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Pinlock evaluation

BJ_CT

Street Cruiser
So I rode into work this morning, about 50 miles, about 50 minutes and the temperature ranged from 23F-28F, overcast skies.  Have to stop at serveral lights and ran into some stop'n'go traffic too.  I have a clear Pinlock face shield for my HJC Sy-Max helmet and this morning it really paid for itself.  I won't bore you with how it works only to say that it works extremely well.  While the area outsidef of the Pinlock itself was pretty consistently fogged over, include heavy water vapor directly below my nose, the Pinlock remained mostly completely clear with only occassional light fogging at stops.  IMHO, worth the extra money.

I bought the face shield with the Pinlock but you can also buy only the Pinlock piece and drill holes in your existing shield (or so they say) for the included plastic mounting studs.

http://www.pinlockusa.com/index2.htm
http://www.webbikeworld.com/anti-fog-visor/
 
The WebBikeWorld review was not clear[no pun intended] about where the Pinlock is installed.  Do you have yours mounted on the outside of the shield, or inside where your face and mouth are?

Do you wear a balaclava over your nose and mouth?  And finally, does your helmet have a breath shield?

Thanks for the idea since Wisconsin has a few cold days too!

Matt
 
ManWorkingHere said:
The WebBikeWorld review was not clear[no pun intended] about where the Pinlock is installed.  Do you have yours mounted on the outside of the shield, or inside where your face and mouth are?

Do you wear a balaclava over your nose and mouth?  And finally, does your helmet have a breath shield?

Thanks for the idea since Wisconsin has a few cold days too!

Matt

Hey.  A fellow Badger.  :) I grew up in Barron County.  I also remember when anything above 0F is good.  :) The answers are:
It's mounted on the inside of the shield.  No but I use a bandana just to keep the wind off my chin (a trick I learned in Wisc).  No breath shield. 
 
When I bought my Shoei Multitec helmet, the salesman assured me that "unlike lots of anti-fog gimmicks, Pinlock actually works."

And he was right. A recent ride in the cold (near freezing) and wet (cats and dogs) proved that the visor refused to mist up. Plenty of condensation outside the area that the Pinlock insert covers, but that's OK 'cos I don't generally look through those bits. My Multitec helmet didn't come with a breath shield.

The insert goes inside the normal visor, with its raised gasket against the plastic so that a small air gap is formed. Hey presto: double glazing.

Stickers and labels say that the Pinlock insert shouldn't be used at night. This seems to be because the double glazing produces lots of extra reflections of street lights, headlamps, traffic signals, etc.

Incidentally, the Pinlock insert is available in smoke as well as clear. It gets better and better!

 
With all that humidity inside the helmet, I wonder if regular eyeglasses would fog up inside the helmet?
 
pinlock.jpg


Looks pretty cool, when I need a new shield I'm going to see if I can get one, no more sunglasses under the helmet then.
 
Just thought I'd add a couple of things -
I wear glasses all the time and have never had them fog up in my HJC.  Not sayin' it couldn't happen but...
I use the Pinlock at night without issues - don't recall seeing warning lables but I probably ignored them if they were around.
This might all be different with a helmet that puts the shield closer to my smilin' face.
Finally, I also have a 2nd smoke Pinlock on a clear shield and this I don't like for summer use when fogging isn't an issue.  Prefer a straight smoked shield instead.  However, I might really like to use it in the winter against the clare of snow.
 
I ride daily in and around Seattle. I used Pinlock on my old HJC C15 and it worked really well.  When I bought my new Shoei RF-1100 it came with a breath box so I didn't think I needed one.  The Shoei, though a great helmet, fogs up really easy. I got rid of the breath box, and bought a Pinlock shield and insert and ride with a clear view ever since. It's the only thing I found to keep the shield clear when riding where it's cool or moist.   

I have also used the pinlock in combination with the Respro Foggy Mask when temps drop into the 30s.

Pinlock does the job. When I first rode at night with the pinlock I noticed a very slight double reflection of headlights when looking at the shield.  I soon got over it by focusing on the road instead of the shield. :)
 
Wow!  Eight years later and this information is still relevant.

Since my original posting, I have changed from HJC modular to a Shoei modular helmet.

And I have had a pinlock shield on the Shoei since day one 3 years ago.

Now, I believe the pinlock is 'wearing out'.  I am getting fogging up on the inside regularly now.

I do not exchange the pinlock from clear to tinted like I did with the HJC.  Only a clear pinlock shield on the Shoei. I thought maybe the sealing factor of the pinlock is wearing out and not trapping the air like it should.


I believe I will get another pinlock insert soon and report my experiences later.

Ride safe!
 
My HJC came with pinlock shield as well having not ridden for a number of years when I bought the HJC I knew nothing about the pinlock and now I couldn't imagine not having it.
 
both my HJC helmets have pinlock. I cannot see myself riding wearing anything else.
Also, when using chin curtain. pinlock is invaluable asset to keep visor clear.

Cheers...
 
Rode through heavy fog yesterday morning thought my pin lock shield was failing but the build up was on the outside of the shield. While stopped at a light I made the mistake of raising my shield which instantly fogged my glasses :-[  . Once I realized it was fog and I got my glasses clear in traffic stop and go I just had to wipe the outside of the shield when I was rolling I found the sweet spot on windscreen height and the wind would keep the shield clear. Now if they could just design a shield that would clear foggy weather  :rotflmao:
 
Over time the inside of the pinlock gets micro-scratches and that leads to fogging.
A new Pinlock works great, but while it's off clean the inside of the visor thoroughly.
Only thing that beat the Pinlock was my Lazer Revolution helmet with double glazed visor.
 
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