Clear Face Shields

I've got at least 20 of these laying around, most of them new from helmets I've bought over the years. What I don't get is why the helmet manu's default to a clear shield shipping with the helmet. Why not make the face shield color optional? I get they are making money on selling tinted shields as accessories, but nearly all my clear shields end up in the garbage. Hell, sell the helmets without a face shield at all and reduce cost buy a few bucks.

 

Yeah, when I buy helmets from TJ I automatically tell him to include the price of a tinted shield in the total price. Maybe it's a DOT thing that they have to be sold with a clear shield?

 

I love the transitions shields.

 

I won't buy a helmet without an inner visor. Best compromise. No more changing face shields.

 

Believe it or not, there are places in the world where people ride at night, in the rain, or in foggy conditions.

 

For sure, but doesn't everyone do an @Chaotic and have 1 helmet with a tinted shield and another helmet with a clear shield? I do because I freaking hate changing shields on my arai and just keep a clear shield on an older helmet that's no longer within the 5 year window for racing.

 

Is it that bad? Serious question.

Takes me 10 seconds max on my Shoei.

 

Takes 10 secs on an Arai before they changed the design on the X. Now it’s more like 25 secs.

 

Arai -
Off= Click, click, Rip!
On= Slam!

Eveything else-
Push, squeeze, fiddle fiddle

 

I would imagine there is a legal reason for helmets coming with clear shields. The first time some dope crashes at night with a tinted one that came from the manufacturer, lawsuit.

 

I've never been able to do it smoothly or quickly. I've watched Isle of Man races when they literally rip them out and slam them back in in about 5 seconds. I've broken more side pods than I care to count trying to swap shields. I about sh%t my pants when I changed the shield on my new arai and the whole holder popped off on that little string. I don't have a clue on why it's so easy for most people and impossible for me to do.

 

Unless you're riding around the poles there's generally more daylight hours than night. Besides,I can ride lightly tinted shield at night no problem. But I can't ride a clear shield during the day if its sunny. Sunglasses inside a helmet suck too, especially on long rides.

 

Or a less oddly shaped head. Ear stems dig in like a mofo.

 

I had to look up what that was.

 

And some helmet's liners are designed to work with glasses.

 

That is factually incorrect. You might want to check on that again.

And while you can do something to block sunlight inside a clear shield (sunglasses), there is nothing you can do to make a dark shield brighter. So from a manufacturing standpoint, it makes sense to go with clear as the default.