My Eyes!

[akima]

When riding at slow speeds ( < 20MPH ), I often have my visor up. I've had a couple of occasions where either dust or a tiny spec have gone in my eyes.

When the spec of dirt went in one of my eyes, it starting watering and I had to pull over to try and remove it . Must have looked strange seeing a random biker, seemingly crying by the road side!

I'd like to know:

1) What is your opinion on riding with no eye protection? (ie: do you think it's safe to only do it at a low speed? Are there certain weather or road conditions which you either always wear eye protection for or never wear eye protection for?)

2) Have you had any accidents or incidents related to something going in your eye? Have you seen it happen to another rider? Tell us your story!

[alex.s]

1) low speed is not so bad i think
2) crap has gone in my eyes plenty of times... nothing bad has ever come from it outside of painful eyes
3) a few times... most of the time its just dust or something small that goes away with some squinting/whatever your eye does when you have something in it

one time i was on the freeway going about 70 and i popped up my visor for a second cause it was fogging up... right then some huge bug smashed into my windshield i think i blew a bunch of guts at my face... went in my visor ... nasty nasty i pulled over and cleaned myself up at the gas station

[akima]

Originally Posted by alex.s

one time i was on the freeway going about 70 and i popped up my visor for a second cause it was fogging up... right then some huge bug smashed into my windshield i think i blew a bunch of guts at my face... went in my visor ... nasty nasty i pulled over and cleaned myself up at the gas station

Ewww lol! Unlucky situation for you and the bug. I'm sure the lil bug would rather have kept his guts off your face.

[Alex]

I've had small specks of metal had to be taken out of my eye from exactly this. I'll put up the shield only slightly, and sometimes from even behind a windscreen, but somehow road debris makes its way in. It's a numbers game. Ride long enough with no eye protection, and over time there will be instances where debris gets exactly where it shouldn't.

[gt_turbo]

i wear prescription glasses and wear my helmet. when riding around town 30 mph or less, i flip up my visor and a few times dirt or something still manages to get in my eyes.

[Heed]

you should always wear eye protection.. you;re not in a cage

thats like saying it's safe to wear no gear only at a low speed.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by Heed

you should always wear eye protection.. you;re not in a cage

yes.

Originally Posted by Heed

thats like saying it's safe to wear no gear only at a low speed.

eh. kinda.



One day, I forgot my sunglasses, so I put up my visor in a school zone because it was hot and I had to stop and go and the breeze felt really good. When I got past the school, I got up to speed and forgot to put my face shield back down, and proptly got NAILED in the eye by one of those giant, slow, fat bumblebees. I saw it coming right before it hit and managed to close my eye, but I had to pull off, my eye was watering that badly. I had a bruise on my left eye socket, and I couldn't wear my contacts for a week because my eye was so sore. I haven't ridden without eye protection since.

[akima]

From reading people's responses here, I'm already getting the impression I should adjust my behaviour. I think I'll only ride with my visor up at 10MPH or less from now on.

[Scattcatt]

had some junk fly in my eyes like dust, but I rarely ever have my visor open. Pretty much if I'm rolling, my visor is secured down. The dust I'm assuming enters from under the helmet by my chin, or maybe the visor doesn't have that great of a seal and gets in around the rubber seal. Not too sure. I noticed I get it worse on my Bilt helmet than my Vega. I did have to quit wearing contacts while riding though, if I was even the slightest bit tired, those things dried out faster than you could say, "whoops I'm on the freeway!". That was the only time I've had to pull over for something in my eyes

[Mountain Dew]

I wear prescription glasses (oakleys, so they're wide and the frame is almost flush with my face) with my helmet. Even with my visor *almost* closed (like one click before closing) dust and such still manages to get in my eyes. Even with my visor closed and glasses on dust still manages to get in my eyes.

Only thing I can think of is the mesh chin thing.

[Bill N]

I ride with either clear or tinted plastic lens glasses (Non corrective) under my face shield. This way I can raise or lower the windshield without worry.
Bill

[gfloyd2002]

ATGATT includes eye protection. I've learned the hard way and gotten something in my eye from low speed riding and my visor up that required a trip to the opthamologist. Visor down now all the time, even with my glasses on underneath. Stuff kicks up from the road, and with your visor up, it is just a matter of miles before it happens to you.

