Transitions face shields

[nick5446]

I realize I'm about ten years late to the Transitions party, but I just bought a Bell that came with one. I was about 45 minutes into my sunny morning commute, mad as hell that the shield wasn't working. I then caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and the shield was completely dark. How's that work? Dark shield, but seemingly no sun protection? It feels like I'm riding in a clear shield.

Anyone else had this experience? I'm coming from a mirrored shield, which I didn't think was that dark, but maybe that's what I need to go back to.

[marshdrummer]

I have had Bell lids with transitions shields for 10+ years now. I also came from a mirrored. Mirrored was extremely dark compared to the Bell. Once you are used to it, you will love it. I used to have to carry around a clear shield because the mirrored was too dark at night. The transition shield is a thing of beauty! Oh - and another bonus - when it is super bright out, you don't see your own reflection on the inside of the shield like my mirror shield did. It was quite distracting when you're playing in corners.

[RandyO]

I wear prescription photo gray lenses, they always appear to be clear when looking thru them, the only time I sense the darkness, is when walking from outdoors on a sunny snow covered winter day to indoors

[SRTie4k]

I liked the transitions shield in all but 2 situations; tunnels and on a dual sport helmet with a peak.

I now use a drop-down sun visor, and I wouldn't own a helmet without one again.

[nick5446]

I liked the transitions shield in all but 2 situations; tunnels and on a dual sport helmet with a peak.

I now use a drop-down sun visor, and I wouldn't own a helmet without one again.

I'm using it with a dual sport helmet with a peak, and ride through a few tunnels. Neither of those situations have bothered me. My real issue is that it doesn't block enough sun, despite being really dark in appearance.

The drop-downs are nice, but they add a decent amount of weight and volume that I'm not a fan of. To each their own!

[SRTie4k]

I'm using it with a dual sport helmet with a peak, and ride through a few tunnels. Neither of those situations have bothered me. My real issue is that it doesn't block enough sun, despite being really dark in appearance.

The drop-downs are nice, but they add a decent amount of weight and volume that I'm not a fan of. To each their own!

The new Nexx X-Wed2 Vaal weighs the same as the Bell MX-9 Adventure, so weight is not necessarily a concern with a drop-down if the helmet is built to minimize weight. And I haven't noticed a volume difference personally, but I don't really pay attention to shell sizes as much as features.

As for blocking the sun, I don't personally think any dark tinted visor is good enough to cut glare if the sun is right in front of you. That's what the peak is for, though.

[nick5446]

The new Nexx X-Wed2 Vaal weighs the same as the Bell MX-9 Adventure, so weight is not necessarily a concern with a drop-down if the helmet is built to minimize weight. And I haven't noticed a volume difference personally, but I don't really pay attention to shell sizes as much as features.

As for blocking the sun, I don't personally think any dark tinted visor is good enough to cut glare if the sun is right in front of you. That's what the peak is for, though.

I worked in motorcycle helmet design and manufacturing for a while, so I am way too aware of size and weight, haha. Totally agree that a few grams shouldn't be a big deal though.

I get almost zero real benefit to the peak on dual sport helmets, to be honest. The sun needs to be almost directly overhead for it to block anything. Again, just my opinion.

[OneCheekRider]

I've been using Bell's transitions for maybe 10 years now on their Star line and the MX9 Adventure. I don't think they get as dark as a mirrored or dark smoke shield but haven't been bothered by it and enjoy the sun protection it provides. I have a similar complaint as SRTie4k as going through tunnels or any high brightness to shaded area makes it more difficult to see as it takes a while to go back to clear. While I love it overall, my biggest complaint is the price. If I do a lot of group rides or rides in general my shields get lots of chips in them and after about a year or so they're difficult to see out of. Much cheaper to replace a clear or smoke shield than these transitions.

[RandyO]

enjoy the sun protection it provides.

exactly, the transition lens is meant to eliminate harmful UV (not part of the visible spectrum), not necessarily darken the sky

[Stoneman]

That was going to be my question: are the transition shields designed to block UV rays or shade your vision?

[RandyO]

well, the shading is a reaction to UV, not visible light, they are intended to reduce UV, that's my story and I'm sticking too it

I have worn the glass version of prescription lenses for the past 50 years, and they certainly are not "sunglasses", they only get real dark on bright sunny snow covered days, but you don't notice till you get out of the light

[golden chicken]

The short answer is that your eyes adjust around the same rate as the lens.

[feralchimp]

I liked the transitions shield in all but 2 situations; tunnels and on a dual sport helmet with a peak.
I now use a drop-down sun visor, and I wouldn't own a helmet without one again.

Never had a helmet with this feature, but am super-interested for the same tunnel use case you mentioned.
Any specific makes/models you'd recommend with the drop-down visor?

[feralchimp]

well, the shading is a reaction to UV, not visible light, they are intended to reduce UV, that's my story and I'm sticking too it

I have worn the glass version of prescription lenses for the past 50 years, and they certainly are not "sunglasses", they only get real dark on bright sunny snow covered days, but you don't notice till you get out of the light

My theory is more nuanced but not necessarily correct:

They're intended to reduce both UV and visible light, but they're only activated by UV. In the modern hyper-bright LED era especially, there are lots of moto-relevant light sources that are super-bright in the visible spectrum with relatively low UV signatures.

[nick5446]

Am I correct in understanding that a Transitions lens will stop the harmful UV rays, but not keep out glare and bright light?

[MattR302]

Never had a helmet with this feature, but am super-interested for the same tunnel use case you mentioned.
Any specific makes/models you'd recommend with the drop-down visor?

I have a Bell MX9 with the transitions shield, and a Shoei GT-Air wit the drop-down sun shield. (I’ve Owned several GT-air helmets)
Personally, I very much prefer the drop-down. Around town, I often use just the drop-down with the main shield open for the air flow. Plus, the transitions doesn’t get as dark as I’d like. For both of these reasons, I find myself wearing sunglasses in addition to the transitions shield.

[RandyO]

I find myself wearing sunglasses in addition to the transitions shield.

not surprising, I use a dark shield with my photo-gray glasses (I still wear real glass, not the plastic "transitions" lenses)

[SRTie4k]

Never had a helmet with this feature, but am super-interested for the same tunnel use case you mentioned.
Any specific makes/models you'd recommend with the drop-down visor?

If you mean regular helmets, I believe the GT-Air, Neotec and all Schuberth's have one. I don't really pay attention to normal helmets, though.

As for dual sport helmets (what I wear all the time), the Nexx X-Wed2 and Vilitur, LS2 Explorer and Blaze, Touratech Aventuro Mod and Scorpion EXO-AT950 all have one.