So I needed a new visor for my helmet, and normally I buy clear ones as they are easy to clean and also relatively cheap. A replacement clear visor to fit my HJC Sy-Max helmet is about $25 CDN. None were available here in Canada to fit the helmet I had, and so as is often the case I had to make a choice: buy a visor I didn’t want, or buy a new helmet. Having to buy a new helmet (a minimum $300 hit to the wallet for the few months of riding pleasure we have here in Alberta) seemed a bit excessive, so I reluctantly went with the $45 option of a mirrored visor. And I have to say that when it arrived and I had installed it I actually liked it ! It added just a hint of grey tint which is useful on a sunny day, and the air of mystery that the mirrored look lent me offered a touch of hipster attitude without having to use 50 feet of bandage on my exhaust system !
There was a down side of course. If you actually ride your bike you will get plastered with splattered bug juice which at some point you will need to clean off, and that is when I discovered a new use for my favourite shop cleaner: ‘Simple Green’. The name says it all ! Safe, effective and environmentally friendly plus it even works which I consider an added bonus. It readily removes splattered bugs from clear visors and I’ve used it for exactly that purpose for years. I was initially somewhat dismayed to learn however, that it also quickly removes the mirror finish from $45 visors !
A blotchy mirrored/somewhat un-mirrored visor is not easy to see through, so what was I to do ? And in a moment of inspiration I had the answer !
After a few minutes work and the application of more of my favourite ‘Simple Green’ cleaner I had managed to convert my oh so cool $45 visor into a more useful, utilitarian and easily cleaned $25 clear visor, which is what I’d actually wanted in the first place.
All I have to do now is work out a way to explain how this makes any economic sense at all to SWMBO’d before I have to buy my next one ……………………………