The SuperVisor

[Larrym]

The Glossy Brochure:



The Website to Look at/order one:

Here.

The Thread here on the site that started all this:

Can't See Anything in the Trees.

I ordered the product online with the usual "add-to-cart" conveniences which showed me that the Owner knew how to connect his products with the people that wanted them. Nothing clunky or out of the ordinary happened when I placed my order on March 4, 2010. Total cost: $19.95 including shipping/postage/handling.

I received the product 4 days later via the US postal service. I was very pleased with the timeliness between placing the order online and actually having the product in my greedy little mitts. I did send an e-mail to the "store" questioning whether or not the product could be mailed to a PO Box and received a same-day reply from Robert Witkoff, the owner. Bob stated that the PO Box wouldn't be a problem and he was right.

I laid out the helmet and supplies:

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The Helmet Before:

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The SuperVisor sealed in plastic to keep that new smell inside:

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The Supervisor came with complete and easily understandable/executable instructions. Very important to both Read and Follow the step by step process including deciding what height to mount the SuperVisor by sitting on the bike and then temporarily holding it in position. The kit comes with a "lift kit" so one has three different height options to choose from.

Time to completion: Less that 1/2 hour. (Half of that was just lolligagging and making sure that I had the visor exactly where I wanted it.

Difficulty Rating: Easy. Give it to an Eighth Grader to do but let him know that if he screws it up you'll take away his I-Pod for a month.

One thing I would add to the procedure is to mark the very center of the face-shield so that when one uses the adhesive pads/activator to hold the Supervisor in place on the shield, the center of the visor and the shield line up as accurately as possible:

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The After Pics:

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And one just for fun:

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The instructions say to wait 72 hours until using it in order to allow the best bond to develop. Sorry...no ride report/evaluation as of the time of this post.

I will say that I figured it was safe to don the helmet and walk around a bit. The visor did block the sun/provide shade. Kept the glare off the shaded section of the shield and IMO really improved visibility and eye comfort. Not much to report regarding the aerodynamics at walking speeds.

I'll do another post after an actual ride and report on any Pro's/Con's.

[Larrym]

Supervisor Road Test Results

The Supervisor did OK IMO.

Optical:

Open Road:
The ride was on a sunny day in the afternoon so the sun was both bright and low on the horizon. Exactly the scenario where I usually avoid riding cause of the "sun-in-the-eyes" and "glare-on-the-faceshield" factors. Maybe it's just my particular faceshield and the fact that it is coated with a reflective surface but the glare does more than obscure my vision. It sorta hurts my eyes if I'm not wearing sunglasses.

The Supervisor provided a shaded band across the shield directly in front of my eyes. While the rest of the faceshield did its usual glare-factor the shaded band was glare-free. Naturally my eyes sought after this shaded area and did what eyes should do: look through it in order to see clearly. Quite a relief, actually.



Tilting the helmet up/down/around had the effect of making the shaded band change in size and position but my mounting position/height kept it to a usable size. Thing is that moving the helmet/visor around instead of just moving my eyes alone took a little getting used to. But I guess we all do what we have to see and adapt to the process.

The best comparison that leaps to my mind is looking through something like:



When the sun/glare hits my faceshield the whole surface acts as a hindrance to my vision and the visor provides that shaded band I can still see through. Without the sun/glare the whole faceshield is clear/usable but when the sun hits it the visor's shaded band keeps everything from "whiting-out". (I like that a lot!!!)

Forest Canopy:
The ride through my favorite slow sweepers lined with forest/trees was done at the same time of day/sun position. In particular the road winds through heavy/light tree growth with the compass directions headed just enough into and out of the sun to make it uncomfortable for my eyes. The light level goes from shaded to dark, bright to shaded, and of course bright to dark to bright quickly. The most uncomfortable sections for me are the ones where the trees allow the sunlight between them and so going down the road is like having a Strobe-light flickering brightly/randomly.

