Looking After Your Visor: Cleaning And Replacement

Once the shell is formed and cured, it moves through finishing: sanding, painting or leather trimming, and fitting the internal padding and retention system. Every stage is checked before the next begins, since a fault caught early is far cheaper to fix than one found at the end.

Most manufacturers recommend replacing a motorcycle helmet every five to seven years even without a crash, since the internal materials that absorb impact degrade slowly with heat, sweat and UV exposure. The shell can look fine while the protective layer underneath has already lost some of its effectiveness.

A handcrafted helmet shell starts with a base material, commonly fibreglass or a composite blend, layered and shaped by hand rather than produced purely by mould and machine. Each layer adds strength, and the shaping stage is where a lot of the time in production actually goes.

A clean visor is a safety item as much as a comfort one, since scratches and haze scatter light and make it harder to judge distance in low sun or at night. Clean a visor with lukewarm water and a soft cloth, and avoid dry wiping, which is what causes most fine scratches in the first place.

Anti fog inserts and coatings help in cold or wet conditions, but they are not a substitute for a visor in good condition. Once scratches build up to the point where they catch the light on every ride, it is time to replace rather than keep cleaning around the problem.

To see the handcrafted shells behind our range, visit Hedonist.