old - Fazer Owners Club - old
Bikes, Hints'n'Tips => FZS600 Fazer => Topic started by: darrsi on 11 April 2013, 11:02:21 am
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After chatting with a fellow Foccer mate, and seeing different bikers on a daily basis, it has become apparent to me that not everyone knows about the Vee Wipe that exists to greatly improve your vision in wet conditions.
I thought i'd give the newer bikers on here the heads up as it is such a simple but essential bit of kit.
It's simply a piece of silicone rubber that fits over your gloved index finger that is shaped like a windscreen wiper blade.
I've forgotten mine a couple of times due to changing bike jackets and got caught out in the rain, and simply can't believe how people can ride in wet weather without it. Wiping rain away with a dirty glove just smears crap all over your visor, whereas one quick 'wipe' will clear your visor cleanly just the same as a windscreen wiper would.
If you haven't got one already then spend a few quid and get one, in my opinion they are a must have and will last you a couple of years before needing to change it due to a 'worn out' blade. :thumbup
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=vee+wipe&_sacat=0&_from=R40 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=vee+wipe&_sacat=0&_from=R40)
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I have used them for years....excellent. But you have to watch them carefully as they can work their way off the glove. I'm not using them at the moment because my latest gloves have something similar built into the thumb of my glove.
Just be careful when buying them as there are different sizes and are color coded. I think large ones are in black and medium size come in red.
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Black are medium, that's what i use. :smokin
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I've long regarded it as an essential bit of kit... got my first one free on the cover of one of the bike mags in the mid-eighties. Eight quid or thereabouts is a bit steep for what it is, but well worth having even at that price.
Red is the biggest, good for thicker winter gloves.
After losing a couple, I've taken to looping an elastic band through one of the holes and round the next finger, that way even if it does manage to slide off it won't disappear.
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Black are medium, that's what i use. :smokin
...erra sod yer puny nancy boy v-wipe.....i'll be 'aving some of this!!!
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I knew someone would eventually come out with that.
The fact that you look like a bigger helmet than your crash helmet obviously didn't phase the designer :lol
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Never tried one of these to be honest.
I use Gtechniq G5 on my visor and the rain beads and runs off which negates the need to wipe the visor at all.
Having said that I only ever ride in the rain if I've been caught out by the weather...
Chris
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My old Shoei lid had a good visor on it where about 60% of rain would fly off with a sideways tilt of the head, but i've found that rain sticks to Arai visors like glue, so this is an extremely useful tool in iffy weather.
And by the sounds of it outside, it's gonna get plenty of use this morning on the way to work! :\
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Before you put your lid on, a little squirt of Mr. Sheen and wipe it off with a cotton cloth works brilliantly in cleaning your visor, and the rain beads off even my sticky shoei visor with a tilt of the head. 8)
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I wonder if that would work with silicone bike polish,,,
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Before you put your lid on, a little squirt of Mr. Sheen and wipe it off with a cotton cloth works brilliantly in cleaning your visor, and the rain beads off even my sticky shoei visor with a tilt of the head. 8)
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
That's what i said earlier, my Shoei visor was 5 times better at getting rid of water, but you try the same trick with an Arai visor and it simply does not work! And i have 3 visors at the moment, a clear, tinted and a spare, and they're all the same.
The water will bead up but it just stays put, i've tried all sorts of potions but with no joy at all, so the Vee Wipe became an absolute necessity for me.
