Photo: Facebook capture
Those who are not afraid to ride in the rain know that vision often is reduced by the water droplets on the helmet visor. When the road conditions and traffic allow it, some would prefer to throttle on a bit so that the air flow helps wipe out the water from the visor, but this method involves certain risks in case strong braking becomes necessary.
Others would use various Rain-X-type products to treat their visors, but it looks like such solutions are not favored by everyone for various reasons.
For example, I use waterproof rain gloves, and they come with a small rubber blade integrated with the left glove. The rubber blade is sewn into the left index finger of the glove and makes wiping off the excess water really easy, no matter how fast or slow I am riding.
Plus, there's always the noise issue. Personally I rode tens of thousands of miles with a 3/4 helmet and you know they're not the quietest ones. Other rider, however, would use ear plugs and try to find the most silent helmet to protect them against the noise fatigue.
Adding such a structure to the top of one's helmet would definitely ruin much of its aerodynamic factor and cause a lot of wind noise. Even more, having this system permanently attached to the lid and riding at high speeds will most likely tend to bend the wiper arm and damage it.
Now, the idea could work in case someone convinced a helmet manufacturer to produce helmets with a small rack to which the wiper could be attached when the rain starts. Or maybe the fellows who came up with this idea in the first place could devise a universal system allowing easy mounting on pretty much any helmet. The one in this video seems to be such a device, possibly attached with suction cups to the shell, but further refining the concept should do better.
Some fellows I showed this to said they would not be caught dead wearing such a wiper system on their helmet, but I guess many others would at least give it a try.
And for no apparent reason, I tend to believe that only those who don't ride in the rain would shun riders using this intriguing system...
For example, I use waterproof rain gloves, and they come with a small rubber blade integrated with the left glove. The rubber blade is sewn into the left index finger of the glove and makes wiping off the excess water really easy, no matter how fast or slow I am riding.
Automatic wipers attached to the helmet; hmm, interesting enough!
Still, some wise guys thought to take the whole thing one step further, hence the contraption you can see at work in the video below. Having a small wiper rinsing your visor clear every two seconds or so is definitely a most welcome addition to a rider's gear, but the whole thing is a bit bulky, if you ask me.Plus, there's always the noise issue. Personally I rode tens of thousands of miles with a 3/4 helmet and you know they're not the quietest ones. Other rider, however, would use ear plugs and try to find the most silent helmet to protect them against the noise fatigue.
Adding such a structure to the top of one's helmet would definitely ruin much of its aerodynamic factor and cause a lot of wind noise. Even more, having this system permanently attached to the lid and riding at high speeds will most likely tend to bend the wiper arm and damage it.
Now, the idea could work in case someone convinced a helmet manufacturer to produce helmets with a small rack to which the wiper could be attached when the rain starts. Or maybe the fellows who came up with this idea in the first place could devise a universal system allowing easy mounting on pretty much any helmet. The one in this video seems to be such a device, possibly attached with suction cups to the shell, but further refining the concept should do better.
Some fellows I showed this to said they would not be caught dead wearing such a wiper system on their helmet, but I guess many others would at least give it a try.
And for no apparent reason, I tend to believe that only those who don't ride in the rain would shun riders using this intriguing system...
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