- This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 10 months ago by Rab.
Getting rid of fog
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May 28, 2009 at 10:24 pm #2907zeppelinfromledParticipant
I am the new owner of a Shoei RF-1000, and I’m wondering what you guys use for fog avoidance on your helmets? I put the helmet on indoors and sat with the visor closed for a little bit, and it fogged up very quickly unless I was very conscious about how I was breathing. I added the breath guard, and that helped considerably. Do you guys tend to use the breath guard, or an anti-fog product, or do you just not have a problem with your visor fogging when you’re sitting still?
Also, if you’re at a light and your visor fogs up, do you just pop it up and wipe the inside with a glove or something? Or do you just wait until you’re moving and know that the fog will go away with a little wind?
Thanks
May 28, 2009 at 11:47 pm #19018SantaCruzRiderParticipantI guess it’s a matter of your expectations for no fog. I think most helmets are going to fog if you’re sitting still — and it only makes it worse if you don’t have a guard to deflect your breath from the visor.
I’m assuming the Shoei came with a no-fog visor, so maybe a little change is behavior is all you need. On cold mornings, I put my helmet on outside, standing next to the bike while it warms up. Visor is up until I’m ready to roll. If I come to a long light, I often flip the visor up a notch as I roll up or while I’m waiting. If for some odd reason it gets fogged up, flipping it up will usually clear it in seconds. BTW: My helmet is an HJC.
May 29, 2009 at 1:43 am #19014MunchParticipantWhen I wear my FF I always leave a small crack of a spot open…. lets wind in and clears the fog fairly quickly.Winters here are cold and humid which leads alot to fog….just crack the shield a bit while moving and the circulating air will clear it….at stop lights go ahead and flip the visor up a bit….takes less then a second to slap it back down before you go off and running.
May 29, 2009 at 2:49 am #19025briderdtParticipant…I crack the visor open a little at stops. In the winter I’ve also had to crack it open when moving as well.
May 29, 2009 at 3:28 am #19028bigguybbrParticipantI had a link to it in a post i made about a month ago. I use eyeglass lens cleaning wipes before i ride when it’s cool out. The ones i can nab at work are all anti fog, and come packaged like moist towlettes so i always keep a few in my riding jacket. They are safe on the plastic of the face shield, and are even good for cleaning it up after you ride through a thick patch of bugs.
May 29, 2009 at 9:28 am #19036eternal05ParticipantFirst, as others have said, all but one style of helmet WILL fog up if you’re standing still. It’s air flowing through the vents when you’re moving at speed that de-fogs your visor.
Second, Shoei (and Arai) both have pinlock visors which NEVER fog up…EVER. Seriously. They’re amazing. The way it works is that the outer shell (what would normally be the whole visor) has two little pins on either end. You attach a soft silicone-y insert on the inside using the pins to keep it in place. Voila! No fog.
This is the pinlock visor (no insert):
http://www.shoei-helmets.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=36_33_87&products_id=1642
There are many different colors of visor available, but I recommend you ONLY get clear:
http://www.shoei-helmets.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=36_31_77&products_id=1639
The reason is that the colored insert doesn’t cover the whole visor and so a dark smoke insert, for instance, can fail to keep the sun out of your eyes when the sun gets through the clear outer visor around the insert. I almost crashed once when I came around a turn and was unexpectedly blinded for precisely this reason. Turns out there was a woman parked perpendicularly in the middle of street. Who knew. I haven’t used the smoke insert since, and have gone back to a full smoke visor when it’s sunny.
But seriously, if you have the $$$ (about $70 for shield+insert), the pinlock system will never fog up on you. I mean never. You can try your indoor sitting still test again and you’ll be mind-blown.
May 29, 2009 at 2:33 pm #19040zeppelinfromledParticipantI had seen that product on the shoei website, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it did. We’ll see how much of a problem with fogging I have when I actually get the helmet out on the road. I’d imagine that I might find myself looking into it again come fall when the temperatures drop.
With the color thing, I’m guessing you can get a dark visor and use a clear insert to avoid the issue that you had with brightness around the edges?
I have a gift certificate to a shop, so I might use it for this system.
May 29, 2009 at 8:00 pm #19049eternal05ParticipantI could be wrong, but I’ve only ever seen a clear pinlock visor. Honestly though, the real problem is the days when the helmet wants to fog up even when you’re moving, and those, like you said, come during the fall/winter. At least in Seattle, you won’t need a dark visor during those days anyway, and if you do, you can always just wear sunglasses underneath your helmet.
May 30, 2009 at 8:39 am #19074RabParticipantI commute all year here in Norcal and visor fogging was a big problem for me; especially in the rain. Anti-fog sprays helped a little, but not much, and you have to re-apply them every other day. Cracking open the helmet to clear the fog lets the rain in which then runs down the inside of the visor making things worse, especially if, like me, you wear glasses.
After reading the reviews, I bit the bullet and stumped-up the cash for a Pinlock insert and a visor with the Pinlock anchors for my HJC CL-15 helmet (yes, I’m frugal).
Put it on and forget about it. Problem solved 100% in all weather. Only drawback I’ve noticed is that on unlit sections of the freeway, I sometimes see a little row of “ghost headlights” reflected on the visor, but it’s really hardly worth mentioning. I can’t recommend this product highly enough. It’s magic!
As I wear photochromic glasses (they go darker or lighter automatically), the clear visor suits me just fine, but for tints, go with a clear visor and a tinted insert or a tinted visor and a clear insert; not both or you’ll go blind
With a Pinlock insert on the inside, some Rain-X on the outside and a finger wiper on your glove, you’ll see just fine no matter how heavy the rain is.
May 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm #19081zeppelinfromledParticipantI think I’ll definitely look into getting one when it gets cooler, or perhaps before.
I wonder though – do your photochromic glasses change color when your visor is down? My understanding is that they change color in response to UV light, and most of the visors block upwards of 95% of UV lights. This is just the curious scientist in me speaking, but I wonder how that works.
May 30, 2009 at 5:52 pm #19092RabParticipantThat’s a very good question and I don’t know the answer except to say that I commute year round in sometimes very bright sunlight (California) and also on rainy overcast days (including some tunnels) and sun/dark never bothers me at all. Because of the tunnels, I wouldn’t even consider a smoked/tinted/mirrored visor and I think that they’re mostly worn to “look cool” (or anonymous), but I might be wrong.
If I get some time later, I’ll experiment a little and post the results.
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