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@chris, try doing a long run on a motorway with a few lorries up ahead of you, you could spin your head like in The Exorcist and still not get rid of the spray, whereas the Vee Wipe will at least clear your view for a few seconds if you need to overtake safely. :)
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i think if i was sure i was going to ride in the wet id just bring a blade wipe for my finger, not sure if id go as far as putting one of those on my helmet, although got a stupid story back from a guy using the finger blade :lol
he came back into my local bike dealers when i was there and started giving out saying this blade is a piece of shit and that every time he goes to wipe his visor he has to let off the trottle, wel i nearly fell on the floor laughing :lol , it never occured to him to put it on his left index finger, what a spanner ahhahahahah
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i think if i was sure i was going to ride in the wet id just bring a blade wipe for my finger, not sure if id go as far as putting one of those on my helmet, although got a stupid story back from a guy using the finger blade :lol
he came back into my local bike dealers when i was there and started giving out saying this blade is a piece of shit and that every time he goes to wipe his visor he has to let off the trottle, wel i nearly fell on the floor laughing :lol , it never occured to him to put it on his left index finger, what a spanner ahhahahahah
Ha ha ha, quality :rollin
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@chris, try doing a long run on a motorway with a few lorries up ahead of you, you could spin your head like in The Exorcist and still not get rid of the spray, whereas the Vee Wipe will at least clear your view for a few seconds if you need to overtake safely. :)
I don't have any motorways to ride on up here. Plenty of lorries to follow but as I said I hardly ride in the rain.
I'm sure you're right and I would happily try the vee wipe from the comments above if I found I was having problems with clearing my visor, it's just not been my experience. The Gtechniq G5 has been incredible in my experience. Also insanely good on the car windows and shower doors! ;)
Chris
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@chris, try doing a long run on a motorway with a few lorries up ahead of you, you could spin your head like in The Exorcist and still not get rid of the spray, whereas the Vee Wipe will at least clear your view for a few seconds if you need to overtake safely. :)
I don't have any motorways to ride on up here. Plenty of lorries to follow but as I said I hardly ride in the rain.
I'm sure you're right and I would happily try the vee wipe from the comments above if I found I was having problems with clearing my visor, it's just not been my experience. The Gtechniq G5 has been incredible in my experience. Also insanely good on the car windows and shower doors! ;)
Chris
Sounds like you need a good run around the M25 to me, to give that stuff a proper test :car
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Think I'll stick to my quiet, twisty, scenic roads for now buddy :lol
Chris
For anyone interested, here is a video of Gtechniq G5 albeit on a ceramic sink. G5 can be used on any ceramic, perspex or glass surface.
G5 - Max Repellency Coating on Ceramic Surface (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHpZATtIxds#ws)
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That looks impressive, Chris.
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I was going to get one until I realised small,medium and large related to fat finger syndrome rather then squeegee size :rollin
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Ride.... in the wet..... wtf?
If it's wet you stay in side, put the fire on, toast trumpets and watch blu rays.
Riding in the wet is for men,not me.
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I've ridden in rain, sleet, snow, high winds and fog, but by far the most exciting is.......hailstones.
What eejit sits down in hailstones and tries to ride through the equivalent of a road full of marbles!!!
Great fun..... :lol
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I've ridden in rain, sleet, snow, high winds and fog, but by far the most exciting is.......hailstones.
What eejit sits down in hailstones and tries to ride through the equivalent of a road full of marbles!!!
Great fun..... :lol
Grr argh. Whisky, caber, v12, Ferrari. Do I sound manly yet ?
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excellent device!! especially for those days when you cant resist but go out and ride in the rain & snow!! :lol
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My old schoolmate (hope you're not reading Paul) picked up his first bike, a Fazer, then rode it straight off to Germany to live for a few years but encountered extreme rain on his journey, without a VeeWipe!
He wasn't impressed on his first big journey, but fair play to him, he got there in one piece!
Eventually.......poor sod! :'(
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Many Years ago before the vee wipe and on my 500 mile/week journey, I used to keep a chamois sponge tucked behind my screen. It was superb at getting rid of visor crap until I fumbled with it, and now it lives happily somewhere on the m5. ;D ;D
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http://www.visorcat.com/ (http://www.visorcat.com/)
This has a squeegee and cleaning fluid !
:rollin
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[url]http://www.visorcat.com/[/url] ([url]http://www.visorcat.com/[/url])
This has a squeegee and cleaning fluid !
