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Old October 4th, 2016, 09:00 AM   #1
mnoob
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contacts vs. helmet air flow

My contacts start drying out after I've been riding a while, and I end up with somewhat bloodshot eyes by the end of the day. I've noticed that when I've got the mouth port open on my helmet (an AGV K-3), it seems like there is air circulating around in front of my face, which I'm assuming is the problem. (Or, I just don't blink very often when I'm riding.)

Does anyone else have this experience, or not have this experience? If not, what kind of helmet do you have? Thoughts?
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Old October 4th, 2016, 09:07 AM   #2
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Old October 4th, 2016, 09:24 AM   #3
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I can't wear contacts riding. They drive me batsh*t!!!
I wear my glasses. Helmets are all Shoei & Aria both street & off road.
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Old October 4th, 2016, 10:23 AM   #4
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Very helmet-specific. Also very specific to the individual; some people have dry eyes to start with.

Do you have a chin curtain? That will change the airflow around your face.

I don't have that particular problem over the short term (e.g. your typical ride of a few hours). Over the course of a whole day, I do get some dryness. Lenses these days are vastly superior to the older ones... they stay wet a lot longer.

I wear contacts only when riding, and do so because in a sportbike riding position I have to crane my neck too much when wearing glasses. With the contacts, no problem. This would not be an issue if I didn't ride a supersport.
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Old October 4th, 2016, 10:27 AM   #5
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I wear a Shoei RF-1200 and use a Quiet Rider Standard Helmet Skirt.

Airflow is minimal on my face unless the chin vent is open. I don't wear contacts anymore, but they would probably be fine as long as the chin vent is closed.
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Old October 4th, 2016, 11:04 AM   #6
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Flip side is that less flow = more fog.

Basically you can't win, so you might as well hang it up and give me your bike.

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Old October 4th, 2016, 11:21 AM   #7
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I deal with the dry eyes. I carry a little bottle of solution with me and hit them every once in a while on longer rides. In TX heat I HAVE to get as much airflow to my face as I can.
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Old October 4th, 2016, 11:25 AM   #8
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most helmets have two types of frontal airflow vents: crown vents, and visor vents. The upper vents are generally the crown vents that push air over your head. These are not likely the ones causing you the issues. The vent on the chin in normally a visor vent that pushes air up the visor to the top of the head (exhaust vents are normally on the top in the back) for fog and visor clearing. That does put air right in your face.

These vents can be (maybe even normally these days) combo vents that push to the visor and to he face and whatnot but they normally do not have separate shut offs for the visor air.
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Old October 4th, 2016, 12:47 PM   #9
Ralgha
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I wear contacts and use a Shoei GT-Air, and I don't have issues with my contacts even with all the vents open. It probably depends more on the person and the contacts than the helmet. I use Air Optix Night and Day lenses, they aren't cheap, but they are damn nice. I've gone to bed more than once forgetting to take them out because I just don't feel them.
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Old October 9th, 2016, 09:50 AM   #10
mnoob
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Thanks for the input, everyone. I think my main issue is probably my eyes: I wear dailies and have to take them out after 10 hours even on days where I'm just inside at work. I've tried taking the chin curtain off, but didn't like the way the helmet caught the wind when I turned my head. Unless it's pretty cool, I need the chin vent open as well. But no, Mr. Fist, you can't have my bike.
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Old October 12th, 2016, 05:05 PM   #11
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If I don't have the visor vent open then my eyes will get dried out quickly. The helmet position has to be right too, if it's too high up the visor vent blows into my eyes which is even worse. The newer Scorpion(on my EXO-R2000) helmets have a visor vent with two clicks, the lower one blows to face and visor which also causes me a lot of problems with dry eyes.
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Old October 13th, 2016, 06:15 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adouglas View Post
Very helmet-specific. Also very specific to the individual; some people have dry eyes to start with.
This. I have an EXO-500 and Air Optix Night & Day contacts (leave them in for two weeks at a time, replace them monthly). I haven't done any huge touring trips, but I've never even thought about my contacts while riding, up to several hours at a time.

However, my eyes do really well with contacts in general. I've probably worn my glasses a total of a couple weeks' worth of time in the past ~25 years, usually for a few hours the one night a month I take my contacts out. You might check with your eye doctor about trying out different brands of contacts too. I never really had any issues with my previous Acuvues, but these ones are even better. My brother tried a number of brands until he found some that worked for him (he settled on dailies FWIW), and I think his eyes are still less tolerant of them than mine are.
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Old October 13th, 2016, 06:24 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InvisiBill View Post
This. I have an EXO-500 and Air Optix Night & Day contacts (leave them in for two weeks at a time, replace them monthly). I haven't done any huge touring trips, but I've never even thought about my contacts while riding, up to several hours at a time.

However, my eyes do really well with contacts in general. I've probably worn my glasses a total of a couple weeks' worth of time in the past ~25 years, usually for a few hours the one night a month I take my contacts out. You might check with your eye doctor about trying out different brands of contacts too. I never really had any issues with my previous Acuvues, but these ones are even better. My brother tried a number of brands until he found some that worked for him (he settled on dailies FWIW), and I think his eyes are still less tolerant of them than mine are.
Great info! I wasn't aware there would be different comfort levels between brands etc. Perhaps I just need to try a few others.
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Old October 19th, 2016, 07:57 PM   #14
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Certain helmets help. You'll notice that helmets like the AGV Pista wrap around closer to your chin, and lower preventing air flow. At the end of a track day, my eyes always look like I smoked something a little, lime green but it's just because I forget to blink, and the air blows at my eyes when I'm hanging off in certain corners. My Bell RS-1 almost completely removed this issue, compared to my HJC CL16, Icon Airmada, and KBC Laguna V2. Chin curtain also helps, but doesn't seem to prevent the issue entirely.
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