BMW Luxury Touring Community banner

Riding in the Rain Question

3K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  ksailor 
#1 ·
I'm curious .... After riding unexpectedly in the rain for a few hours yesterday afternoon and trying to see better, wanted to ask in general, what do you do to see better when it is raining? I normally wear sunglasses or clear lenses at night and have only the windshield blocking the wind and rain. I wear a 3/4 helmet.

If you ride with a full helmet, do you lower the windshield so that there is only one layer to get wet and see through? After struggling with sunglasses that got wet and the wet windshield, I'm thinking it's now time for a full size helmet? Wet season is upon us in Florida.

By the way, I normally try to stay out of and avoid the rain.
 
#2 ·
dandiver said:
I'm curious .... After riding unexpectedly in the rain for a few hours yesterday afternoon and trying to see better, wanted to ask in general, what do you do to see better when it is raining?

If you ride with a full helmet, do you lower the windshield so that there is only one layer to get wet and see through? After struggling with sunglasses that got wet and the wet windshield, I'm thinking it's now time for a full size helmet? Wet season is upon us in Florida.

By the way, I normally try to stay out of and avoid the rain.
When I was wearing a 3/4 helmet I would put the windshield all the way up and look through it. That was less than satisfactory, especially if the rain was mixing with bugs on the windshield.

I've been wearing a full helmet the past few months. When it rains I look over the windshield, but just barely. Having an adjustable windshield is a godsend. In the rain I don't care to look through both the visor (which is going to have rain on it anyway) and the windshield (rain on it, too, of course).

At STC II we had rain for most of that event and I guess I got over my reluctance to ride in the rain. While I will always prefer a sunny day to a rainy day to ride in, I don't mind the rain so much. With the appropriate gear and adjustment of your riding style and speed it's not bad; and, the funny looks from people in cars makes it worth it. :D I feel like a little kid dressed in a rain slicker looking for a big puddle to jump into. I find myself saying "Bring it!" to the rain clouds.
 
#3 ·
When it's raining there are three things I'm doing

a) putting on raingear (helps tremedously) ;)
b) Put the windshield all the way DOWN aand try to keep the speed up above 30mph
c) in preparation of the rain I use a product caled Rain-Kote which is similar to Rain-X just specially for plastic Visors

The most important here is to put the windshoield DOWN. The windblast gets the raindrops off the visor.
 
#4 ·
thanks all

Thanks Andy. That sort of what I thought. Guess I'm off to the toy store for a new 1/1 helmet.

Yes it was fun in a weird way watching the reactions of those surrounded by glass and metal and it wasn't too bad in the rain. Just takes a while to get used to it.
 
#5 ·
I wear a 3/4 helmet with a shield. The shield stays up except for rain, then the windshield & helmet shield goes down.
 
#6 ·
I agree with every one. I wear a "flip helmet" by HJC, theres others out there. HJC has a 3/4 that has a shield that flips up and down and is lighter then the full/flip.I wear prescription glasses and know that I can wipe rain off the shield but not easy to clean the glasses on the "fly". Hope this helps.
 
#10 ·
What Rain??

I got pounded yesterday riding from West Palm Home to Daytona on I-95. Off and on hard driving rain with occasional 20-30 mph cross winds that kept me on my toes and finger tips. I keep my HJC flip visor just cracked open to help prevent fogging and my Cee Bailey -5 all the way down. Then follow the fastest moving sane cager I can find to keep from getting run over. -Chuck-
 
#11 ·
I ride with a flip up, usually shield open, windshield up about an inch. When in rain I drop the windshield to bottom close the helmet shield or to the first click, and when I need spots cleaned off, I just close it and stand up. I sit up straighter in the rain so I can see over the windshield (5'9)
Works for me!
 
#12 ·
Rain technique..

dandiver said:
.... After riding unexpectedly in the rain for a few hours yesterday afternoon and trying to see better, wanted to ask in general, what do you do to see better when it is raining? ...
...By the way, I normally try to stay out of and avoid the rain.
Howdy Dan,
-Windshield all the way down.
-Anti-fog (Cat Crap) on the inside of the shield and have closed.
-BMW gloves that have a rain squeegee on the left index finger.
-Keep the speed up if possible to blow the rain off the shield.
-At lower speeds use the index finger squeegee.

.
 
#13 ·
BillyOmaha said:
Howdy Dan,
-Windshield all the way down.
-Anti-fog (Cat Crap) on the inside of the shield and have closed.
-BMW gloves that have a rain squeegee on the left index finger.
-Keep the speed up if possible to blow the rain off the shield.
-At lower speeds use the index finger squeegee.
...and one gear lower than usual when you want to "bite", grip the road better...
 
#14 ·
First = full face SHOI helmet. Depends on the traffic; around town/city driving - windshield down; face shield down looking over the top of windshield.

Highway @ 65+MPH; windshield up (rain diverts over the top) and truck spray has less impact; face shield down (sometime open 1/4 inch) depending on the temperature. Coldwater sailing gloves & First Gear Kilamanjaro rain suit.

Last Sat return from CT tech session in the rain. Americade this past week was very wet. Lots of cold rain experience here. :(
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top