See this video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbI59HVzr2Q

The video shows everything but what my eyes saw through that visor. Sure maybe I could'a put a video camera inside my helmet to show what my eyes saw. Trust me, I'd need aspirin if I had to ride through that situation for more than 1/2 hour or watch it for more than 15 minutes on video.

With the Supervisor installed at least I had that band to look through. The faceshield did its usual flickering as I went down the road but the shaded band was ever-present. It was a place where my eyes could safely "rest" upon so the flickering was only a minor annoyance. I think of it like how when I drive at night I don't look directly into the headlights of the oncoming vehicles. Sure, there was some eye-strain but not nearly as much as without the visor. Psychologically I was relieved that I could still see the road ahead. Somehow I don't like going even 30 Mph and not seeing what lays ahead for me. Go Figure??

Mechanical/Aerodynamics:

Max speed I went was 70 Mph. Results were that the visor didn't buzz, shake, vibrate, or give any indication that it wasn't attached to the visor securely. I did turn my head from side to side in an effort to see if it altered the "feel" of my helmet as I went along. I didn't feel as if the visor added any significant change to the way the airflow affected the helmet feel overall. YMMV though. That was a nice thing to find out after I installed it.

I was concerned about whether or not the visor would be able to lift the faceshield if I lifted my chin high enough. That's not a normal thing to do: Look at the sky while doing 70 Mph on a superbike with no windshield or fairing. But people do what they do and who am I to say they did something stupid?? Here's what happened:



I have a locking latch on the faceshield which is supposed to secure the faceshield in the down position. I know it's there and all but don't use it much. The air pressure/aerodynamics usually force the faceshield down/against the helmet adequately enough. But for testing/demonstration purposes I left the latch unlocked. Maybe other helmets don't have that safety/convenience feature.

The visor didn't lift up my faceshield enough to fully open it. That would be a dangerous thing to occur because the faceshield in the up position would most definitely be in the "catch-air" position. Lot's of force in the air at 70 Mph and I'm glad my neck muscles/reflexes didn't have to test themselves.

Look again:



The visor did lift the faceshield up and away from the fully down/seated position. (Look for the red lines in the pic above..) The actual distance lifted is about 3/4 inches. That's where the first "notch" of the faceshield ratcheting mechanism starts. IMO if I didn't have that ratcheting feature in my helmet/faceshield then the lifting force would have continued driving the shield upwards to the point where it would have reached the fully up/open position. This isn't a deal-breaker or an automatic "FAIL" for the Supervisor's behavior only because my helmet/faceshield does have that ratchet mechanism along with a fully functional lock-down lever. So I'd recommend that anyone considering purchasing/installing/using the Supervisor first determine how and why their faceshields stay in the down position in the first place.

If one doesn't have any type of means to stop the visor from lifting the faceshield all the way then the following video is NOT what would happen to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfXtBPU0Yc

I lifted my chin up in the "OMG!! Is that a UFO?? Have the Aliens finally landed???" profile and each time the visor lifted the faceshield up 3/4 inch to stop at the first detent in th ratcheting mechanism. The faceshield came back down when I assumed the regular "Say....Is that a real pothole ahead or just a dark spot left by an old roadkill??" position.

So overall I'm a happier camper with the Supervisor installed. Just want to make sure that others know-before-you-go regarding the minor glitch in the aerodynamics and faceshield lock-down or lack of lock-down interaction.

What?? You want an numerical rating as in something between 1 and 10??! That's not how my mind/evaluation process works:

I'm glad I bought it.
I'm gonna use it.
I didn't like Not having it.
I'm definitely not whimpering and crying about how much thinner my wallet is now.
I wouldn't smack a fellow rider's hand away from their mouse if they were about to click on the "add-to-cart" button.

Now I can go back to focusing on/worrying about whether or not other drivers are able to see me.

Bring on the "sunset rides".