Looking After Your Visor: Cleaning And Replacement

None of this needs to be bought at once. Building a complete kit over time, prioritising the areas most exposed in a typical fall, is a realistic way to get there.

This is slower than fully automated manufacturing, and that is the point. A handcrafted shell trades speed for a level of finish and individual attention that a purely machine made helmet does not offer.

Neither format is a universal answer. Weather, speed, journey length and personal comfort all play a part, and many riders end up owning one of each for different trips.

ECE 22.06 is the current European standard that motorcycle helmets are tested against, and it replaced the older ECE 22.05 standard with a wider and more demanding set of tests. Helmets are checked for impact absorption at multiple points on the shell, not just the crown, and the standard also tests rotational forces, which earlier standards largely ignored.

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.

Daily wear also plays a part. Sweat, sunscreen and regular use all shorten a full face helmet's working life, so riders who use a helmet every day should expect to replace it sooner than someone who rides occasionally.