I ride a motorcycle. It’s great. And when it rains, well, it’s still great but… a little annoying. Most of the time the rain drops that fall in your field of view will just be pushed to the sides because of the wind hitting your visor. But at lower speeds that doesn’t work quite as well. So I’m actually intrigued by Rainpal. It’s an attachment you retrofit into an existing helmet, and it gives you a good old fashioned wiper blade. Attached to your visor with inner suction cups, you activate it through a button on the hardware itself, or through a wireless kit meant to be mounted on your handlebars. When you do so, the blade will go back and forth for up to 90 minutes, or twice that if you give it a two second delay, before you need to charge the battery. The design claims it’ll work just fine at speeds up to 160kmh (100mph).

Now, keep in mind that this product is being pitched on a lesser known crowdfunding platform, Fundrazr, that there’s no working prototype yet (they’re 4 weeks out, apparently), and that the campaign isn’t fully funded in the first place. So pledge the $49 starting price at your own risk. Having said that, if it does work as advertised, Rainpal looks pretty slick.

[ Project Page ]

Most avid riders will never complain about having to tighten a chin strap around their jaws, but the few that get annoyed by it will be interested to read about the Vozz RS 1.0 helmet. It features an innovative middle hinge that opens the back of the helmet and lets the rider inset his head with ease.

The most innovative feature of the RS 1.0 is the head’s access point. The helmet splits vertically in two parts that pivot around a hinge at the top and toward the back of the shell. This opening offers ample space for the head to slide into the helmet and then it only takes is a little pressure to reattach the two parts via two locking mechanisms. According to Vozz this can be done easily while wearing gloves and even glasses.

Reconfiguring the helmet this way does a lot more than get rid of the chin strap. Doing away with the need for a large opening to get the head through, you can have a closer, tighter fit. The chin area has also been redesigned for comfort, while the fact that it’s closed prevents air from entering from below.

It looks like a fantastic design, and the helmet is ready to hit the market. Initially sold only at the central company store in East Frenchs Forest near Sydney, Australia, the plan is to roll out to retailers worldwide later on. That could take a while, of course, so until then you can also order one from their online store, starting December 23rd, for an as yet undisclosed price.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]