Helmet visor advice?

[hang0ver]

Hi,

I'm looking at swapping my clear visor out for a tinted or mirror variety...

Can anyone give me some pro's & con's, and how or if they affect your vision? Eg. tinted while riding at night.

Cheers,

_-H-_

[Grub]

Hi Hangover, welcome to KB. There's been a lot of discussion on tinted visors here so if you want to research some more there is a forum search function that will find all the threads or posts about tinted visors.

My personal experience is that you have to have (and carry) two visors at all times if you go the tinted route. Riding at night with the tinted one is like riding with your lights off ... its horrible and therefore dangerous!

Particularly, the details of the road surface ahead of you is not easy to see. So bits of gravel, white lines, tar snakes, oil or diesel just can't be seen far enough in front to be able to avoid them gently and safely.

I have a visor carrier whiich is like a bum bag in that the visor goes inside its soft envelope and the whole thing clips around the waist. That's not something I liked the feel of very much and was relieved to find that the envelope also fitted in the rounded end of my tank bag - having almost the same radius. Hope that all helps

[yungatart]

Constant changing of the visors broke the locking pin thing on hXc's visor. He now only has a tinted one and rides with it up at night, no fun if its raining!

[hang0ver]

Hi Hangover, welcome to KB...

Thanks Grub, yeah I suspected that was the case with the tint's, do you have any experience with the mirror's?
I'm under the impression that they don't affect your vison at night, if someone could fill me in that'd be great...

Good info, cheers,

_-H-_

[Grub]

He rides with it up at night,

Nasty does that - I think until we were doing the south coast road from Wainuiomata at night when I said to her "... if an insect, attracted by your lights, hits you in the eye, you WILL crash ...".

I firmly believe that. I can't imagine many things more risky. Re the mirrored ones, I believe that doesn't make any difference, it's the degree of tint and mine is barely tinted to look at ... until wearing it at night.

[Devil]

Mirroreds and tints are just like wearing sunglasses at night.
Either carry a clear one with you, or be prepared to have it up if your coming home in the dark.

I only have one visor on me, but I think ahead whether i'd be coming home in the dark or not.

[Cajun]

i live in my tint helmet and have ridden in number of times at night, its not the best, i couldn;t live riding with out my tint visor, i have had issues with mirrored visor so perfer the tint.


Alot of it depends if you get caught out in it, if you know you might get caught oyu take a clear, with my shoei i can have the clear on in about 2 mins, just means you have to carry it with you but its light, and could often be hidden under your rear seat or simlar

[Usarka]

carry some cheap clear safety glasses in ya pocket or under your seat in case you get caught out at night

[Matt]

I use a dark tinted one 99% of the time, and a clear one during dark winter mornings/nights (using one of those bum bag things to carry it)

I've got a mirrored one too which is great for really sunny days (seems to reflect more of the glare, but doesn't make it as dark looking out as with the tinted one) - but as soon as it starts to get dark you're screwed as it reflects all the light - and you really can't see anything! (unlike the tinted one that's ok at night as long as the roads are lit).

[Coldrider]

I use an Iridium tint visor all the time, if I know i will be riding after dark I carry a clear one if possible. Iridium tint is like a pair of sunglasses all the time, and my face does not get burnt in the sunshine. You have to look after them to avoid scratching, but I will never go without one.
Only ever clean with soapy water.

[NighthawkNZ]

The Nolan and a few other helmets come with 2 visors clear and a half sun visor (my profile pick shows it) so I personal now don't worry about having to change visors or wearing sunglasses.

However from past experience the tinted visor is good during the day especially bright days but annoying at night and as others have commented you need to change the visor.

Years ago I did have a clear visor that tinted during the day and go dark the brighter the day and go clear during the low light (Like them glasses), was on my BMW series 1 helmet... however the visor was very, very expensive, and easily scratch (though I used the tear strips which were good and combatted this)

[discotex]

carry some cheap clear safety glasses in ya pocket or under your seat in case you get caught out at night

In winter I carry sunnies for when it's bright in the morning and it's always dark when I go home so they ride home in the jacket pocket.

This summer I'd been planning to get a tinted visor but it never occurred to me to do the opposite :doh: .. The idea of carrying a spare clear visor around everywhere was putting me off big time but I could handle putting some cheap clear glasses under the seat! Bling duly awarded.

[notasothers]

I have both a clear and tinted visor. I wear the tinted one 90% of the time and sometimes you do get caught out at night and get a face full of bugs.
Its the price for looking cool.

[Slingshot]

In my experience, mirrored visors are impossible not to scratch.

Go with a dark tint.

[Delphinus]

Nasty does that - I think until we were doing the south coast road from Wainuiomata at night when I said to her "... if an insect, attracted by your lights, hits you in the eye, you WILL crash ...".

Riding thru town the other day and had my visor up to yell something at a friend riding beside me and something hit me in the eye AND i was wearing glasses. Hurt like shit and i had to pull over for 5-10 mins with tears streaming down my eye and wasn't good till i got home and had a shower...

[hXc]

I have to have a tinted visor as my scar over my ear from surgery prevents me from wearing sunglasses comfortably. And especially inside my helmet.

