Alternative photochromic helmet visor for a fraction of the price ...

[Grumpy Goat]

Does the shield have the VESC8 imprint?

Thanks for the innocent-looking question.  I am on vacation today and will spend a few minutes on this because there are things that I need to do but this is more fun ...

For those like me who were not aware of what VESC 8 stands for, 

"It is a federal standard called the Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission Standard 8, commonly abbreviated as VESC 8 or it may appear on approved shields and lenses as simply “V8.” 

Shields, goggles and other eye protection devices that meet the standard will display “Meets VESC 8” or “V8” molded into the shield material up in the corner near the shield hinge." [Ultimate Motorcycling]

As might be expected, this shield has NO writing on it, molded or otherwise. We can take that to mean that it does not meet the US Federal Standard VESC 8. 

I am not going to read the standard from VESC as I cannot be bothered. But in the interest of passing on information to others who might have some interest, I will offer some real-world comments on the Ultimate Motorcycling description of the standard, based on ownership use.

Ultimate Motorcycling says (with my paraphrasing, formatting, etc.) that:

To be compliant with the standard, the shield must pass tests on:

• clarity - pass; very clear
  
• light transmittance - pass; very clear
  
• lack of optical distortion - pass; no optical distortion at any angle in the field of view
  
• impact resistance - no idea; visor thickness identical to OEM but material comparison is unknown
  
• flame resistance - no idea; not tested
  
• no sharp edges - pass; finished identically to the OEM visor, in every respect except molded writing
  
• the material cannot be prone to changes such as weakening, discoloration or becoming brittle with age or exposure to sun or common substances - no idea; watch my YouTube channel for long term tests
  
• must not have prismatic effect greater than 1/8 diopter (i.e. must be optically correct for someone who does not need corrective lenses) - pass; no prismatic effects and is optically correct
  

My responses to these tests are shown in blue.

The Ultimate Motorcycling article also says "This testing is done under American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z87.1 specifications though eye protection devices for motorcycle operator use do not have to meet the entire Z87.1 standard."

The article also notes that:

"Of course, this is really about much more than a piece of your gear meeting some bureaucratic set of standards. Your eyes are irreplaceable and eye injuries can happen in an instant in an environment where flying road debris, rocks, bugs, falling foliage from roadside trees can happen at any time."

Now as some of you may know I am an engineer and I work in a Company that certifies vendor equipment to meet certain standards based on various tests etc. so I have some familiarity with some of these federal standards and test methods. This brings to mind that I once visited a most interesting facility years ago (Southwest Research Institute) in San Antonio (Texas) where some very interesting testing is done to many different standards although I did not know to ask about motorcycle helmet testing at that time.

I suggest that having a product manufactured to a set of standards is certainly better than having it manufactured to no standards at all, if only to satisfy one's sense of security. For instance, if the knock off is so accurate, and the standard is so wide (note that VESC has not met since 1983! so how applicable are these 1980 standards??), then "better" might only exist in one's head, and in reality the two products may well be functionally equivalent.

Then there is the use case involved ... will all the parameters specified by the standard be experienced in real-world use such that it maybe does not matter? For instance, if you have the most protective helmet and visor in the world sitting on a shelf, or not strapped on properly or you ride with the visor open all the time or the chin bar flipped up, or whatever, then where do the testing standards apply? This notion can be extended to the general concept of buying brand name products versus cheaper no-name knock-offs. Anyway, I digress.

Just in case the reader thinks that I am somehow promoting this shield, or promoting the use of knock offs, or anything like that - I am not. Each person is free their own ideas and free to use whatever they want to use. Just sharing some information that there are alternatives to the US$200+ Transitions-type visors that are significantly cheaper, and with similar apparent performance characteristics. Take that as you will.