Sun in your eyes

The scariest moments of my ride back home (40 miles of a 335 ride) were riding into the setting sun. I have a fullface helmet, prescription glasses, and magnetic sunglasses that bond to the prescription glasses. I'd used the the sunglasses during the heat of the day with no problem. I'd removed them when riding tree-shaded mountans. Replaced the sunglasses when riding through a mix of sun and shade.

I was never happy. Didn't see that well in the shade. Didn't see that well with the sun in my eyes either. Wished for my old Schuberth helmet with a sunscreen and also sunglasses.

Your solutions to this problem?

I always carry a roll of the 1" blue painters tape in my saddlebag. When heading east in the mornings or west in the evenings, having a band of tape at the top of the visor just above the normal sight line, allows me to slightly dip my head to block out the sun. A cheap, but effective sun visor.:thumb



:dance:dance:dance

you can do the same thing with the static-cling adhesive window tinting- just run about 1" of it at top of visor on the inside. doesn't stop the sun glare, but does diminish it.
my morning commute has me riding straight into the sun for much of the year, and then the same thing on my ride home. a clean faceseld really helps- thank you Plexus.

[QUOTE=BCKRIDER;822939]Didn't see that well in the shade. Didn't see that well with the sun in my eyes either. Wished for my old Schuberth helmet with a sunscreen and also sunglasses.

Your solutions to this problem?[/QUOTE]

I no longer need to wear sunglasses now that I use a Scorpion 1000XE (?) helmet with the drop down sun shade. It goes up and down constantly in mountainous areas as I travel in and out of the shade.

A strip and a half of electrician's tape along the top of the visor eliminates most of the problem of riding directly into the rising or setting sun.

[QUOTE=98lee;822976]I always carry a roll of the 1" blue painters tape in my saddlebag.[/QUOTE]

Genius!!!
This should go in riding tips in the mag.
[I]Paging Kevin Greenwald[/I]
Dude!

[QUOTE=98lee;822976]I always carry a roll of the 1" blue painters tape in my saddlebag. When heading east in the mornings or west in the evenings, having a band of tape at the top of the visor just above the normal sight line, allows me to slightly dip my head to block out the sun. A cheap, but effective sun visor.:thumb

:dance:dance:dance[/QUOTE]

I really miss an external visor like on the Bell Magnum of years ago for this very reason.

From an old project I have a roll of 1" black auto body trip tape. There is lots left over so I put a strip on the [I]inside[/I] at the top of my helmet face shields. To get the location correct, I put the helmet on and mark the shield with a grease pencil as to where the optimum point for the sun shade should be. Then I remove the shield and apply the tape. Being applied to the inside, it is hardly noticeable from the outside. It is the very first thing that gets done to a new helmet and lasts the life of the face shield.

You can see it here:
[IMG]http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq163/bikebits/Moto%20Guzzi/DSCN1702.jpg[/IMG]

One big advantage to the blue painters tape is that it comes off clean (unlike other tapes). If, in the middle of the day, you are in an area where all the scenery is up high (Yosemite Valley for example), you just peel it off and replace it as needed later.


:dance:dance:dance

I use 1" electrical tape. It doesn't matter if it gets wet. I have two strips on at all times. Riding east Monday morning in Columbus OH in rush hour traffic I had to use my left hand as a visor to see anything for several miles. I had to shift up & down with out using the clutch.

I missed my exit because I didn't want to change lanes until I could see better. After I could see I let my GPS take me to US 33. The sun in my eyes happened so quick all I could do was stay in my lane & hope I didn't run into the car in front of me at 60+ mph.

Painters' tape lets a little light sneak thru. Instead, i've used solas reflecto tape from riderwearhouse on a couple visors. it's pretty much permanent, but it's also reflective for oncoming traffic.

Not the entire width of the tape, but about an inch; whatever seems useful. tho it doesn't really interfere with normal vision, when i want to feel like i'm seeing more i just lift the shield a little.

I use both window tint film on one shield and Shoei gradient shields that are darker at top for models for which they are available.

I wish we would see some FF touring designs with decent visors like the old Bell style- built in sunscreens add to helmet size and weight and most are not very well shaped either- too much cutout in center...

The currently marketed add on visors are pretty poor...

I use about one inch of vinyl electrical tape at the top of the visor. Works good.

I just described this situation today to the friend I rode to. His observation: I've done it too (in a car,) had a headache the next day, and wondered "why not take a half hour rest stop." In my case, it was because I had forgotten my cell phone at at my friends place which he deliverd today, and I was already going to be late for dinner hour.

But better to be very late coming home than not come home. I think I made a bad decision to keep riding into that sun, and got away with it.

Lots of good advice on this thread, and as usual, nothing that fits all.

Good point about that being the right time of day for a riding break, if you can do it.

What I've not seen anyone mention is that while we have challenges seeing in the low sun, same applies for all the cagers around us. Especially those behind us, because we are nothing but a slim shadow in their forward view. Our hard to see taillight, brakelight and turn signals are even harder to see looking into the sun.

Also, same for those cagers at an intersection waiting to turn left as we approach from their left. They look, left (clear at that second), right (into the blinding sun, constricting their pupils), then back left and don't see us, and pull out. They claim, "I never saw the bike!" and they probably aren't lying.

Anytime the sun is low in the sky, morning or dusk, is a high danger time for us due to the limited visibility it causes on cage drivers. Sun visor down = high danger, for the cagers.

I feel a lot better reading all of this, I thought it was just my aging eyes giving me so much trouble! This time of year really is difficult as far as sun glare goes.

I'm going to give the Blue Tape a try. I've been using it as a direction cheat sheet, sticking it on my tank for awhile now, and it comes off nice and clean with no residue. It should work great on a face shield!

Thanks!

We had a recent similar experience this past week while riding in Utah. The setting sun was right in our path and at the worst possible level. I have a Schuberth with the tinted visor and I put tape on the visor. Still had poor visibility unless I held up my left hand as a shade. Probably not the wisest thing to do; should have just stopped for 15 minutes until the sun went behind a mountain. Got lucky this time.