I just found a really good reason not to speed

[Muppet]

damn. didnt really think of bugs as a huge problem. i had a mate who hit a flying blackbird and it ended up breaking his legs and ribs cause he came off

A flying blackbird?

[jafafour]

avoid the 'bug hour' 30 minutes before and after sun set. thats the worst time , all the little buggers wake up and go out for a fly, they seem to like the heat coming off roads.
I usually try and plan a break around that time, it's not a solution, but it helps.
After that it can just be a huge hassle having to stop every time your visor gets coated too much. I usually carry some tissues( usually taken from the gassy) and a small bottle of visor anti-fog with me. The worst I can remember was an average of 20 minutes between having to stop and clear my visor, on the national park road SH4 round 9- 11pm in January.
As for bugs on your gear, its either one of two things- Gross and a constant distraction at gas stations where you try your best to minimise the layer from all forward facing parts of yourself, or a badge of honor for a ragged road rat.

- its worse if you're in another country with laxed laws and you're being a bit cheeky riding helmet-less in a tshirt and shorts - those splattering giant bugs are horrible when they're spread over your face! and Ive been stung - twice , while riding. Once on the arm , once under my knee. - (another endorsement for 'ATGATT' )

[MIXONE]

I always seemed to find swarms of the little fecks around Little River.The first time it was WTF!
Remember Finn's old avatar.That was probably taken after a ride to Akaroa.

[SMOKEU]

Has anyone tried RainX on their visors? It might prevent them from sticking so much.

[ready4whatever]

A flying blackbird?

yip it hit his helmet which gave him the upper-cut affect

[Leyton]

So I ask you, citizens of Kiwibiker. How do I hide the evidence? How do I clean off bugs?

LOL!! I use warm soapy suddy water, and sometimes I use Muc-Off ($20 a L Ouch!) and it seams to do the trick

Softening them up is the key Then they slide off. The litlte shits!

[Bounce001]

Riding at night always seems to do it as well. In December last year I rode to Taupo from Auckland, leaving at about 6pm or so. Most of the trip was in the dark and the little blighters are attracted to your headlight. I could see the moths coming at me from miles away and could actually feel them bouncing off my helmet.

Riding between taupo and tokoroa in the forestry at night is worse with the huhu bugs coming at you. One bug to splatter the whole visor

[sondela]

Yes.

And all the polar bears have gone too.

Are you SURE one didn't get... "Lost?"

Bwahaha..

[tri boy]

Bugs I can deal with.
Bee swarms are a different matter.

[Reckless]

To avoid scratching your visor, wet a tea towel and cover over your visor for a few minutes. When the corpses get all mushy and moist, just wipe them and it's done.

Reference: From a UK motorcycle magazine.

Or when out on a ride just go into the gas station and clean it with the window cleaning thingy. I leave the helmet on, give it a soak of with the spongy wet Window cleaner side, then flip it over and squeegee off the residue with the other side, just like you would a windscreen. Doesn't seem to harm the visor at all, I have a Shoei and Shark RSR2 and never had a problem!

Secondly I have a little squirty bottle with a wiper blade on the outside you get from the bike shops, $14 bucks or so I think?? I usually don't use this unless I'm somewhere I can use some soft tissues or toilet paper to assist in the cleaning process though.

[Harvd]

Hmm i did the same ride on saturday and there were about three tiny bugs on my visor once home. And the weather on sat and sun was exactly the same? Must have just timed it right!

[dangerous]

On my one and only Akaroa ride (so far) I struck big clouds of what I thought may have been the adult form of the willow grub, like a green and brown mayfly. (Used to tie my own trout flies so am interested in such things.)

I don't know if it was Elesmere but there was a body of water on my right with big trees on the side of the road.

"Big clouds" doesn't quite cover it, biggest densest clouds of insects I've ever seen.

thats them...

[boman]

Has anyone tried RainX on their visors? It might prevent them from sticking so much.

I have, And it dosn't. Makes the water run off tho. But so does pledge.

[FruitLooPs]

Yeah i've encountered them a good few times, other times i've steeled myself for the onslaught only for it to be nearly clear.

I remember coming back from Queenstown at about 10pm bloody lost on the Canterbury plains (missed thompsons track turnoff by miles) with the RG150 endless lines of pine forest equipped with the stupid 15watt candle headlights - moths for Africa, I had to tuck racing style to keep going until the windscreen coated up fully .. then the low oil light came on .. of all the times

[DarkLord]

Riding between taupo and tokoroa in the forestry at night is worse with the huhu bugs coming at you. One bug to splatter the whole visor

True. I had my visor up (briefly) one night and took one of those bad boys in the face. Not to be advised.

Moths/butterflies can be real bad for visibility as well. The other day I was out on some back roads around Taupo and a butterfly hit my visor. They usually just splat and leave a little smear but one of its wings became stuck in its guts, so I had this wing stuck to my visor fluttering away... not a good idea when you are trying to haul ass round corners.