All bikers are murderers.
Flies, bugs and anything stupid enough to float four foot off the ground on a nice twisty road or race track are all fair game – and the majority of them seem to want to end it all by whacking you on the visor at 70mph.
But it’s the bugs that have the last laugh. Some of them appear to be made of Araldite or Bostick because they’re almost impossible to shift on the move and they usually leave a smear across your visor if you’re naive enough to try and wipe what’s left of Mr Buggles with your gloved hand.
And if it’s not bugs, it’s road grime in winter, salt, road film and general nastiness cake your visor up in no time.
Luckily, there are some excellent visor cleaners on the market that cut through the remnants of your Sunday-morning slaughter and get your visor back to a crud-free condition.
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Bugs be gone, just add water
The V2 sponge looks too good to be true; a cleaning product that just uses water and a bit of elbow grease? It can’t possibly work, can it? Well it does the job amazingly well but don’t get it near any anti-fog treated visors (usually they’re only treated on the inside) or it might remove that coating. No need to carry any bottles around; stash the sponge in the orange pouch and use it with ease on the go.
No-nonsense cleaner, value for money
Motul’s Helmet & Visor cleaner not only works really effectively on bugs and crud on your lid and visor but it’s also value for money. Most visor cleaners are in small 50ml bottles but the Motul M1 is 250ml and only a couple of quid more. Not ideal for carrying on the bike but great for helping you get your lid clean when you get home.
The cheapest visor cleaner
Pound for pound, Motul’s M1 works out at one of the cheapest visor cleaners, at around £2.20 per 100ml. However, the bottle only comes in a 250ml size, costing £5.49.
If budget is an issue then, as pictured above, you can always try my kitchen-towel method (see Top Tips section below).
Arai recommends Shift-It
Some helmet manufacturers reckon you should be careful when using visor-cleaning products. The trouble is, there are so many products out there, manufactured from different chemicals and there are so many types of visor material and coatings that it’s hard to truly say which ones cause long-term damage and which don’t.
However, Arai are on the record as recommending Shift-It visor cleaner as it won’t damage an Arai visor. But that’s not to say any other cleaning brand will but if you want to be sure, go for Arai’s recommendation.
Get a streak-free finish
If you want to remove bugs with ease and get a streak-free finish on your visor or helmet, then you need a quality soft cloth that won’t scratch the visor.
This Muc-Off microfibre Helmet & Visor cloth is a great choice. It’s machine-washable too and lasts a long time – I’ve had mine for over 5 years and it’s still going strong!
Or go the whole hog and grab a helmet-cleaning kit, like this Oxford Mint Helmet Care Kit which comes with everything you need to clean the exterior and sanitize and refresh the interior of your helmet. All in a handy storage case.
Visor cleaning: Ben's top tips
You can clean your visor fairly well with plain water and kitchen roll. Just tear off a couple of sheets of kitchen roll, run the tap (cold or warm) on a gentle setting and pass the kitchen roll through the water so it's wet and then lay it on your visor. Leave it for a few minutes and peel off. It's pretty effective!
Don't be tempted to use washing up liquid. Some washing up liquid contains salt, which is used as an abrasive to help remove the grime from your pots and pans. You'll risk scratching your visor.
Don't use any abrasive cloths to remove any crud. Rubbing your visor with a kitchen scourer or even trying to heavily buff it with a dishcloth could leave tiny scratches. If a bug won't come quietly, tear off a small square of kitchen roll, spray some cleaner on it and stick it on the bug and leave it for a few minutes.
Don't be lazy and clean your visor with it in place. Remove it from your lid and give it a proper clean, you'll do a far better job and you won't end up with neat cleaning fluid running all on the inside of your lid.
Other good visor cleaners
Fortunately, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to visor cleaning. Here are some other great picks.
Muc-Off Helmet & Visor Cleaner – 250ml, it cleans goggles too!
Liqui-Moly Helmet & Visor Cleaner – 100ml, an efficient cleaner from Ze Germans
Motul M1 Helmet & Visor Cleaner – 250ml, nice mister action from the spray nozzle!
SDoc100 Helmet & Visor cleaner + Cloth – Pack of wipes, rather than a spray, I pack these when I go touring.
Cyko Helmet & Visor Cleaner – 65ml spray and cleaning cloth from a small UK business!
Sources
Thanks to the following websites which helped us research and write this motorcycle visor cleaner guide:
Arai cleaning recommendations:
https://support.whyarai.com/support/solutions/folders/5000259183
Fairy Liquid fact sheet:
https://www.newhall.co.uk/media/7440_msds.pdf
