| Author | Message | ||
     Fltwistygirl |
Soooo, was on my way to work this morning and had an experience that prolly lasted about ten seconds that made me go hmmmmm....and think "what would y'all do?" The scenario: Bike was running great, the heated hand grips were keeping my hands toasty warm, and my seldom worn winter layers all doing their job on this beautifully chilly (37 degrees) bright  (!) Florida morning. Traffic was light and I was looking forward to a good day with a great class. Life is good, or so it was... The dilemna: Next thing I know, I'm heading towards a generally busy intersection pointing due east and YIKES! I cannot see the traffic signal light! It's hidden by the glare of the sun! I can barely make out the shape of the traffic light and cannot see if it is illuminating green, yellow or red. I check my mirrors to see if anyone is behind me before I start slowing down, and see it is clear. Whew! There is no one in front of me so I don't have the luxury of brake lights of other traffic to use to see if other vehicles who may be able to see better are slowing down near the intersection. Despite never being thrilled about taking my hand off the handgrip while on the road, I raise my visor with my left hand to see if that helps. Nada! I try to hold my glove in front of the faceshield to try to block some of the sun's glare. No luck! Looking for any clue about the light, I noticed there are no cars pulling out of the restaurant's frontage road towards the intersection. Finally, creeping along in first gear right before the intersection, I catch a glimpse that the light is green. I proceed and get on with my day. So, nothing bad happened but it got me thinking about how to prevent this from happening again. The cause/possible solutions: I change my visor from tinted to clear at the end of summer riding season to accommodate riding more in the dark. Maybe clear is too light and something a little darker would cut the glare better than the clear? I do not have a fancy drop down sun shield in my helmet, I just change from regular glasses to sunglasses as needed. Maybe a drop down shield in conjunction with my sunglasses may have been enough to cut the glare? Or maybe none of those options work  and I just need to say no to my my second cup of coffee and leave for work ten minutes earlier this time of year to anticipate the glare? Thoughts? Ride safe and thanks. B. | ||
| Etennuly |
Anticipating the glare is the best solution. When I lived in Tampa area, for a while I had to do I4 to Lakeland in the morning into the sun, and into the sun again on my way home. Glare has to be the number one cause of wrecks on that highway, morning and evening. It would give me a headache on my way to and from work. To avoid it I drove secondary roads as much as possible to break up the sunlight with trees. I knew some pilots who said that they would hold a hand up with their thumb sticking up blocking the sun. I have an old racing trick that I do on my shield if I know I am about to ride mostly into the sun. I cover the top part of my shield with several layers of dark colored masking tape, down almost to my normal line of sight. Then I can simply tip my head down to block the sun. Don't leave the tape on a good shield over night though. I will swap my dark shield with my clear one several times a day if needed. One of those things that is best practiced enough to be able to do it in the dark or when raining. | ||
| Arry |
Some dualsport/adventure/dirtbike style helmets have a "duckbill" visor. I don't know if this would help, if holding your gloved hand up didn't. I have a helmet like this and it helps going into sunrise/sunset, but I wish the visor was longer. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yea, the sun can be brutal this time of year, especially early in the morning. About the only thing you can do is adjust the time of your commute or change your route. In a lot of places they put "ears" on either side of traffic lights to make them easier to see in these circumstances- you might try complaining to the city or DMV and see if they can do something like that. You can't be the only person that's had the problem. As for face shields, you could change to one of the "flip face" helmets that has an internal tinted visor that can be dropped down with an external lever. That seems like a really neat feature. I saw where somebody recently introduced a visor that is photo-sensitive (like the eyeglasses that automatically adjust their darkness), but they weren't cheap. ~$100 or so IIRC. Still, that might be cheap insurance. | ||
| Froggy |
E-tint electronic automatically tinting visor. Changes faster than you can blink, and has both automatic and manual modes. | ||
| Jsg4dfan |
I've used a well-placed strip of black duct tape across the top of my visor for the "head-dip" maneuver suggested by Etunnuly for some time now. I leave it there all the time. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I think in the winter, it's just a "be prepared" thing. Sun is lower on the horizon, even at noon, than it is in summer. Early/late in the day, it's even lower - as you noticed. I also keep about 3/4" of tape across the top of my visor, for a tip/block move when needed. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I removed the face shield from my full face helmet and took it to a local place that does window tinting. I asked for the top half to be tinted very dark. They used "limo tint" film and charged me $20. This has been working perfectly for over a year now. I wish I had done it sooner! I recommend this highly. | ||
| Pontlee77 |
I recommend to check this: http://www.sunax.de/ I have never tried them, but seem to be the answer to your problem. | ||
| Treefrog |
My last two helmets have had the drop down sun visor. I will never own another helmet without one. Currently, my ride into work consist of 40 minutes of almost due east riding just after sun-up. If it ain't cloudy, I'm running inner shield down. If the sun is blinding you to the front, it is also affecting what you see in the mirrors too. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The Sunax looks interesting; I found a review here: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/sunax-sunshield/ There's a link to the U.S. distributor near the bottom of the page. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Just goes with the territory every now and then. This time of year sun-up and sundown are a bitch out here too. A problem exacerbated by E-W roads... You did about everything I use when in that situation. Best I've found is a strategically placed left hand. Squint a lot. Ain't no fixin' "riding into the sun". Be safe Belinda Z | ||
