Just wanted to revisit how people deal with a wet visor in the rain. It rained yesterday, and I noticed that I can shake the drops off by jerking my head from side to side periodically or by wiping the water off with my glove. All this is fine while travelling on small streets with noone in front of you.
Riding on the highway, I noticed that, even with a large following distance, a lot of dirt from other cars ended up on the visor. In this case, shaking the water off no longer helps and neither wiping with a glove, because it just makes the screen dirtier. Can you please share some of your experience with this?
My gloves have a squeegee on the thumb. Haven't had to use it yet though.
go faster and leave the rain behind 8)
if I remember correctly, someone suggested rainex or something but I've never tried it (i just go faster :icon_mrgreen: )
Luckily, I have only been caught out in the rain once or twice... and both times were very light drizzles. The only thing you can really do is slow your speed (by at least half if it is regular rain... you should be getting passed by all the cars on the road), and either give your visor a wipe every now-and-again, or tuck below the air boundary layer created by the windshield.
Getting caught in the rain sucks... especially if you are on a cruiser with no windshield and a half-face helmet!
Quote from: TarzanBoy on March 27, 2006, 09:21:22 AM
Luckily, I have only been caught out in the rain once or twice... and both times were very light drizzles. The only thing you can really do is slow your speed (by at least half if it is regular rain... you should be getting passed by all the cars on the road), and either give your visor a wipe every now-and-again, or tuck below the air boundary layer created by the windshield.
Getting caught in the rain sucks... especially if you are on a cruiser with no windshield and a half-face helmet!
He's got an '02 model: no windscreen.
Tuck, though, and get as much protection from that headlight and guage cluster as you can!
Rain-X helps alot, especally in preventing fog (Fog-x?).
At speed you can use the airflow to clear your screen. Turn you head left and right slowly to the edge of your periferial vision for a few seconds. The wind will blow the rain droplets away from the center of the visor.
Quote from: JamesG on March 27, 2006, 09:25:34 AM
Rain-X helps alot, especally in preventing fog (Fog-x?).
I used some of that anti-fog stuff and only noticed an increase in glare with no decrease in fog. Maybe I did it wrong, but still. Worth a shot for $5. It's summer now though, so who cares?
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 09:31:16 AM
It's summer now though, o who cares?
It wasn't summer last night. My neck was getting pretty cold at 65 mph. Didn't stop me from riding though. :)
Quote from: Egaeus on March 27, 2006, 09:35:54 AM
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 09:31:16 AM
It's summer now though, o who cares?
It wasn't summer last night. My neck was getting pretty cold at 65 mph. Didn't stop me from riding though. :)
I believe there are only two seasons in Texas: winter and summer. It's getting pretty warm here, so it's summer.
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 09:38:16 AM
I believe there are only two seasons in Texas: winter and summer. It's getting pretty warm here, so it's summer.
It's similar here, we just get more rain.
Quote from: JamesG on March 27, 2006, 09:25:34 AM
Rain-X helps alot, especally in preventing fog (Fog-x?).
At speed you can use the airflow to clear your screen. Turn you head left and right slowly to the edge of your periferial vision for a few seconds. The wind will blow the rain droplets away from the center of the visor.
+1
I used rain-x on my modular helmet. Worked WONDERS!
I don't plan on riding in the rain anymore tho, so I haven't put it on my new helmet.
I have the Cold Front gloves with the thumb squeegee, and I just used the squeegee last week (I've used it before in lighter rain, but this was a downpour).
It worked great! :thumb: :)
Quote from: Egaeus on March 27, 2006, 09:08:28 AM
My gloves have a squeegee on the thumb.
My winter gloves do too. In summer, I ...
Quote from: JamesG on March 27, 2006, 09:25:34 AM
... use the airflow to clear your screen. Turn you head left and right slowly to the edge of your periferial vision for a few seconds. The wind will blow the rain droplets away from the center of the visor.
It works well. Especially when rain-x is also being used.
I got the rain-x and fog-x...but was kind of scared to put them on the my visor when I read "IMPORTANT: Do not use on plastics...do not use on surfaces treated with anti-reflective, scratch resistant, or other coatings".
So I guess now that other people have...I just may as well :)
Quote from: JamesG on March 27, 2006, 09:25:34 AM
At speed you can use the airflow to clear your screen. Turn you head left and right slowly to the edge of your periferial vision for a few seconds. The wind will blow the rain droplets away from the center of the visor.
This is what I do except I laugh when I am doing it cause I think it is funny!!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Quote from: skoebl on March 27, 2006, 12:05:12 PM
I got the rain-x and fog-x...but was kind of scared to put them on the my visor when I read "IMPORTANT: Do not use on plastics...do not use on surfaces treated with anti-reflective, scratch resistant, or other coatings".
So I guess now that other people have...I just may as well :)
Yes, this is very true of Shoei helmet visors. The hardening, or scratch-resistant, coating should be sufficient enough to turn your head left/right to clear the drops. In heavier rain I just let it 'wash off' and look through, or between, the drops; my focus is beyond the shield, so I can't really say that I've had any problems. When the roadgrime makes the rain stick, I wait long enough for a good amout of water to collect and then wipe it off with the squeegie on the thumb (TourMaster Carbon ColdFronts), or the chamois on the fingers of my 14year old TourMaster winter gloves.
