Rotten ride yesterday - I hate wintertime!

Printable View

12-09-2023, 11:40 AM
gkamer

Rotten ride yesterday - I hate wintertime!

Due to circumstances beyond my control I ended up having to make a 75 mile ride yesterday. Normally it wouldn't have been that bad, temp was high 30's. However I ended up having to leave in the late afternoon. On the interstate. Heading west. Directly into the sun. It's times like this I'm glad my Spyder has power steering and cruise control. Depending at times I had to hold my left hand up to my face to serve as a sun visor, and other times had to swap with my right hand. Occasionally I would luck out and have some buildings, trees or just the lay of the land to block out the sun momentarily. The sun finally dipped below the horizon when I was about 10 miles from home.

Did I mention I hate winter time? :(
12-09-2023, 11:49 AM
hypurone

1 Attachment(s)
12-09-2023, 11:49 AM
BajaRon

The sun can be brutal! No doubt about it. Drop down smoke visors help. But there is no perfect solution that I know of.

We need to get one of these for a helmet visor.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/transpa...sun-visor-eyes

Glad you made it OK.
12-09-2023, 01:59 PM
EdMat

Quote:

Originally Posted by BajaRon

The sun can be brutal! No doubt about it. Drop down smoke visors help. But there is no perfect solution that I know of.

We need to get one of these for a helmet visor.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/transpa...sun-visor-eyes

Glad you made it OK.

I would hate the expense of that face shield. But there have been a few times.............
12-09-2023, 02:26 PM
gkamer

Quote:

Originally Posted by BajaRon

The sun can be brutal! No doubt about it. Drop down smoke visors help. But there is no perfect solution that I know of.

We need to get one of these for a helmet visor.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/transpa...sun-visor-eyes

Glad you made it OK.

To be honest if my fingers weren't frozen I was thinking of pulling off on an exit ramp and waiting about thirty minutes for the sun to go down more, but by that time I was in a pretty sparsely traveled area of the Interstate with not much traffic so I just decided to press on.
12-09-2023, 02:57 PM
Navydad

I have good gear for cold weather riding so I can be comfy, but that low on the horizon winter sun is tough.
12-10-2023, 12:31 PM
Calimusjohn

Cold hands and the sun in my eyes beats the hell out of being housebound.
12-14-2023, 08:46 PM
IdahoMtnSpyder

Every year as I get older I understand more and more why those who live in the northern climes become snowbirds!
12-15-2023, 05:18 PM
AndysF3S

My full face helmet has a drop down visor and I have a light smoke windshield which can help if I drop my head down a bit but sunset can still be challenging.
12-15-2023, 05:37 PM
DGoebel

But at least you were riding! GK, now you've made me think of how to Gradient tint my inner smoke visor on my Schuberth C5..... Higher you go up the visor the darker the tint.... hmmmm going to look for one....
12-16-2023, 11:35 AM
Raven

Try an adventure/ touring helmet.
I had an Arai XD that I used a lot.
I could ride with the shield up or down. The visor kept the sun out of my eyes. (I hardly ever wore my sunglasses with it.)
In the rain, I just dipped my head down a bit and it kept most of the rain off the shield.
Also, the bikes I rode did not have a windshield and the buffeting was not bad. (I hit 100mph plus a few times!)
12-17-2023, 12:08 PM
2dogs

I have black tape on my dropdown visor to block out the dam sun. I can still see the road in front of me by adjusting it as the sun goes down. In all my years of riding, I've found nothing better.
12-17-2023, 01:35 PM
IGETAROUND

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkamer

...On the interstate. Heading west. Directly into the sun. It's times like this I'm glad my Spyder has power steering and cruise control. Depending at times I had to hold my left hand up to my face to serve as a sun visor, and other times had to swap with my right hand.

We have these on our helmets and they work Fantastic!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAHQAAAAAQCA

Al in Kazoo
12-17-2023, 05:16 PM
gkamer

Quote:

Originally Posted by IGETAROUND

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkamer

...On the interstate. Heading west. Directly into the sun. It's times like this I'm glad my Spyder has power steering and cruise control. Depending at times I had to hold my left hand up to my face to serve as a sun visor, and other times had to swap with my right hand.

We have these on our helmets and they work Fantastic!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAHQAAAAAQCA

Al in Kazoo

I might give those a try. I usually ride with my modular helmet open unless it's really cold out, but these would work with the face shield down.
12-18-2023, 12:10 AM
2dogs

Don't think they'll work with a rotating shield or chin guard. Darn, but a good idea.
12-29-2023, 06:39 AM
Dasmoetorhead

A long time ago someone sold a 1" wide strip of Dark window tint that you put on the upper portion of your shield. It worked pretty good. The tape thing sounds like it would do the same. I got the low sun shining in my face yesterday and had to shield my eyes with my hand for longer than I wanted to. It's dangerous. I have a Fly-racing Trekker dual sport helmet that has a visor that I might start using.
12-29-2023, 08:44 AM
troop

I used to buy sun blockers, but now I simply use a strip or two of black electrical tape on the upper inside of the shield. Works well for me.
12-29-2023, 01:26 PM
pegasus1300

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2dogs

Don't think they'll work with a rotating shield or chin guard. Darn, but a good idea.

I think that is exactly what they are made for.
12-29-2023, 01:48 PM
Dasmoetorhead

1 Attachment(s)

I'm going to try my Fly Racing trekker dual sport helmet next ride. It's snowing but dry out right now :-(>
12-30-2023, 11:43 AM
BajaRon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calimusjohn

Cold hands and the sun in my eyes beats the hell out of being housebound.

Now, there's an attitude I can get behind! :thumbup:
12-31-2023, 01:03 AM
BLUEKNIGHT911

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dasmoetorhead

A long time ago someone sold a 1" wide strip of Dark window tint that you put on the upper portion of your shield. It worked pretty good. The tape thing sounds like it would do the same. I got the low sun shining in my face yesterday and had to shield my eyes with my hand for longer than I wanted to. It's dangerous. I have a Fly-racing Trekker dual sport helmet that has a visor that I might start using.

Check if E-bay has some "auto window tint film" I advise getting some in "chrome" (like aviator sunglasses) ... it won't be as dark, but 3 times the ability to reflect the sun ..... JMHO .... good luck ....Mike :thumbup:
12-31-2023, 07:38 AM
Dasmoetorhead

When the weather gets a little better I'm going to try the Trekker helmet I have, and see if the wind won't tear the helmet off my head when it catches that visor lol.
01-01-2024, 11:47 PM
BLUEKNIGHT911

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dasmoetorhead

When the weather gets a little better I'm going to try the Trekker helmet I have, and see if the wind won't tear the helmet off my head when it catches that visor lol.

I had a similar type helmet, I had no issues with airflow causing a problem .... I can't tell on yours, but mine had some vents in the visor close to the edge of the helmet ...if yours doesn't make some ....Mike :thumbup:
01-02-2024, 10:09 AM
Dasmoetorhead

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLUEKNIGHT911

I had a similar type helmet, I had no issues with airflow causing a problem .... I can't tell on yours, but mine had some vents in the visor close to the edge of the helmet ...if yours doesn't make some ....Mike :thumbup:

Mine worked good also. The visor does have vents. It's a pretty comfortable helmet and lighter than my HJC Modular. I'll continue using it as long as the Sun is low this of year.