| 7873jake |
I use FogCity Speedtint strip across the top of my Nolan face shield. It works well with or without the sun shield down. A little head tilt like others here have described. I think I paid around $10 for it at Iron Pony on one of my trips to Ohio a few years ago. | ||
| Froggy |
(Message edited by Froggy on November 26, 2012) | ||
| Buewulf |
The have a few lights in here Houston, TX where the stoplight lenses are INTENTIONALLY polarized so that a driver cannot tell which lamp is illuminated until you are nearly at the intersection. I guess the idea is to have people approach the intersection slowly and cautiously, but the actual result is a mix of recklessness, overly cautious behavior and outright panic from drivers - utter chaos. So stupid. I always carry two shields - a dark smoke and a clear. I know that isn't practical for everyone, but that is the only solution I know of unless you have a light-sensitive visor as some have mentioned. I have never had an issue with glare using the dark smoke visor. | ||
| Chorizo |
I tape the bottom of my Nolan shield about an inch so when its flipped up and open it acts as a bill of a cap providing shade as well as blocking the sun all day. Helps prevent roasting your nose too. I ride with safety glasses to so I can leave it up for ventilation and better vision. There is one corner going home at sundown thats tough. I use my left hand too like an outfielder looking into the sun. Mostly what others said. Just know its coming helps. | ||
| Uly_man |
I was out the other morning. Low very bright sun, fog clouding the visor (it was tinted so that does not help), eye glasses misting inside and wet if visor raised and some rain as well. I could not see a dammed thing. And the worst I have ever had it. You need to ride to the conditions so I just slowed to a pace that was safe. One good tip is not to look at or over the horizon if it is just sunlight. You should, more or less, be looking between in the middle point between just in front of the bike and just below the horizon. Run at a safe pace and leave a bigger than normal gap for your "escape route" than normal and you should be fine. | ||
| Trevd |
This reminds me of a time I was in Duluth, MN, having stayed overnight to stop in at the Aerostich store in the morning. It was raining when I arrived in Duluth, and it was rainy and VERY foggy the next morning after my shopping trip. It was the thickest fog I've ever seen. Trying to find my way out of town in the thick, thick fog, I suddenly found myself in the MIDDLE of an intersection that I hadn't even known was there because I couldn't see it, and I was going through a red light. Scared the freaking crap out of me! Luckily there was no one coming the other way (I guess - I really couldn't see) otherwise I would have been toast. 2 miles down the road the fog started to lift, and was totally gone a few miles later. That easily has to go down as one of the scariest moments of my riding career. That, combined with the crappy motel I stayed at, has convinced me that I'm in no hurry to go back to Duluth. I just order my Aerostich stuff now... | ||
| Britchri10 |
I rode on the back of my fathers C90 in thick fog. He found his way by "riding" the kerb with his foot (we were doing all of 6 MPH) About 5 miles from home he stopped for no known reason, got off, beckoned me & we walked forward. 30 feet in front of us was the edge of a chalk pit. We walked home pushing the bike from there! Fog is not fun. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Thanks all for your replies. I figured if the issue happed with me, it has happened to some of you, and the group here on BB & D tend to be pretty resourceful. This has resulted in several more potential tools to be added to the arsenal for us badweather bikers. Poor visibility is no joke on a bike. In my previous corporate chapter of life, I made the same commute in the car. Still treacherous then with not being able to see the light until one was right on it, but more comfortable with tinted windows, 4 wheels and a cage to protect you. The alternative road on my commute from A to B is parallel to original road and also headed due east. Less attractive choice since its further out of the way and has even more intersections and snow birds along the way. Funny some of you mentioned fog. That's another hazard common here in FL this time of year, but managed somewhat by watching the morning weather and deciding from there whether it will be a drive the truck and run errands instead type of day versus take the Uly. The pileups on I 75 near Gainesville last winter and on I -4 in Polk County a few years back lend anyone with any sense of self preservation to have a healthy respect for fog. And the mention of Duluth, wow! I was teaching a class there a couple summers back and encountered some of the worst fog I'd ever seen. If we had not been wearing hi viz shirts/vests, one coach would not have been able to see the other across the range. A teachable moment for sure, for students and instructors alike. "What gear can you (and others) see better in conditions like this?" Great city, though, but the weather can be unforgiving. Another point made above is is unfamiliar roads. I was lucky last weekend, I knew the roads and the traffic patterns. In unfamiliar territory, it is another ball of wax with a different series of "what ifs" to try to anticipate. For me, for now, the tinted shield is going back on AND I am leaving ten minutes earlier. I think a separate sun visor will be on my new helmet wish list. Thanks again for all the info and be safe out there. B. | ||
| Chorizo |
Fog, sun, and no lights at all give meaning to a "butt sucking vinyl moment" Where a few seconds feels like an eternity. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
I have had great luck with my Dual Sport helmet. I use the visor more often than I ever thought I would. I also wear Panoptix sunglasses. My wife's are Dawn/dusk as she will not drive at night. Mine are day/night and will change from full tint to full clear. They are little spendy, but worth the investment. They also have a number of shapes to fit eye sockets as there is a layer of foam around the eyes to cut down on wind. Good luck!  | ||
| Uly_man |
VERY clean helmet optics, with as few as possible scratches, will help a lot. None is best. Any scratches will "bloom" the incoming light making it MUCH harder to see whats going on. A dark visor is not needed because a sudden flash of light could be gone before you can do anything about it. Clear vision and knowing how to deal with this situation is all that is needed. Looking after your visor is a MUST on a bike and need to be treated as you would eye glasses. |
