How often should I replace my visor?

When it scatters light at night. There is no published interval, because a visor is scratched by handling rather than by time — and the single biggest cause is cleaning it badly.

The test that matters

Ride at night towards oncoming headlights. A visor with fine scratches turns each one into a star, and the effect is far worse than the same visor looks in daylight. If you find yourself lifting the visor at night to see properly, it is finished.

What actually scratches it

Wiping dust off dry, paper towels, and cleaning products not meant for the coating. The anti-scratch coating on a visor resists ordinary contact and not abrasion from grit dragged across it. Water first to lift the dirt, then a soft cloth.

The insert scratches faster

An anti-fog insert is soft by design and sits where a glove touches it. It is a consumable and scratches long before the visor does, which is worth knowing before blaming the visor.

The cheap habit that doubles visor life

A microfibre cloth kept in the luggage and a small bottle of water. Cleaning a visor at a fuel stop with whatever is at the pump is how most visors are ruined, and the screen wash provided there is not for visor coatings.

What replacing it costs you to check

Whether the new visor is prepared for an anti-fog insert. Prepared and unprepared versions photograph identically, the pins cannot be added later, and buying the wrong one means a winter without an insert.