[Live2ride]

I ride with my visor open 90% of the time, whether it's 20mph or 65mph I just find it soothing to have the wind in my face. I always where either protective / work glasses or sunglasses. I tend to close the visor if it get's too cold or there are too many bugs; other than that I open it enough where the wind won't snap my neck but enough for circulation.

p.s. never had to pull over for anything though.

[miss_syn]

I have big ugly sunglasses that I wear underneath my helmet so I ride with the visor up till like 35mph... haven't gotten anything yet.

And then their was that time even with my visor down my bangs got loose and flew into my eyes poking me. Had to pull over and take the helmet off so they got tucked in beside the padding. #girlproblems

[Magz]

As others have said, I will in low speed, stop and go kind of traffic. Other than that very rarely. I'd much rather have sweat in my eyeball than a kamikaze grasshopper.

[CThunder-blue]

Just curious why you ride with the visor open? Is it because of heat? You might find that a tinted visor helps keep your face cooler than opening your visor all the way. Although I know if you commute during hours when it's dark, that's not an option. For fog, I just open my visor 1 notch. My Shoei RF-1100 has 7 adjustment points from open to close so it's still protects me pretty well until I gain enough speed to close it w/o fogging issues. It also comes with a chin skirt and I use that all the time.

I also ride with prescription lenses. I've had specs of dirt hit my eye, but it didn't bother me as the one time a bug hit my mouth vent and splatter bug parts through. I didn't stop, but it didn't feel good either.

[akima]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

Just curious why you ride with the visor open? Is it because of heat? You might find that a tinted visor helps keep your face cooler than opening your visor all the way.

I ride with it open because it sometimes steams up a bit when I come to a stop, so I pop it open: it gets a bit tedious opening and closing it when I'm stopping and starting in quick succession. It's also nice to get the fresh air coming in.

In England you can only legally wear very mildly tinted visors. I'm not sure why they have that rule because there is no rule to say you can't have extremely tinted sunglasses on underneath the visor.

[CThunder-blue]

You may might consider breathing out of your mouth slowly, directing your breath downwards. That helps me quite a bit on those chilly mornings. I have glasses that fog like crazy and have also tried defogging solutions, which never worked. The one fog solution that does work are the film type inserts that you stick on the inside of the visor. Those work pretty well. http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...T.ac=SLIsearch

[akima]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

You may might consider breathing out of your mouth slowly, directing your breath downwards. That helps me quite a bit on those chilly mornings. I have glasses that fog like crazy and have also tried defogging solutions, which never worked. The one fog solution that does work are the film type inserts that you stick on the inside of the visor. Those work pretty well. http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...T.ac=SLIsearch

Oooh. Thanks for the tips

[Jiggles]

I wear aviator sun glasses under my visor in order to prevent dust (and wind) from hitting my eyes.

[massacremasses]

If my visor is up I have my

1. eyeglasses on
2. safety glasses on.


thats how I roll. And I have to have the visor up at night and early morning since it tinted DARK

[akima]

Update!

I'm grateful for the wise input I got in this thread. Ninjette.org officially saved my ass today!... or more literally, my eyes. I was going round a multi-lane roundabout today and there was a car slightly in front of me and to my right. It's left front wheel went over a glass bottle (presumably a big one) causing it to explode and spray my body, bike and helmet with pieces of glass. Only seconds previous I was sat at some traffic lights with my visor open.

From the discussion in this thread I adjusted my riding habbits to close my visor before or almost immediately after taking off from a stop. It quite possibly saved me today.

<3 you guys!!

[massacremasses]

word. I leave mine down all the time now that I have a clear one..

[Guoseph]

When I started riding I got hit by a bumblebee right between the eyes while going 25mph or so. It hurt like hell and I pretty much ride with faceshield down all the time.

To help with fogging I will ride with my faceshield cracked open a little bit. Breathing through my mouth downwards also helps.

[FrugalNinja250]

Nope, that's why I wear a full-face. Have had silver-dollar sized splatterblobs of bug guts on the shield that would probably have cost me an eye if not taken me off the bike altogether.