:rollin
There's a deluxe version of that where you also get a weathered old window cleaner smoking a roll-up that sits behind you on the bike and cleans your visor when necessary :lol
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[url]http://www.visorcat.com/[/url] ([url]http://www.visorcat.com/[/url])
This has a squeegee and cleaning fluid !
:rollin
There's a deluxe version of that where you also get a weathered old window cleaner smoking a roll-up that sits behind you on the bike and cleans your visor when necessary :lol
Do you find that his ladder and bucket get in the way?
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
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Never tried one of these to be honest.
I use Gtechniq G5 on my visor and the rain beads and runs off which negates the need to wipe the visor at all.
Having said that I only ever ride in the rain if I've been caught out by the weather...
Chris
Thought i'd give the Gtechnic G5 a go, bought some about 10 days ago, i'm all up for trying new stuff.
Unfortunately, it's absolutely useless on my Arai visor, which i expected to be honest.
It was raining on the way to work this morning and the water stayed exactly where it landed on my visor, although i s'pose it did wipe off nicely with the VeeWipe.
Seems to work 'okayish' on my wing mirrors but i wasn't really impressed with it to be truthful.
I dunno why Arai visors hold onto water so well but it really is quite annoying? :thumbdown
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Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you mate.
It's been great for everything I've used it on. Car windows, visor, shower doors etc.
Glad it hasn't made anything worse though! it should at least stop the water smearing when you wipe it.
Chris
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Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you mate.
It's been great for everything I've used it on. Car windows, visor, shower doors etc.
Glad it hasn't made anything worse though! it should at least stop the water smearing when you wipe it.
Chris
Worth a try, i don't like judging stuff until i've tried it myself, but the Arai visors have always been the same for me, it's not the first potion i've tested out on them but nothing has really worked.
It brought the bathroom mirror up nicely though :D
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:lol
Try it on the outside of your car windows, if you have a car. It makes the water bead on the glass which stops it distorting your view and it runs off above about 30mph.
I know a few people that have used it on their house windows so that when it rais it beads and runs off and doesn't distort the view out the window when it's raining! 8)
Chris
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:lol
Try it on the outside of your car windows, if you have a car. It makes the water bead on the glass which stops it distorting your view and it runs off above about 30mph.
I know a few people that have used it on their house windows so that when it rais it beads and runs off and doesn't distort the view out the window when it's raining! 8)
Chris
Never even driven a car before, had my first bike at 17 and still riding daily 25 years later! :D
I'm actually a terrible passenger in a car because i can't believe how shocking peoples driving can be, and how inattentive they are!
I normally just jump in the back, put the seatbelt straight on, and look down, or out of the side windows! :lol
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Might be worth a few quid to have a lesson or two in a car sometime. Even if you're not interested in having a car. Always worth having experience of another vehicle. It might also help you understand why cars behave the way they do due to certain driver inputs, something which you can't really explain or learn until you've done it yourself, like trying to explain countersteering to someone who hasn't ever ridden a bike, they may understand the principles of it and mechanically how it works but they will never know what it feels like until they do it. Having this experience may help you read the body language of a car and recognise a hazard that you might not have seen otherwise. I'm not saying you can't do that already. ;)
It may help you when thinking of your road position when on your bike if you know what a cars blind spots are like as a driver etc.
It's the same reason why I encourage people who have only ever driven a car to at least do their CBT, it helps them to understand a bike/scooter and what it is capeable of and therefore will help them understand why a rider may do certain things. For example if they have been in that situation they may leave a bit more room whilst overtaking a bike.
Chris
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I think 25 years riding a bike in London has kind of given me all the road sense i could ever need.
It's not quite on par with riding in China or India, but certainly hazardous enough.
As for understanding what some car drivers do, that ain't ever gonna happen in the near future.
Get the cardboard tubes out of 2 paper kitchen towel rolls, stick one each over your eyes, and you'll get an idea of what people see when driving around my way. I don't exist unless i'm in their cross hairs!
The only way to give a car driver who's never been on a bike before is do what i do and take them for a spin on the back.
