NordieBoy, I wear clear safety glasses ($25 from my dentist). Optically sound, I wear 'em under a tinted visor and leave the visor up at night.

[ensapp]

I was coming home late one night on the Indian going about 50mph when something stuck me right between the eyes. I was temporarily distracted but kept control of the bike. A knot big enough that I could see it with both eyes rose from my forehead. I thought someone had thrown a rock. I turned around and road back about 25 yards to find a big horned beetle dead in the road.
Another time I was coming down a hill near home and was going about 60 mph, I wasn't flying low when something flew up my nose. I tried to blow it out but was unsuccessful it kept crawling further up so I took my finger and squashed it, that's when it stung me inside my nose. within seconds I couldn't see anything. I knew the road and tried to hear if I was going off the pavement. It didn't work, I crashed and rolled. It was about 15 minutes before my sight returned and I could walk the bike the rest of the way home.
I wear a full face today with the visor down, I'm too old for wrecks.

[G4L4XY]

I got stung by a bee in a 50kmp/h zone, visor was down n all but the bastard got me up behind my left ear. I dunno how he got in there, pulled over up onto the footpath for a good looksie to see wtf just happened..

Usually have the visor up one notch within town limits and down anything faster than that.

[SMOKEU]

I only ride with the visor up at slow speeds around town, and only when I'm wearing sunglasses. On the open road I always ride with the visor down. It's not worth the risk of getting hit in the face, as most rides I go on the visor gets hit by flying debris.

[EJK]

I only ride with the visor up at slow speeds around town, and only when I'm wearing sunglasses. On the open road I always ride with the visor down. It's not worth the risk of getting hit in the face, as most rides I go on the visor gets hit by flying debris.

Wot e sed

<img height="500" src="http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=288126&d=1380619832" />

Cool tip: I accidentally WD40'ed the screws on the side of the helmet and now it automatically shuts when I speed over 60kph. How convenient is that?!

[ellipsis]

...wot e sed...


http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac85/motorcycle-mania/P1030129.jpg (http://s888.photobucket.com/user/motorcycle-mania/media/P1030129.jpg.html)

[SMOKEU]

Where the fuck were you lot riding to get that much wildlife on your visors?! I thought the ride out past Lake Ellesmere in the summer evenings was bad enough!

[ellipsis]

Where the fuck were you lot riding to get that much wildlife on your visors?! I thought the ride out past Lake Ellesmere in the summer evenings was bad enough!

...round the same lake...it gets pretty hectic down there on a moonlit warm summer evening...it was just at that point where thirty more of the fuckers and it would have been blackout...

[EJK]

It was one fine morning when I was cruising along down SH75 and just out of nowhere a black smog appeared in front of me. With sound of rain drops my vision was suddenly gone. Thank fuck Little River was just a few kilometers down the road.

[Rhubarb]

The only times I ever ride with my visor down are;

i) When it's raining

ii) When I'm riding through walls of bugs on the SI West Coast


Other than these times my visor is always open.

But, I also wear sunglasses/safety specs when the visor is open. There are some very nice, and comfortable, UV filtering polarised safety specs available now.

[SMOKEU]

Anyone here suffered bird strike in the face/visor?

[NordieBoy]

Anyone here suffered bird strike in the face/visor?

Yep. A waxeye in the centre of a fullface visor at 100kph.
Was like putting a rubbish bin on your head and hitting it with a bat.
My ears were ringing for the rest of the day.

[Tazz]

...round the same lake...it gets pretty hectic down there on a moonlit warm summer evening...it was just at that point where thirty more of the fuckers and it would have been blackout...

Does it what. I did a run from Akaroa to Nelson and back the next day for New Years 2 years ago and anywhere the wipers couldn't touch were black/green/yellow/crawling.

Also a friends mum in Little River was having cooling issues with her car, after about 30 secs the mech taking a look says 'here's your problem, come take a gander' and peels off a good 2/3cm layer of bugs from the radiator. Problem solved :laugh:

[Trade_nancy]

Anyone here suffered bird strike in the face/visor?

Yep. 100kph with pillion in Feb this year. Starling or blackbird full on and glanced off. Big bang but no damage to visor...bird outcome unknown.
Put your visor down if you want to stay safe(r). I put mine up at stoppages, slow riding over roadworks and in town when it's hot. Otherwise just open a crack for air or shut tight when motoring at highway speed.

