Keep the visor closed

[wiggiebear]

So awhile back I was riding through the western foothills of the Cascades, and got to the outskirts of one of the small towns that litter the twisty roads out there. At times, particularly when the weather is warm, I would pop open my visor to get some air, cool off, and just breathe in the surroundings.

As I'm slowing into town, off to the left, there's a guy on a riding mower mowing the ditch on the side of the road. He's leaned over a bit due to the slope into the ditch, and first thing I know, a slightly-larger-than-marble-sized rock comes shooting out of the mower straight at me and hits me square in the visor before I can react.

If the visor would have been open, I would have been in a world of hurt--maybe even lost an eye. I guess the lesson learned here is to never un-protect your eyes. Now, I almost never open my visor, and if there's going to be a hot day where I may open the visor, I keep a pair of safety glasses to wear under my helmet.

[themeatmanlandry]

Good advice.

This may sound like a load of hooey, but I usually stop the mower and shut off the blade if I'm mowing near the edge of the yard when someone passes. Car, motorcycle, kid, etc.

My favorite mower is the guy that waits so long to mow that he had to disable the safety flap at the deck discharge in order to cut. He bungees the safety flap in the up position, such that rocks are thrown a hundred yards when he hits one.

Folks like that . . .

Glad to hear you didn't take a 200+ mph rock to the face (3500 rpm blade, at 30" in length, assuming the rock leaves the blade at full speed and immediately starts to lose speed, it's making almost 300 mph!). Did it ruin the visor?

[Clint]

Good tip (though I'd never ride without eye protection - I keep clear glasses under my seat). It's illegal in my state to ride without eye protection.

I do think I'd have had words for the moron on the mower, though.

[wiggiebear]

Surprisingly, it didn't do anything to the visor. Didn't crack it, chip it, or anything. Best I can figure it that it glanced off at a good angle.

It was a pretty good whack; the sound made my ears ring for a bit.

[wiggiebear]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Good tip (though I'd never ride without eye protection - I keep clear glasses under my seat). It's illegal in my state to ride without eye protection.

I do think I'd have had words for the moron on the mower, though.

I believe it's illegal in WA as well; which is another reason to keep it closed. I would pop it open on occasion when I was got to a slow zone to get some air. Not anymore, unless I've got glasses on under it.

[themeatmanlandry]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

I do think I'd have had words for the moron on the mower, though.

About what? Cutting his grass?

Not everyone's as considerate as lil' old me, you know!

[KD57]

Pfft bungee cord. I torched off the whole thing, and openened up the back too. I'm like a weed eater in gravel. But I live out in the country and have nothing to hit. I do slow down around the house.
Good tip on the visor. I opened mine up yesterday, then thought for a minute and put it back down. Too risky, even tho I still wear glasses. I'm thinking yellow jacket in the helmet.

[Davecm203]

I am sold on full face helmets ever since I took a rock into my face shield that was thrown up by a truck. It was big, felt like it took my head off, and hit my shield hard enough that it cracked it badly. I pictured wearing one of those open face jobs like the Harley guys like to wear. Ouch.

[inspiron]

I always have the visor closed, because if I open it, my eyes immediately start tearing up like I'm slicing an onion!

As for guys riding with open-face helmets, I assume they know the risks and are willing to accept them.

Or they are just blissfully ignorant.

[frostbitevinnie]

I usually have mine partially open in town but closed on the hwy. I always wear eye protection, just don't feel comfortable without them.

[themeatmanlandry]

I've been hit in the shield by bugs. I've been hit in the helmet by birds. I've almost taken a piece of shirked-off 18-wheeler tire to the head. I once saw a guy take a big-assed freaking bug STRAIGHT to the eye at speed. I've almost hit my head on a mailbox before.

I'll stick to the full face with the visor down.

[Jay313]

Huge bug to the visor last weekend. Splattered so bad I had to pull over and wipe.

Real reason for my reply didn't happen on the bike, though. Coming onto the freeway last week, a one-inch round rock fell straight down out of the sky and hit the windshield. WTF! I swear it fell straight down. No idea how it could've done that or where it had come from, unless some fool in a private plane above was taking target practice on the freeway. Just bizarre.

[SNAFU]

Good reminder.

[inspiron]

As for the "rocks falling from heaven", you would be surprised how far a rock can fly. Maybe it was dropped out of a truck driving the other way up the freeway, and took a "lucky skip" over 4 lanes into your windshield.

Or it was dropped by some kids on an overpass.

Or it was thrown up by a car ahead of you, then bounced off of another car's hood or windshield before coming down on yours...

[Traconite]

Totally agree. I was riding with my husband about 6 months ago, and had my helmet flipped up. As we were exiting a gas station (and I was about to pull in down) when I felt something hit my eye. My eye cried all the way to where I was going (Good thing my husband was doing the driving).
It was so bad I had to go to the doctor. It turns out a rock had been trapped inside my eyelid and had scratched my cornea.

[Jay313]

Originally Posted by inspiron

As for the "rocks falling from heaven", you would be surprised how far a rock can fly. Maybe it was dropped out of a truck driving the other way up the freeway, and took a "lucky skip" over 4 lanes into your windshield.

Or it was dropped by some kids on an overpass.

Or it was thrown up by a car ahead of you, then bounced off of another car's hood or windshield before coming down on yours...

Unbeliever!

I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but I could swear the trajectory of the thing was straight down, miles from an overpass.

[inspiron]

Okay, I admit it. As I'm now about halfway through Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion", I have to admit that my belief in a "God" is at a long time low...

[Fishpart]

Good Advice, I always see riders with no helmet, no shield or glasses on. Now that's just crazy and dumb!

[donny662]

My cousin was in his car with his wife and kids when a rock came sailing through the passenger side window (I don't know if the glass was up or not) right in front of his wife's face and into his right eye. One of those commercial lawn mowers was to blame. He's alright, but his eye wasn't.

After the accident at a family reunion, someone asked him to keep an eye her stuff; my cousin said "ok" and then went about mingling. When that person came back, she asked why he wasn't watching her things; my cousin pointed to her stuff on top of which sat his glass eye.

I wear a half helmet, but I always wear safety glasses. It certainly doesn't provide the same protection as a visor on a full face or 3/4 helmet. Just the other day, a bug hit my cheek and splattered yellow guts over my glasses. I went to wipe off the guts only to find they had sprayed on the inside of the glasses

I have thought about changing to a helmet with more protection, but I look just too darn good in the half helmet. Why doesn't anyone here understand that there are more important things than being safe (i.e. looking cool)?

[inspiron]

As my girlfriend says ... it's better to look like a fool for a couple of hours (by wearing a full face helmet) than for the rest of your life ...