Their response sometimes is priceless, it's a combination of shock, terror and anger all at once when they suddenly realise how vulnerable they are, and also because they see first hand how bikers get treated.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of arsehole bikers out there that i get angry with as well, especially the pizza variety, but the standards of driving have definitely dropped over the years, plus add to that the sheer volume of traffic as well.
In London everyone drives aggressively and there is hardly any courtesy at all, but such is life, i can't change that (not until i'm allowed to fit a Gatling gun onto my handlebars anyway :evil ). :\
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I've never ridden/driven in London, although I have been to London and witnessed it. Having said that, I have driven during rush hour in a few other cities. Surely we could all use more experience/road sense. I'm sure your awerness and skills are very good and I believe that, because of that, you'd get quite a lot from my suggestion. There are ways we can all improve our roadcraft and experince plays a massive part of that.
I stand by my earlier statement that you can't "know" what it's like until you've done it for yourself. Like the people you take on the back of your bike, I do hope you don't try and make them feel the way you described just to prove a point to them, They will have a pre concieved expectation of what it's like to be on a bike but until they've done it then they can't really know, hence some of their reactions. I'm sure that they have modified their driving because of their experience eg, giving a biker more space etc.
I agree that others standards on the roads are very poor. Hence why we should all encourage others to improve their skills (even if they are at a high standard) ;)
I have always tried to drive as many different vehicles as possible and have found each and every experience very useful. Cars, vans, mini buses, car with trailer, pickups, quads and of course bikes. Each experience was different and from each experience it has influenced the way I have used the other vehicles.
Chris
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Why......oh, why......would i want to go and sit in traffic after all these years riding???
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I feel you miss the point sir. Not saying you should go and drive a car and sit in traffic... what would you learn from that? :rolleyes
You know what I meant. :b
Chris
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"...Like the people you take on the back of your bike, I do hope you don't try and make them feel the way you described just to prove a point to them..."
No need, there's a few million car drivers that can do that job for me :car
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I agree with Chris on this one. I try to get out and gain experience, can never have too much. I also enjoy driving / riding different vehicles so that's a plus
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I put nikwax visorproof on mine. I have no clue how well it works as I've never ridden in the wet yet :rollin .
http://www.nikwax.com/en-gb/products/productdetail.php?productid=248 (http://www.nikwax.com/en-gb/products/productdetail.php?productid=248)
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Have always used rainx, cheap, easy to use and easy to get, ok it doesnt last for months but at the cost /ease of use i've been happy with it. Also for me its a way to get sunshine, apply rainx and it doesnt rain, simplez.
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I've mucked 2 visors over the years with Rain X, it's primarily meant for glass rather than plastic.
There is a version of the stuff designed for plastic, but that wasn't much use on the Arai visor either.
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The instructions do say not for plastic, but i thought £30 for a replacement if it all goes wrong, i'd run the risk. What did it do to your visors??
On the topic of visors mine isnt pinlock compatable and i didnt have the guts to drill it, so opted for fogcity inserts, for antifog, and at about £15 lasting 1-2 winters i have to say they work really well on my caberg(alledged anto fog visor).
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It did something to the visors creating a petrol/oil slick multi coloured effect.
And it was bad enough for me to have to get new ones.
I use a visor insert that sticks on thr inside with double sided tape so it becomes airtight.
Not only does it block out the suns UV rays but is also reactolite so slightly tints in bright light, plus it's anti fog.
The double sided tape that comes with it lasts just over a year if riding in bad/wet weather, so i bought some 1mm foam tape and replaced it, so it's now even better.
The make is a ProGrip visor insert, off Ebay, worth every penny.
I have a darker one for summer, and a clear one for winter, both fitted to a visor.
They also have a slight yellow tint which makes them great at night for anti glare from headlights! 8)
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I've got a fogcity insert in my shoei, it's a react to light one and it's great, never have a steaming up problem and it gives good tinting when it's sunny.
Chris
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flip down internal sun visor :lol