When I return from my exchange and get back into bikes again, I plan on buying a Shoei like M1CRO's - clear visor with a tinted 'fighter pilot' style insert which flicks down and up within 3 seconds.

I get caught out at night - but I just live with it. Can get annoying sure, but I'd rather not be blinded during the day or in constant pain when riding.

[Grub]

Riding thru town the other day and had my visor up to yell something at a friend riding beside me and something hit me in the eye AND i was wearing glasses. ...

Jeez, that doesn't sound good. That stuff scares the crap out of me as your eyes are so precious. A miniscule stone is being shot into your eyeball at 50kph if you're just travelling with city traffic. That could be a major if not permanent, eye injury

[Grub]

I plan on buying a Shoei like M1CRO's - clear visor with a tinted 'fighter pilot' style insert which flicks down and up within 3 seconds.

Great plan, that's another reason we like the flip-up Nolan N102 like NighhawkNZ's one. It's not nearly as flash or cool (or expensive) as the Shoei but it does the job for $565

[hXc]

Great plan, that's another reason we like the flip-up Nolan N102 like NighhawkNZ's one. It's not nearly as flash or cool (or expensive) as the Shoei but it does the job for $565
I think the Shoei is $700-900 or something.
Worth it though.

[Wiki Drifter]

I have a mirrored visor, works very well in bright sunlight but at night I'm basically blind if I ride with it down.

[HungusMaximist]

You know, if you can't work out of having tinted a visor or not, just go with polarized sun glasses.

You can get specific motorcycle riding glasses with interchangeable lenses and they are wickedy cool. They have different shades which you can clip on to and the 'yellow' and 'orange' ones are especially useful for reducing glare and increasing definition of your surroundings. There are heaps and heaps of stuff on riding glasses so you won't get bored. Btw $20.00 - $30.00 can get a real sweet pair or polarised sun glasses and you don't need to fork out big bucks for them (a bit more for the interchangeable ones).

The other thing you can get is, light sensitive fog inserts. Back in Australia I had this fog free insert which goes into a medium blue tint when there's UV and goes clear when there isn't. Progrip, Fogcity... heaps on the market and they're between $22-$30 bucks.

Word of advice : In the end of the day, you don't wanna get caught out riding with a tinted visor/mirrored ones when it's raining/in the dark/no street lights, especially if you're new to riding. Better play it safe than sorry for now, because you will always look back in hindsight when you binned (god forbid) because you couldn't see jack shit and wished you sticked with the clear ones.

And also, don't piggy back on other peoples advice aye because everybody is different. Definitely try it before you adapt it!

Sweet. Hope this helps! :Punk:

[MSTRS]

a Shoei like M1CRO's - clear visor with a tinted 'fighter pilot' style insert which flicks down and up within 3 seconds.



I think you will find its a Schubert.....and they are something like $1200...a lot of money for a poor student!

[discotex]

You know, if you can't work out of having tinted a visor or not, just go with polarized sun glasses.


I've found polarised lenses react badly with clear visors.

My favourite pair of sunnies are polarised and they are totally unwearable on the bike. You get crazy rainbow colours which are different for each eye. It's like riding on acid trying to do one of those magic eye book things. :crazy:

I guess it could depend on how the polarisation is done i.e. circular vs linear and how strong it is as to whether it causes the same problem or not.

I'd suggest anyone buying expensive sunnies takes their helmet (or visor) along.

[discotex]

Jeez, that doesn't sound good. That stuff scares the crap out of me as your eyes are so precious. A miniscule stone is being shot into your eyeball at 50kph if you're just travelling with city traffic. That could be a major if not permanent, eye injury

Plus the damage to your bike when you crash because you can't see or flinch.

There's a vid on youtube of some guys that crash on the freeway in Hawaii. The dude walks away after narrowly missing being run over - the front dam on the car hits his head and spins him out of the way of the wheels.

The end of the vid has him talking about it in the carpark or something. Basically goes:

"What the fuck happened man?"
"I dunno I was passing you then something hit me in the eye and when I flinched I clipped you"

Granted they were being dicks and were way too close together but he reacted pretty violently and probably would have gone down anyway.

Since seeing that I always ride with the visor down over 20-30km/h if I'm not wearing sunnies.

[HungusMaximist]

I've found polarised lenses react badly with clear visors.

My favourite pair of sunnies are polarised and they are totally unwearable on the bike. You get crazy rainbow colours which are different for each eye. It's like riding on acid trying to do one of those magic eye book things. :crazy:

I guess it could depend on how the polarisation is done i.e. circular vs linear and how strong it is as to whether it causes the same problem or not.

I'd suggest anyone buying expensive sunnies takes their helmet (or visor) along.

Bro, you're actually right about that. It does actually react funky because your visors has alreadly a layer of UV coating. Just try it out with different types and try the interchangeable coloured sunnies (non polarised).

Thanks for clearing that up. Like Tex mentioned, just bring along your visor/helmet when you're buying sunnies.

:2thumbsup

[hXc]

You know, if you can't work out of having tinted a visor or not, just go with polarized sun glasses.
If I could, I would.