Fogging up

[DocArtie]

Hey all,
    New to the group and new to riding.  Took the MSF class just to join my wife (never had interest in riding).  I took to riding like a lab to water and we bought an almost new Honda Rebel 2 days after passing the course.  I put on about 700 miles commuting to & from work, made some (a lot of) mistakes but kept the bike upright, myself in one piece, and eventually outgrew it.  Well this past week I traded in the rebel and bought a Suzuki M50Z with 7K on it (new rear tire & 8K service just done).  I'm happier than you could imagine. It satisfies all my mid-life crisis needs and the wife is happy too .
     Now for the newbie question (and I have tons but I'll start different threads for different topics):  We live in the pacific northwest (Seattle) so the weather is often cold (not east coast cold but still cold).  I bought a balaclava and my glasses perpetually fog as does my helmet visor.  I've tried the spray on anti-fog and that works for all of 2 minutes and then makes visibility WORSE    I'm contemplating switching back to contacts but that won't help the visor issue.
    Looking forward to many miles, many friends, and lots of learning.

-Z (or DocArtie)

[Yankee Dog]

pin lock visor. works like a charm.

you can also go with the Fogg City insert. if you do clean your shield very, very well before installation. The FC works just as well as the pin lock and is cheaper. However it is not as reliable (see warning to clean). I now spend the extra bucks and go with the pin lock.

forget all the wipe on, wipe off stuff. waste of money. You might as well use spit.

[Cablebandit]

For the visor get a Pinlock insert.  They work. Period.  As far as the glasses go, be sure to keep the front vent open to keep the air flowing in the helmet.  Also make sure not to breathe too heavily when at a stop light, etc.  Once you're moving the glasses should de-fog.

[sprocket]

Dont know what kind of helmet you wear, but some have a setting that allows just enough air to keep the shield defogged. I too have tried many different antifog sloutions, the only thing that work 100% of the time is about 80 MPH or so.
And as far as riding when its raining hard for very long, your gonna get some leakage on the inside of the shield.

[DocArtie]

Great input.   Thanks everyone for such quick responses.  Some follow up questions:
1) For the Pin-Lock:  Do I have to buy it on-line or can I just walk in to my local gear store (I don't mind the extra few dollars to know I've got the right one for my helmet)?
2) For the glasses:  Should I look at something other than a balaclava or will anything that keeps the heat in make my glasses fog?

[ConPilot1]

Your balaclava will make the fogging on your glasses/sheild worse IMHO.

Listen about the Pinlok, see if you can find somebody you know who has one that you can borrow their lid for a bit
and see if you like it. It wasn't for me, and the whole ordeal cost me $77 bucks to find out that I didn't like it.

I just crack my shield a bit to avoid fogging. I always enjoyed the cold/cool air on m face anyway so that's not an issue.
It's really not a problem until the temps get down into the very low 20's, high teens.

[caddydaddy]

I've used one of these through several years of New England winters:

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

No need to crack your visor or breathe slowly, just ride!

[Skee]

2) For the glasses:

I have found the following solutions work:
1) Don't wear them.
2) If you must wear them, hold you breath a lot at stoplights
3) Ride with your visor half open; you want to cover your glasses to block cinders.  Once your face gets cold enough, they'll stop fogging.  

You might also want to try the Respro mask as the next best alternative.

[jbs80106]

Colorado chiming in!

I have a balacava that I have worn only 1x when it was REALLY cold out.  Rest of the time in the winter I wear a fleece neck-warmer (fabric is like a standard fleece jacket, but is like an open ended sock for your neck).  Pull it over your head, put your jacket on, then helmet.  Keeps my neck warm, keeps cold drafts from going down my jacket and with it snugged up to my chin, it is really effective.  It does seem to change the air flow through the bottom of my helmet, but usually enough to keep my visor from fogging up.  When stopped try to remember to breath through your nose vs your mouth, and pop up the visor a bit too to minimize fogging.....when the fog ices up then that's a different problem....

BTW, got the neck fleece in Breckenridge a few summers ago at a ski shop closeout sale......

[Trent in WA]

I feel your pain - another year-round Seattle rider here, with glasses. Contacts aren't really an option for me, alas.

My experience with anti-fog products and devices is pretty extensive. The anti-fog sprays that are easily available in local bike shops (Fog Off and Zook's) are mediocre at best. Fog Off works OK unless you're in stop-and-go traffic, in which case it will only speed the fog's clearing when you get moving. Zook's is worse than useless.

FogTech (from Motosolutions) is tricky to apply but works OK - if applied as directed. Otherwise, it's kind of a pain in the ass but better than nothing. Clarity Defog It is the only solution I've tried that works and is relatively easy to apply correctly. Even so, around here you need to reapply it once a day. I'm not sure if any local bike shops carry either FogTech or Clarity, but they can be ordered directly.

I've had no success with either of the mechanical anti-fog devices. The Fogg City insert was, as stated below, tricky to apply and would scratch if you looked at it cross-eyed. The Pinlok system worked well enough (on my Shoei) while it worked, which wasn't for long. With both the Fogg City and the Pinlok, the helmet gasket scratched them just from the process of opening and closing the visor, introducing a fair bit of distortion after a couple months of use. The Pinlok added the irritation of rotating ever so slightly down and away from the visor surface, so that the seal between it and the visor was compromised. When that happened, instead of having three surfaces in my helmet that would fog, I had five: the inside of the visor, the front and back of my glasses, and the front and back of the Pinlok insert. After replacing the insert twice, I gave up and just went to using Clarity on the visor as well as on my specs.

