Shoei Pinlock visor insert dangers

Has anybody else had a problem with these things? I've been using one
since just before Christmas as have now removed it as I can't see a
thing at times in low morning sun. Pity, it really works well.
The end came the other day when I nearly ran into the back of a w****
v** that had stopped for no reason in the middle of a 40mph main road.
I couldn't see it quiclkly enough as I was totally blinded by the low
sun reflecting off the insert. I was wearing sunglasses as well. I
didn't see any brake lights, but it is resonable to assume the lump of
mobile scrap didn't have any. Luckily I had plenty of space and was
nowhere near exceeding the speed limit, but the ABS still cut in.
If you look at the pinlock instructions it says don't use them at
night, something I've never had a problem actually, but have now
removed the as I believe they are dangerous to use in daylight. In fact
I've cut it into two pieces and thrown it away in case I'm ever tempted
again.

Neill

 

I've never suffered from any of the problems you have mentioned and
have used it throught the night and from dusk until dawn.

To qualify this I should say that I travel to work into the East (into
the sunrise) and travel back home West (into the sunset) as well as
during daylight hours and at night.

Were you wearing Polarized sunglasses? I must admit that with my
Polarized Oakley Monster Dogs
<http://mi.oakley.com/site/media/cache/43a1aa4c1ef07.png_0_0_0.jpg>
they do show up rainbow patterns on my Shoei fog shield (and one often
has difficulty looking through most plastic LCD displays and anything
else that is polarized) which can be distracting but I can't say that
I've ever felt blinded by the pinlock.

 

Having given this much thought, I have come to the conclusion that
Neill is a wanker and should join the IAM immediately.

 

They are polarixed and I also used to get the rainbow effect when I
used a Fogshield a few years back. Someone once told me the pinlocks
can produced a flashing effect when there is low sun coming through
trees or similar at the side of the road. I've noticed the blinding
effect before but not until this happened did it seem a problem. I'm
not sure whether is attributable to the constuction of the object, or
the fact that it is merely a piece of translucent plastic.

Neill

 

I personally feel that while polarized lenses are a fantastic
invention, they're not good with the Shoei Pinlock fogshield. Even
without the shield I found that they produced the same rainbow effect
in my old standard HJC visor.

I can't say that I've encountered that problem before or even heard of
it, but I suppose it's down to the exact road, angle of the sun and
weather conditions.

The only other odd occurrence I've noticed happens on the edges of my
Shoei Pinlock when I head in the dark of night towards Rye. There are
trees down both sides of this long, straight, very fast and normally
empty road with a few miles of fields either side but with lights from
a village in the far distance which line up with the periphery of the
Pinlock system edge on the right of the visor and produce the illusion
of a kind of explosion or light show going on. It was distracting for
the first couple of trips but after that I've come to expect it.

Out of interest, have you taken your Pinlock off before? I had mine
fitted by the salesman in Bikes of Brighton in the middle of last year
when I bought my Shoei X-Spirit
(<http://www.customlids.co.uk/helmets/shoei/x-spirit/SHAKEY.jpg> but
in Black) and have never had cause to wish to remove it no matter what
the weather which means that the seal on it is still very good. It's
even left on when I clean the visor (cloth). I imagine that if one
kept removing and reattaching it plenty of dust would get sealed in
which would give an opaque area for the sunlight to illuminate causing
what you've described?

I've heard only positive things about the Shoei Pinlock system apart
from Mr. Auvache who had a problem with soot or dust or some other
stuff leaking through the seal (IIRC) but YMMV. I notice from your
timezone that you're GMT -8. I don't know if the Merkin Shoei Pinlock
system is any different to the European.

 

Neillw001 wrote

Not in the way you describe.

I have used pin lock in the past and found it fine. My only real
criticism of it was very fine scratches that accumulate around the very
edge of the insert over *time*[1]. A fine product if you like that sort
of thing.


[1] Not the pathetically tiny mileages that the dry miles only crowd
think is riding.

 

BGN wrote

Polaroid filers will do that to most visors.

I suspect it was ordinary road dust of the type that drips on the floor
and forms a nice red/brown film underneath where you hang your leathers
when they are wet.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Neillw001 belched forth and ejected the
following:

Are you sure it's the visor and not your eyesight?

 

Neillw001 wrote:

I've had a Fogcity (similar sort of thing) for ages. I've had the
problems at night - reflection, but can't say I've ever had the issue
you had in sunlight.

Maybe you just had a freak moment involving the angle, the light and
some other things?

You could argue your mirrors are dangerous because they could blind you
too - would you cut those off?