Glasses wearers: tips to improve night+rain visibility problems?

[darren_uk]

I've just ridden home and arrived more out of luck than design.


It's night and raining


I wear glasses.




I found I had horrendous misting up problems, and when I raise my visor my glasses get a fine mist droplets coating


I only had 22 miles but I pulled into a petrol station for tissues and microfiber cloth to attend to my 2-3 stops to clean up.




Both my visor and my glasses misted up on the inside.


I don't have pinlock. I guess there are pinlock kits to fit to existing visors?


I did play with scuba mask antifig before but that had limited success




What do you do to help?

[Tori]

I use the car. Or I stay at home in the dry


Sensible answers may follow.....

[wezdavo]

I've just ridden home and arrived more out of luck than design.


It's night and raining


I wear glasses.
 





I found I had horrendous misting up problems, and when I raise my visor my glasses get a fine mist droplets coating


I only had 22 miles but I pulled into a petrol station for tissues and microfiber cloth to attend to my 2-3 stops to clean up.




Both my visor and my glasses misted up on the inside.


I don't have pinlock. I guess there are pinlock kits to fit to existing visors?


I did play with scuba mask antifig before but that had limited success




What do you do to help?

I dont have the answers but the very same thing happened to me this morning..
First the vizor misted up, lifted it so i could see, then my glasses followed suit.
In the end i slid my glasses down my nose and looked over the top of them, lucky my eye sight aint that bad!

[Fazerider]

Another specs wearing, all-weather biker here... I still use Bob Heath anti-mist on the inside of the visor, it did get overwhelmed after a commute to work. I would arrive knackered because I was holding my breath whenever my speed was less than about 30 mph.
With my current helmet (Caberg V2) misting is not quite so bad, but it manages that by being incredibly draughty. The problem with that is in winter the cold blast of air makes my eyes water like crazy and the tears get blown up onto the outside of my glasses and inside of the visor.
The helmet's getting a bit old now and replacement is looming so I too would be interested to hear from folks, especially glasses wearers, as to which helmets work best in the cold and wet. There are enough hazards out there already without losing vision at a critical moment.

[darren_uk]

I dont have the answers but the very same thing happened to me this morning..
First the vizor misted up, lifted it so i could see, then my glasses followed suit.
In the end i slid my glasses down my nose and looked over the top of them, lucky my eye sight aint that bad!

Yeah I was sliding my glasses down my nose, and my eyesight is not good. After about 10mph they cleared so I resumed normal vision...

[AdieR]

Try Muc-Off Anti-mist spray, about £4.00 from Halfords, may help a bit.

[VNA - BMW Wank]

I used to have perfect vision.

But like most folks over 40 I've found I now need glasses, age related astigmatism.  For reading it's now essential.  My distance vision is OK, but I much refer to wear my glasses basically all the time, everything is so much sharper.  So I wear em on the bike.

But, when I'm hill walking, or I'm out on the bike and the rain starts hammering down.  I tend to pull over and take em off.  The crunch comes when I end up with water droplets on my glasses, combined with the water on the visor, it just becomes a nightmare to see.

Yup I've had it with misting up too, on the visor and on the glasses, ziltch visibility, pulled over and took em off.

So first question is how well can you see without your glasses. Is it essential or just preferable that you wear em?

[Grahamm]

I don't have pinlock. I guess there are pinlock kits to fit to existing visors?

Get a pinlock, they're well worth it and you can get add on kits. There's also stick on versions, but I've never tried them.

As for the glasses, you could try a breath deflector, but I'd suggest getting Contact Lenses if you can.

[Pat]

Pinlock will keep the visor clear brilliantly, but for glasses the best thing I've found is one of these:

http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/foggy_mask/

[Dave48]

Having worn glasses most of my life, Ive found the best solution is the Pinlock insert. The only light misting that occurs to the area of visor surrounding pinlock insert is caused by temperature differences-say entering an area of cold air in a dip but this is cured by raising visor one notch to disperse. Worth every penny to the likes of me!

[SteveH41]

Another +1 for pinlock, I found at lower speeds to breath through your mouth and blow downwards helps, did enquire at local bike shop about anti mist sprays but general opinion of sales guy (and fair play for his honesty) he said they are all pretty crap. I can ride during the day without my glasses, only need them in poor light or at night. A well vented helmet helps, trade off is being a bit cold though. My Shoei XR1100 has a good lower vent and even at low speeds this keeps the glasses clear.

Hmm, perhaps a hole in the market for Pinlock glasses ?

[Phil TK]

I did play with scuba mask antifig before but that had limited success

 
I've tried that too -Sea Drops is the brand I used. Unfortunately I found that it gives off a solvent that made my eyes water, which doesn't help. I guess that's why you apply it then have to rinse your mask before diving. Anyway it doesn't really work well.
 At the moment, the humudity is sky high accross much of the country with thick mist in the mornings and evenings -it's perfect weather for fogged visors/glasses and I fear there isn't really much we can do.

[caretaker]

i just open my visor about an inch. bit draughty but does the job.

[Strifae]

Contact lenses were the best thing I ever got with regards to riding...

[monkeyb0b]

Pinlock will keep the visor clear brilliantly, but for glasses the best thing I've found is one of these:

http://www.respro.com/products/racing/road-racing/foggy_mask/

Cant comment on glasses but another vote for pinlock here, been using them for about 4 years now and never not had fogging issues since

[eddie]

 contacts the only way to go

[rjd1]

i have bolle safety metal rimmed sunglasses that dont steam up at all i wear them in the machines and on the bike no matter the weather they never mist,must have a film of some sort on lense
they are used a lot in bp grangemouth for drivers thats whare i got my 1st pair anyway
i pay about £30 a pair an they last ages being scratch resistant an shaterproof
i`m sure optician will be yer best bet for coated lenses

[Fuzzy]

Echoing what Pat said but I wear contacts now and find pinlock adequate but I was never fond of it when I used to wear glasses. Even if it stopped the visor fogging up, it couldn't do anything about my glasses!

I used a Respro Foggy which worked perfectly. You need to have a full face helmet and a normal helmet lining though - as opposed to a coolmax type that can be found in some of the newer helmets (eg Arai Quantum).

[HarryHornby]

Pinlock all the way, a FAB invention.


I would also say, having just bought a new Shoei Quest that good helmet ventilation helps.  My old helmet (laser Fiber D1) had a vent in the front, but it did bugger all.  Already, I've noticed a huge improvement on the Quest, the front vent forces a blast of air up over my face and clears my glasses in seconds.  Once clear and with the temperature equalising inside the helmet you can think about closing the vent.


Deepest winter will be the real test but so far, loving the increased ventilation.  And as for pinlock, well, I would never buy another helmet without it, glasses or no glasses.