[ellipsis]

Anyone here suffered bird strike in the face/visor?

...kereru bashed me in the side of the helmet up one of the valleys out here on the peninsula... very lucky to keep the bike upright, after that...felt like a brick hitting my swede...if it had hit my shoulder I reckon I would have left the bike backwards...

[Laava]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/67271-Nose-versus-pukeko?highlight=Pukeko+helmet

[Banditbandit]

I rode Whakatane to Wellington on Fiday with my visor up - except for a small shower of water on the last of the Desert Road and into Waiouru .. and back again on Sunday with my visor up

No hassles ... I got hit by a few insects, but that's why I wear a scarf (tub/neck whatever ...) and sunnies ...

My worst problem is windburn across my cheeks .. (face, idiots, not arse cheeks)

[varminter]

I know for a fact that the insect life on the helmet comes in a 'spray on' can, just like the mud for SUV's that never go off road.

[ellipsis]

...sprung...

[strumpet]

WTF. Was riding in Christchurch yesterday in 27 degrees with visor up. Got wacked between the eyes with something. Slammed visor down, only to see a ginormous friggin bee inside the helmet with me! :brick: Nearly wet myself! Reckon I had the helmet half off before I stopped the bike. Lesson learnt - I think.

[Banditbandit]

Waddarya .. a gurl ??? Oh wait ...

[Theantidote]

tour pro ffm...good helmet but fuck it's weird with the visor down...feel really disconnected to road and surroundings so took it off and use safety glasses instead...eating bugs saves on stopping for dinner...i remember years ago coming into hunterville when i did have a visor, early evening and a puriri moth the size of a small football covered almost the whole visor (rendering it useless).
so moral of the story...damned if you do and damned if you dont...

[motordrummer]

I used to ride with my visor up quite a lot until - (without shades on ) i got hit in the eye by a bee. It looked like i'd pissed off Mike Tyson haha and the cornea was scratched which led to an infection...well, never again. That shit hurt for ages!

[superjackal]

I have an HJC and keep it down habitually. I open it slightly if it starts to fog but having been stung in the cheekbone by a stone I prefer a pain-free ride.

Lots of comments about bees, funnily enough, the only time I've had a bee attack was with the visor down. Little bugger flew into one of the tiny air holes on top of the helmet and worked his way to my face. Panic panic panic!!!

[george formby]

Rode home through a Biblical down pour yesterday accompanied by crescendos of thunder & lightning. The rain drops were that heavy I could feel them battering my jacket & legs like paint balls. Their was that much water coming out of the mangroves on one section that I lost traction on a school of mullet. Awesome stuff!
The inside of my visor had as much water running down as the out side, so I had to lift it up. Fully open at 80kmh was like being bead blasted, closed or partially open was riding by touch, most other vehicles on the road had not turned on their lights... I compromised at half open & a Gollum like neck bend, I could see a bit & it only hurt a bit.
Still, better than a heavy frost inside & outside the visor & you can't blink coz your eyes have frozen. I miss Scottish weather, yeah right.

The day before I had been looking at an Airoh S4 adventure helmet, peaked & with a very v shaped visor. Despite other things on my mind at the time I wondered if that visor shape & a peak would have performed better or just performing would be better, in those conditions? My current lid is a full face Caberg. Pretty standard shape.

[granstar]

Riding home from work the other day I noticed an unusual dark cloud coming at me in the centre of the road. I generally ride with the visor up a notch to keep the air fresh and provide some defogging, but seconds before it hit me of what was about hit me, an instinctive reaction had me tap the visor down. LARGE BEE SWARM! Don't know if they were wild, but i'm sure a few were after bouncing off my visor and windshield :Oi:

Another earthly experience on the Canterbury plains I had a massive dragonfly around 10cm wide hover in front of my visor. We eyeballed each other for a moment. was unreal, then it hit me..yes first thing to go through it's head was it's arse. Man what a bloody mess that was to clean off the visor and helmet.

Only bee strike iv'e had was one go down that tiny little gap between the leathers sleeve and the summer gloves, and got stung on the clutch arm :mad:

[skippa1]

I like having the visor up as much as possible, always wear prescription sunnies or prescription glasses. I usually close the visor once doing 60-70kmh.

A downside of riding with it open is that it gets road grime and/or salt (riding near marine environment) on the inside of the visor which fucks with visibility when night riding. Hard to clean off too