Balaclavas will definitely make the fogging worse. They tend to direct exhaled breath upwards towards your glasses. Try a neck gaiter instead, or wear turtlenecks all winter.  

Hope this helps,
Trent

p.s. Where are you in Seattle? I'm in Lake City.

[Justin]

I've used one of these through several years of New England winters:

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

No need to crack your visor or breathe slowly, just ride!

+1 - Respro Foggy is awesome.

[sfalexi]

I just bought a respro foggy mask.  I like that it's designed to keep the fog from appearing in the firt place instead of just treating the fog AFTER it's appeared.  Sorta treating the CAUSE instead of the SYMPTOM.

The fog city inserts and other visor treatments might work, but they are designed for visors, not glasses.  The respro foggy is probablly your best bet.  And if you order from respro's site, the price is good and they will ship to free anywhere in the world  Even if it's just one small thing.

Alexi

[Mo Throttle]

pin loc +1

[backoutonthehighway]

My recommendation when riding in rain is

1. Make sure your shield actually seals. As in it forms a water tight seal all the way around the eye port.
2. PinLock. I've tried a lot of other "solutions" and I couldn't be happier with this one. I've tried to fog it up and can't.
3. Don't wear glasses under the shield - I haven't found anything that could keep them from fogging up.
4. Don't open the shield once you are under way - it just lets rain onto the back side of the shield where you can't wipe it away.
5. Buy gloves with a built in squeegee on the thumb

Cheers!

[02Tac]

Great input.   Thanks everyone for such quick responses.  Some follow up questions:
2) For the glasses:  Should I look at something other than a balaclava or will anything that keeps the heat in make my glasses fog?

I wear glasses and use a balaclava, but I use one that does not cover my mouth or nose. This keeps me breath from away from my glasses so they don't fog up.  For my shield, I clean it often and use Turtle Was Ice (paste) on the inside and outside of the shield which eliminates fogging with the shield closed while in motion and slightly cracked when stopped.  This is the case in both my HJC IS-Max and Shoei X-12.

[02Tac]

 They seem like a very good idea, but I tried one last year and just could not get it to fit properly with my glasses and seing as I do not use contacts, it just did not work for me.

I just bought a respro foggy mask.  I like that it's designed to keep the fog from appearing in the firt place instead of just treating the fog AFTER it's appeared.  Sorta treating the CAUSE instead of the SYMPTOM.

The fog city inserts and other visor treatments might work, but they are designed for visors, not glasses.  The respro foggy is probablly your best bet.  And if you order from respro's site, the price is good and they will ship to free anywhere in the world  Even if it's just one small thing.

Alexi

[sfalexi]

One extreme solution, if you're willing to spend just a little more coin, is to look at helmets/visors marketed towards snowmobiles.  They will usually be a fullface helmet, and in the winter, you can switch to (if you buy it), a heated visor. It'll plug in, and it'll keep it hot which will keep it from fogging up.  Sort of a "defroster" for the helmet.

For a quick reference point, the Scorpion EXO 400 is a fullface helmet for about 150, you can get a heated visor for it for another 100.  That heated kit also comes with a "breath box" which helps keep the breath away (I guess it's Scorpion's version of the foggy respro).  Maybe more than you're willing to spend, but if I was commuting every day (which I do), and it was a problem I got sick and tired of dealing with, I'd do what I could to fix it to make a daily routine less of a hassle.

Just an idea.

Alexi

[Justin]

One extreme solution, if you're willing to spend just a little more coin, is to look at helmets/visors marketed towards snowmobiles.  They will usually be a fullface helmet, and in the winter, you can switch to (if you buy it), a heated visor. It'll plug in, and it'll keep it hot which will keep it from fogging up.  Sort of a "defroster" for the helmet.

With HJC helmets, the snow shields fit their standard helmets. That's the only difference between their snow machine and m/c helmets. For $20-$30 or so you can get a double pane face shield and just swap it with your normal shield. Can get a heated shield for like $80-$90.  For example, the one below is what fits my Sy-Max.

http://www.snowcitymi.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=131

Will even warm your face a bit  

[hazra]

Great input.   Thanks everyone for such quick responses.  Some follow up questions:
1) For the Pin-Lock:  Do I have to buy it on-line or can I just walk in to my local gear store (I don't mind the extra few dollars to know I've got the right one for my helmet)?
2) For the glasses:  Should I look at something other than a balaclava or will anything that keeps the heat in make my glasses fog?

I've found that if the balaclava covers your nose and mouth, it directs exhaled air up to your shield.  What works for me is leaving my nose uncovered and opening my shield when stopped.

[Mortech]

I also in the rainy PNW , I found keeping my visor 1/3 open at stop lights and while going slow works to keep my visor clear which also keeps my glasses unfogged ... this is going to be a great weekend for riding around here ! Maybe I'll see you on the road along I-5 .