Fourth Best Helmet Half-Priced

[m@Robertson]

On the subject of visors, I won't do without them.

• Riding on city streets you are traveling in a set direction and its often a benefit in shading your eyes from the sun like any visor would be.
• Riding in the rain, a visor makes a big difference in how much water gets to your eyes. A bigger deal if you wear glasses I think, which I do.
• The visor is the ideal mount for a rear view mirror. It lets that mirror be braced along its boom so it becomes a rock-solid, jitter-free wide screen TV of the entire road behind you, visible without turning your head.

A better view of the mirror placement (mask is to limit my insect intake as I am dieting. Tucked up against the bottom of the wraparound lens as a swarm of noseeums rolling in under the lenses is sub-optimal)

 

[onlineaddy]

For protective equipment I prefer something that protects me better than looking better. But, if the form (as opposed to function) gets you to wear them, then I can't fault your rationale.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

On the subject of visors, I won't do without them.

Ditto. Really have to keep the sun out of my eyes for both safety and comfort. If you ride in nice scenery, also improves the view.

I'm using the dorky-looking but very effective Rezzo add-on visor by DaBrim on my ABUS Pedelec 2.0 helmet. The velcro-based attachment system may look questionable, but I've never had to tighten mine in over a year. Rock-solid on bumpy trails and 35-mph descents.

 

[Rexlion]

A better view of the mirror placement (mask is to limit my insect intake as I am dieting.

Huh? Even with today's high beef prices, you're passing up free, high-protein edibles?

 

[m@Robertson]

Huh? Even with today's high beef prices, you're passing up free, high-protein edibles?

If I start coveting 'edibles' they won't have wings and six legs.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On the subject of visors, I won't do without them.

• Riding on city streets you are traveling in a set direction and its often a benefit in shading your eyes from the sun like any visor would be.

I wear photochromic lenses. Besides, the visor has never helped me against the sunshine with my Bell Super Air R MIPS Spherical helmet.

• Riding in the rain, a visor makes a big difference in how much water gets to your eyes. A bigger deal if you wear glasses I think, which I do.

It's disputable to me. I wear glasses as well.

• The visor is the ideal mount for a rear view mirror. It lets that mirror be braced along its boom so it becomes a rock-solid, jitter-free wide screen TV of the entire road behind you, visible without turning your head.

I am against using helmet rear view mirrors (YM M certainly V)

 

[m@Robertson]

the visor has never helped me against the sunshine with my Bell Super Air R MIPS Spherical helmet.

The top pic in my post above shows my own Super Air R, which I bought specifically for that (irrelevant to this discussion) spherical MIPS improvement. The rear view mirror is attached. Riding it in the sunshine of Central California - which can be described best as blistering - the visor does a notable job. Probably in part because the streets are laid out in a N/S and E/W grid, so literally half the time on a commute you are facing either steady morning or evening sun.

It's disputable to me. I wear glasses as well.

Ride on the coast where wind drives rain sideways. Less rain pelting your face and lenses is a benefit quickly appreciated.

I am against using helmet rear view mirrors (YM M certainly V)

Why is that? I know that rear view mirrors tend to be bouncy and thus worthless, but that issue is solved by using the visor to clamp down the boom on the mirror, which then becomes literally rock steady. The mirror I use is up and out of forward vision, but I can still see the entire road behind me - not just a fragment of a lane - without moving my head and eyes away from watching where I am going. There are mirrors that are little roundels that would not give such a wide field, but what I use does, very nicely.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I know that rear view mirrors tend to be bouncy and thus worthless

None of my Mirrycles are bouncy. Have used them on all my e-bikes for the last 5 years. The helmet mirror might hurt your face (eyes!) on a crash.

 

[m@Robertson]

None of my Mirrycles are bouncy. Have used them on all my e-bikes for the last 5 years. The helmet mirror might hurt your face (eyes!) on a crash.

I've never liked handlebar mirrors. The view is a small fraction of what you can get from the helmet mirror. But the biggest issue for me is I have never liked moving my eyesight down and away from my path ahead, and losing that 1-2 seconds of awareness as to what is directly in front of you while you get just the right view in the mirror.

You can see in that head-on pic above the mirror is well away from my face. For me at least thats enough to not worry about it. The one time where I crashed and landed on my helmet, in part flopping around on my face, my mirror just flexed and stayed put. Doesn't mean its not impossible for something awful to happen, but the benefits outweigh that risk in my assessment, a zillion times over.

Maybe my risk assessment risk would be different if I was attaching the mirror to a set of eyeglasses, which put it a lot closer to my face, but its quite a ways away on the visor of a helmet.