Hello adventure riders. Some thoughts or ideas that I’ve have found useful for riding in Alaska and Canada. Just finished my third trip a couple of weeks ago and my must have list has only changed a little. Besides the usual, being able to remove your tires and put a tube in it for really big holes. Light camping gear when there’s no room at the inn, which can be often. Tools and minor spare part and nuts and bolts. Gortex clothing, heated liner and at least bee’s waxed boots. The Number One Thing You Need to prepare for that I was not ready for was: “SEEING IN THE RAIN” This year was the wettest I every rode in. I thought I could see in the rain with my new GS and high wind shield—not. The problem lies in the fact that the airflow is different for each rider, bike and windshield airflow. I’ve always had my windshield height just below my line of sight. This has also kept the wind buffeting off my helmet for a comfortable long distance ride. Here in lies the problem, with dead air in your face the helmet visor doesn’t clear it’s self. I’ve tried different kinds of RainX type products for plastic and they don’t work without a in your face airflow. I’ve been to NewFoundland, Panama Canal and 2nd trip to Prudhoe Bay ( all alone ) and this year was the worse. Slippery slimy mud with 80/20 tires was just doable but not seeing was a pain in the ass. My suggestion is to put your lowest windshield on, crank it down and try riding in a light to med. rain for some distance. I’ve just did over 1500 miles in the rain slipping and sliding in 2nd to 4th gear for hundreds of miles was an “ Adventure “. But driving at speed on lumpy pavement trying to maintain the flow of traffic with limited vision was somewhat dangerous. I did notice other GS’s flying by as they have figured out this SEEING IN The Rain skill that for this trip I wasn’t prepared for. Never any regrets as I loved the experience but like most long trips you come back learning something new to work on. Any suggestions, please post. bobz
Type to enter text
Thank you for the reply. Pinlocks are a antifogging on the inside of your face shield additions to your helmet. It does nothing to shed the water sitting outside of the face shield. If your ever skied you would notice the goggles have a double walled lens to prevent fogging. The outside lens is up against the cold and the inside lens is up against the body temp thus preventing fogging. I have pinlocks, RainX type liquid, antifogging liquid and swipes and the standing rain on the outside of the face shield that's the problem. Thanks bobz
You need to change the air flow. Lower the wind screen, replace the screen, duct air with a deflector or do something else to change the air flow. Just moving your head to the side into the air flow works too but is impractical for long periods of time, but if it is all you got then do it. Get gloves or three finger rain covers with a squeegee on the left index finger; it works wonders.
You know the problem.... you stated the cause clearly in your first post. If you do not change the conditions (air flow), then the results will remain the same.
Great post. On either end of the spectrum I have problems, but not in the middle and I have the smallest windscreen (the standard one on GS Rallye). Mist is impossible to clear with glove or wind, and deluge where buckets are coming down everything looks wiggly. In those occasions, I simply slow or stop. In the middle, wind clears it and when I want really clear I move my index finger across the screen.
Thanks for starting this thread. I, too, have no yet developed a good solution. Last winter I became so exasperated I bought a new Bell helmet with a heated visor to replace my Schuberth C3 Pro with pinlock (which I never found that effective.) Heated visors are a common snowmobile solution, and certain models of helmets, such as my new Bell, have them available. However, since my new helmet was much more open and had a lot of airflow (compared to the C3 Pro) I thought that alone would suffice and I didn't ever hook up the electric visor, and installed a non-heated one in its place. I was wrong. In April I was driving in drizzle in Texas and found that my new "airy" helmet was not doing a nearly good enough job, and wished I had persevered with the heated visor. I might still do that.
I have a Shoei Neotec 2 helmet that came with a pinlock shield that works very well. I use my Lee Parks
DeerTours Outseam summer gloves for better feel and my Aerostich triple digit glove covers that have a wiper on the left.
They keep my hands warm into the high 30's and my visor clear.
Hi Rick, I have the same helmet, pinlock, Aerostich-triple-digit-gloves as you, various finger and glove mounted wipers and still couldn't see where I was going in the rain. I even tried a heated snowmobile face shield. Pinlocks & heated face shields are for preventing inside the face shield fogging. trip in May & June to Prudhoe Bay was my wettest on my 50 yr riding experience. An hour here or there is no big thing but all day for many days was tiring. Changing the air flow over my face shield would help, but when it's not raining I would have to put up with the buffeting. I just posted a link to a helmet mounted wireless bluetooth controlled wiper system. I know it sure sounds like overkill but when most of Canada and Alaska was raining, I sure would have liked helmet wipers:smile2:. I will keep an eye out to see if others like this system.
For those like me who can't see on long trips with much rain, you might check out this upcoming cordless, bluetooth controlled, helmet wiper system. www.rainpal.net. It comes from the UK where they know a thing or two about riding in the rain.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
R1200GS Forum
113.5K posts
28.7K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to BMW R 1200 GS motorcycle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about maintenance, performance, classifieds, troubleshooting, and more!