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Visor locks

revnort

revnort

Tasty Pants
Joined
May 28, 2008
Location
The Sunny Mission, SF
Moto(s)
F800GS, Dr. Zoidberg
Name
Dan
BARF perks
AMA#: 1108597
Why do these things exist? Does anyone actually use them? I accidentally engaged mine this morning and it took me a whole 10-15 seconds to figure out why my visor wasn't opening. :laughing

I guess I could see them having an application at the track for safety but honestly is this a feature anyone actually find useful?

Only my Shoei has it.
 
revnort said:
Why do these things exist? Does anyone actually use them? I accidentally engaged mine this morning and it took me a whole 10-15 seconds to figure out why my visor wasn't opening. :laughing

I guess I could see them having an application at the track for safety but honestly is this a feature anyone actually find useful?

Only my Shoei has it.
Click to expand...

I have one on my Bell, as well as my Shoei. I've never intentionally activated it, always accidentally when trying to put the visor into the slightly cracked open mode. Dunno why anyone would lock it, unless maybe at Bonneville trying to set a land speed record.
 
revnort said:
Why do these things exist? Does anyone actually use them? I accidentally engaged mine this morning and it took me a whole 10-15 seconds to figure out why my visor wasn't opening. :laughing

I guess I could see them having an application at the track for safety but honestly is this a feature anyone actually find useful?

Only my Shoei has it.
Click to expand...

Visor locks are useful to make the visor seal tighter, so you don't end up with wind drying out your eyes on long highway rides.
 
ilikefood said:
Visor locks are useful to make the visor seal tighter, so you don't end up with wind drying out your eyes on long highway rides.
Click to expand...

:thumbup And tighter is quieter :thumbup I've never accidently locked mine and never had any delay unlocking it either.

But everyone is different, and helmet face shield mechanisms are different...so anything is possible.

Can't help thinking, that if I was a person that didn't want the lock function...It wouldn't be any trick at all to disable it, with a tiny bit of file work :laughing
 
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I've had four different models of Shoei helmets in the RF series and have never found much use for the visor lock. It has one position that is supposed to hold the visor open just a crack to help defog the inside. I've used that, but I'm fine just opening it to the first position, which is what I do anymore. I've NEVER had a Shoei visor not stay shut, regardless of the speed I'm going.

I love the way the visors work on all Shoei helmets, but find the little lock to be worthless to me.

One other minor complaint - on the RF-700 through RF-1000, I could take the visor off and put another one on while actually wearing the helmet. I've only done that when out riding a very few times, but it was handy. On the RF-1100, that is pretty much impossible. Why does this matter? Because the last long ride I went on I took the visor off to wash the bugs off and goofed when reinstalling it, leaving one side not quite locked into place. After fiddling for miles trying to get it locked back in I finally had to pull off in a parking lot, remove the helmet, and snap it into place. Okay, not a serious complaint and I don't expect to ever do that again, but it's one case where changes aren't necessarily improvements.
 
If you have ever seen someones face after they crashed without the visor locked you would understand why it is there. The visor opened, closed, opened, got snagged on the ground, shattered, and cut the dude on the bridge of his nose, forehead, and below his eye.
 
ScottRNelson said:
I've had four different models of Shoei helmets in the RF series and have never found much use for the visor lock. It has one position that is supposed to hold the visor open just a crack to help defog the inside. I've used that, but I'm fine just opening it to the first position, which is what I do anymore. I've NEVER had a Shoei visor not stay shut, regardless of the speed I'm going.

I love the way the visors work on all Shoei helmets, but find the little lock to be worthless to me.
Click to expand...

This pretty much exactly.
 
frozenuts said:
If you have ever seen someones face after they crashed without the visor locked you would understand why it is there. The visor opened, closed, opened, got snagged on the ground, shattered, and cut the dude on the bridge of his nose, forehead, and below his eye.
Click to expand...

This is why I posted. I don't use the lock but you seem to be implying that you use it every time you ride. Is that the case? Do people use them all the time? Perhaps I have been missing something.
 
frozenuts said:
If you have ever seen someones face after they crashed without the visor locked you would understand why it is there. The visor opened, closed, opened, got snagged on the ground, shattered, and cut the dude on the bridge of his nose, forehead, and below his eye.
Click to expand...
This is totally against my experience in this matter. You're not just making this up by chance are you? Was it a Shoei helmet?

The last time I tested a Shoei helmet by sliding down the road on my face at high speed (Oct 2003) both the visor and that little lock thingy were quickly ripped right off of the helmet. The little lock was NOT engaged and no plastic pieces cut me anywhere. Here's a photo of the helmet:

helmet.jpg
 
revnort said:
This is why I posted. I don't use the lock but you seem to be implying that you use it every time you ride. Is that the case? Do people use them all the time? Perhaps I have been missing something.
Click to expand...

I never use mine. :laughing

I was shooting a track day and watched as a dude leaked oil onto his rear tire and spun it up. I got the whole sequence which is how I know what happened and once the fire was out on his brand new motorbike he was wondering how he got all the cuts on his face.

I was just supplying an answer as to why it is there. :thumbup

I am testing out a new Arai Defiant helmet and noticed that the visor has an unlocked, a partially locked, and a not gonna open unless you really want it to setting. If you just flip the visor down it opens and closes with ease, including opening slightly when I check my blind spot on the freeway. If you flip it down and push on the visor where the lock is, the visor clicks into place sealing the front and allowing you to slide the lock into the third phase if you like. I have never owned an Arai so I am not sure if All models are like that.

To answer Scott's question, I think it was a Scorpion and its "unbreakable" shield. I will see if I can find a pic.
 
I always use mine on my Arais. When the visor is down, I lock it. I want as much protection of my face as I can get if I'm sliding down the road on my head. The Arai sounds similar to Shoei's system in the if the lock is slid to the right then the helmet is closed, it will leave an air gap. Lock slid to the left, the visor seals but will open and shut easily by hand. Visor closed then lock slid to the right locks the visor closed. The locking mechanism is recessed in the chinbar portion of the helmet likely reducing the chance of getting caught.
 
ilikefood said:
Visor locks are useful to make the visor seal tighter, so you don't end up with wind drying out your eyes on long highway rides.
Click to expand...

This. I click it on my Arai everytime I ride, unless I know I'm going to need to crack the visor. Keeps a nice tight seal and it's easy to disengage if I need to do so.
 
I know on my Bell Star that the visor lock works two ways. One way is that it locks the visor against the rubber seal and won't let the visor move up. If I move the lever the other way it will lift the visor out away from the rubber seal a bit and let in air around the front ( really helpful when your visor is fogging because the frigging anti-fog coating is not working).
 
Crashed with an Arai, face rode the dirt, visor was locked and stayed locked. Kept the crap out. Whenever fogging is not an issue, esp at high speeds (it's quieter locked), it's locked.
 
If I turn around to look behind me at the track, the visor on my HJC helmet will flip up if not locked and I'm going over about 120mph.
 
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