Quote from: GSinUS on March 27, 2006, 08:51:00 AM
Riding on the highway, I noticed that, even with a large following distance, a lot of dirt from other cars ended up on the visor. In this case, shaking the water off no longer helps and neither wiping with a glove, because it just makes the screen dirtier. Can you please share some of your experience with this?
I either try to stay ahead of traffic, or avoid the freeway. I currently have the option of staying off the freeway. If you don't have the option, I feel for you. Sometimes what I do is ride with my head turned 45 degrees to the left or right, until that half of the visor becomes covered, and then switch, this helps keep the center less obscured for when you really need it.
Another thing is if you are in the far right or left lane ride in the farthest part of that lane, such that if you are in the right hand lane, ride in the right tracks of that lane, that way you are not getting the spray off of cars in both lanes.
I turn my head to one side, while turning my eye to still look forward, and let the wind rip the rain off... Then I do the other side. When that's not enough, I use the glove sqeegeeeee.
Keeping a clean visor helps the water roll off.
Tucking on a nekid GS doesn't really do anything. :dunno_white:
I use rain-x and keep my visor clean. When it is raining to hard for the tuck, fairings rick, I just untuck enough to get the wind to blow the rain off the visor. No thumb squeegee here so if i need to wipe i just use my glove :laugh: :laugh:
Living in Vancouver BC and riding through the winter i always have to ride in the rain. Looking left then right, as described earlier has always worked well enough for me. You also have to focus on looking through your visor past the drops and out onto the road. I don't use my gloves to wipe the visor because it makes my hands cold and wet. To tell you the truth i hardly notice the rain on my visor anymore.
Thanks for the ideas! I am going to keep everything in mind for the next time. Like I said though, highway riding in the rain is the worst because besides the water you also get a mix of road dirt from other cars. I will try clipping a sqeegee on mhy glove next time. Just to share - wiping with a glove alone didn't help as it just smeared dirt across the visor. The amount of sleet was especially visible when my helmet dried up. I have tried turning my head left and right, but now I see mhy mistake - I did it too fast, instead of letting the wind blow it off.
Thanks again for suggestions. Hopefully the weather next weekend will be more accomodating, but I have less choice now that I dont have a car... not that I am complaining :)
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 09:31:16 AM
It's summer now though, so who cares?
So... you're saying the ice fishing season is done, down there? There's people pulling up walleyes two blocks from home (well, OK, walleye tip-ups ended two weeks ago, so I don't know what they're after today. Probably just beer.)
Quote from: Rema1000 on March 27, 2006, 09:58:05 PM
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 09:31:16 AM
It's summer now though, so who cares?
So... you're saying the ice fishing season is done, down there? There's people pulling up walleyes two blocks from home (well, OK, walleye tip-ups ended two weeks ago, so I don't know what they're after today. Probably just beer.)
The only ice fishing we have is inside a big freezer.
Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on March 27, 2006, 10:04:59 PM
The only ice fishing we have is inside a big freezer.
ice fishing
n.
1. Having intercourse with an exceptionally 'frigid' woman.
... Talking about Vancouver, just before it hailed on me last night (before the Massey tunnel), my visor started fogging and when I checked my mirrors they were fogged up too :dunno_white:. Bloody hell, they were fine just a moment ago... :cookoo:
Oh joy. A few layers of wax on the visor also helps in the rain.
hmmm summer eh? still far from it up here! Today, here (Winnipeg) it was 2 degrees Celcius (or about 35 F for you guys south of the border...) needless to say I wouldn't have to worry about rain accumulating on my visor... but I would worry about ice accumulation. :icon_lol: Too bad that Ice-X is made for rubber, and not for glass/plastics. :dunno_white:
Oh well I'll be going up to my storage shed soon to de-winterize my GS, do a few upgrades and hopefully in a few weeks It'll be warm enough, the roads will be relatively clean (dust/dirt/rocks frozen to the road over the winter make for dangerous riding conditions early in the season), and the roads won't be flooded! (Oh yeah, did I mention that Winnipeg was constructed on a marshy prairie floodland... :bs: yeah it floods EVERY year here! If I wasn't here for work, trust me, I wouldn't be here!) :mad:
:laugh:You could always slice a potatoe and wipe it across your visor :laugh:
I've also found that turning my head from side to side will clear the rain off the visor, however now I've got a pair of the cold front gloves like Pandy with the thumb mounted squeegee that does a decent job of cleaning my visor. I seen that Aerostitch had some squeegees that clipped to your glove thumb or forefinger.
Tony
Just becarefull when you turn your head from side to side for extended periods, as you'll find your bike will have a tendancy to drift in that direction too.
What galahs said is true... we all learned it in our MSC and Driver's Ed... "where you look is where you go!" so don't take your eyes off the road... just try to tilt your head a bit and keep your eyes somewhat straight... :thumb:
ridesafe!