[Jono]

Never on my motorcycle. I usually always have my visor down unless it is fogging up on chilly days when I come to a stop, I will pop it open. But soon as I am moving I put it back down.

On my mountain bike I have gotten bugs in my eyes, but I usually wear sunglasses/safety glasses when I am on the trails. I have also inhaled a couple of bugs while cycling. And a few while I was trail running. Just a little protein to get me through the run. Haha.

[Domagoj]

At one time I pulled off by the side of the road, just to stretch my legs a bit. The next car that drove by somehow managed to pick up a small stone or something from the road, and flung it directly to my head. It's good that I left all my gear on. If that thing went for my eye, I would probably be without it today. Helmet had a nice little dent in it.

This is quite ridiculous actually. If I was driving a car and pulled over, well... My story does not seem to have any practical conclusion for the visor problem.

[NDspd]

Usually if I gets really hot I'll have my visor clicked up one notch, but that's it unless I'm stopped. There's too much sand and things hanging in the air to let my guard down.

[ghost-was-here]

i am always wearing contacts when riding.no sunglasses,nothing
Visor all the way down.So dirt,debris,bugs not a problem for me.

eh, but i know someone -a friend of friend- was riding with visor little open, a bee/wasp went it and stung him between his eyes.He looked funny for full days.I'll try look up a picture of him we took.

people with whom he was riding said they got scared cause he suddenly stopped his bike,jumped of it, no side stand -nothing, running around wildly,waving hands frantically and cursing god knows who?(most probable that bug)!!!

[Lil_Green_Demon]

I'm too cheap to spend $160 every 6 months on new contact lenses, so I wear my prescription glasses now whenever I ride. I've had things hit my glasses, but nothing major enough to make me pull over and adjust anything.

[ghost-was-here]

Originally Posted by Lil_Green_Demon

I'm too cheap to spend $160 every 6 months on new contact lenses,

no, you are not
here in india it costs about $125 for 6 months and i still ask my parents pay for it

[massacremasses]

wtf? I spent like $70 and they will last me all year.... you guys actually only use them for a month? psh I use them at least two months

[ghost-was-here]

Originally Posted by massacremasses

wtf? I spent like $70 and they will last me all year.... you guys actually only use them for a month? psh I use them at least two months

well, here in india we have these lenses-by purecon-Rs 500 for yearly- that's like $ 10 -not very safe for eyes.-u can catch eye infection faster than you can catch herpes-and both stay for life

(wat i use are daily disposables.Johnson&Johnson-acuvue II)

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Originally Posted by massacremasses

wtf? I spent like $70 and they will last me all year.... you guys actually only use them for a month? psh I use them at least two months

I have Astigmatism in my right eye. Even though I don't follow the "one month per pair" rule exclusively, I still have to be careful.
My right eye is actually the main reason why I pay so much for contacts


I need a new prescription anyway, so I might switch back to contact lenses in the near future.

[massacremasses]

I use the month to month ones. I use em for a month or two then through them away. I guess mine are cheap cause my prescription isnt that strong and I dont have a stigmatisim anymore

[Willy]

Yes, I have had something in my eye. It was glass shards from a pebble that hit my (glass) sunglasses. Removed in the Dr's office, no permanent damage. Approx 20 years ago. Haven't ridden without PLASTIC safety glasses since.

[coondog]

I've had to pull over several times due to whatever hit my visor, think I expose my eyes? Like the white bike righteous dude said, just one notch up at traffic stops, that's the limit. You can talk road rash anywhere on your body and what scars it left. Anywhere except your eyes that is, we should all reflect on this post topic(s).

[avneet]

I always ride around with my visor opened not even half an inch (love that small breeze). Never had an issue with it barely opened like that.

Though once I was a few blocks from home and decided to open my visor fully. I happened to take a gnat into my right eye that wasn't coming out by blinking (only instead hurting). I drove the last block with my right eye closed. Bad times.

[CZroe]

"BEES! BEES! They're tearing my flesh off! Save yourself! Don't be a hero!"

[csmith12]

Parking lot, that is the only time my visor will be 1/2 up, otherwise it's closed.