Another Way to Stop Windshield Headlight Reflections

[dbrick]

Stray headlight photons are captured by the bottom edges of the clear windshields, as well as directly reflect off the screens' trailing surface. This thread:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19676&hilit=headli ... r&start=20 discussed killing the light with a visor over the headlight, or adding edging or paint to the screen. I found another way to get rid of the stray light that's easy, effective, looks very clean, and is inexpensive to boot.

The stray light is emitted from the frosted perimeter of the lens; I thought I'd separate the lens from the reflector, so I could paint the frosted part. No go: the lens is glued to the reflector. Then I wondered if I could paint from the outside, but decided I couldn't get an even enough line on the compound curved surfaces.

3/4" plastic electrical tape solved the problem easily. The tape is exactly wide enough to cover the frosted portion of the headlight perimeter, and no larger. It's stretchy nature allows it to conform to the compound curve without bunching or bubbles. It's circular edge at the place where the frosted rim joins the clear lens is sharp and perfectly straight.

Start at the bottom, so the seam (which isn't very visible anyway) will be out of sight. Keep the tape slightly stretched as you put it down. If you wiggle, pull it up and put it down again. I held the lens with my left hand, and kept about 8"-12" of tape between the roll in my right hand and the frosted rim. I kept the tape under slight tension, and laid it down using only my right hand holding the roll. It took about a minute to do the whole job. It came out great, as if the light had come from the factory that way.

[deilenberger]

David,

I'll be interested in how this holds up long term. My experience with the currently available electrical tape (even the good stuff from Scotch) is it tends to deteriorate when exposed to sunlight and heat. Usually it starts curling at the edges, and eventually the glue seems to let go.

Hopefully you've found some that doesn't.

[dbrick]

My bike lives indoors, which will help. Even if the stuff deteriorates over time, it'll be trivial to remove, clean, and reapply.

If it does deteriorate, replacement will remind me to update the thread. If you never hear from me again on this, the tape will have lasted longer than my memory.

[AncientMariner]

I used the Scotch brand rubber tape but only on the top half. The tape was still secure after my bike was ridden hard and put away wet in the Black River in Vermont. Read about the tape here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19898&p=175260&hil ... ch#p175260

Bruce

[celticus]

Looks good! I like home remedies. You would make a good Airhead.

Mark

[dbrick]

You would make a good Airhead.

Thanks! Some people think I'm already an airhead.

[dbrick]

David,

I'll be interested in how this holds up long term. My experience with the currently available electrical tape (even the good stuff from Scotch) is it tends to deteriorate when exposed to sunlight and heat. Usually it starts curling at the edges, and eventually the glue seems to let go.

Hopefully you've found some that doesn't.

Nope, turns out not be a long-term solution; the tape fails just as you described. Still, an application lasts six months or more, and renewing it takes maybe ten minutes. xprof's metal brow is not yet attractive to me.

[boxermoose]

I've used the self-vulcanizing tape in a similar application on a KLR for a couple years and it is still holding up

http://www.rescuetape.com/

[dbrick]

Interesting stuff. But the video and pics show the tape fusing to itself as it's wrapped around something, like a hose. On the headlight, it runs around the circumference of the lens, and wouldn't have an opportunity to fuse to itself. I'm not confident it'd adhere to the lens well enough.

[xprof]

But if I were the last riding partner in the world, David, you'd probably find me pretty cute, metal brow and all!
How do you stand on white beards?

[dbrick]

White beards? Excellent adornment. I have one.

[boxermoose]

Interesting stuff. But the video and pics show the tape fusing to itself as it's wrapped around something, like a hose. On the headlight, it runs around the circumference of the lens, and wouldn't have an opportunity to fuse to itself. I'm not confident it'd adhere to the lens well enough.

When you go all the way around the lens it will then fuze to it's self - the tape is very stretchy and conformal so it should stay in place. Works well enough on th eleaks lens (although it is a rectangle) on the KLR

[dbrick]

Yes, the ends would fuse together. But is it sufficiently sticky where it's just sitting on the periphery of the lens so the heat doesn't cause the tape to slip towards the center of the lens? The plastic electrical tape does this after it puckers and gets un-sticky at the edge.

[AncientMariner]

Next time use the Scotch Brand Rubber electrical tape, available at Lowe's Motorcycle Parts Emporium.

You have to remove the chrome ring, which is easy, while you apply the tape. The ring then wraps over the inside of the tape. It is impervious to to weather, etc. I had a terrible time removing it from the remains of my beautiful blue roadster when I retrieved my flahing brake light.

Bruce

[roger l]

Coud you paint that area af the lense black?

Roger L

[dbrick]

Coud you paint that area af the lense black?

Roger,

Paint would work to block the light, but I'd worry about the paint's edge, being curved in two dimensions, being uneven. I wouldn't want to apply it freehand, and don't know how it could be masked.

Bruce

Thanks. I'll look for it. How thick is it? Does it have enough stretch to deal with curving in two dimensions?

[dbrick]

Next time use the Scotch Brand Rubber electrical tape, available at Lowe's Motorcycle Parts Emporium.

Is this the stuff? What's the visible edge like once it is installed? When you say it was terrible to remove, did you try any particular goo?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_78453-98-2155_0 ... facetInfo=

[AncientMariner]

In cross section, it's a trapezoid shape. I think I cut off the taper from what would be the hidden inside edge. The tape is quite pliable and the thinning of the exposed edge helps it to blend in. It is just the right thikness to go under the chrome ring. It survived an entire summer of riding and the crash on my Blue Roadster (sniff!). I had used it to wrap the wire connections on my auxiliary taillight. I attacked the tape with cutting pliers, a utility knife and shear will power. Once it was off, there was no messy residue.

I'm going to post this and then see if I can find a picture...

OK, I'm back. Follow this link for pictures of the installation, and the rubber tape packaging.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19898&p=175240&hil ... ch#p175240

This was all on the Beautiful Blue Roadster. For the Classic Black Roadster, I repeated moving the headlight and adding the rubber tape. This time around I painetd the bottom edge of the windshield using a paint pen obtained at Lowes and Scotch Magic Transparent tape for masking. Mind how you cradle the windshield while painting. I used an empty Coca Cola Carton and put some scrathes into my shield, fortunately, I can't see them while riding, but I still know they are there.

Bruce

[deilenberger]

I'll just comment - I have black door-edge guard (from the automotive department) on three Cee-Bailey shields, and it's been there over 2 years now. Despite some fears by some that it might do something awful to the shields, I can report - it's done nothing. And it is (1) cheap! One roll will do about 5-6 windshields (2) Easy - cut and press, no drama (3) looks good (4) effective. No light pipe effect.

Cy from VT also has it on his (he stopped by the house last year..) no bad reports on it from him that I've heard.

[dbrick]

Alright then. I have an O'Reilly's across the street from work. Sometime before my last day - Thursday this week! - I'll walk over and see if they have some edge guard. It'll look better than the vinyl electrical tape I just tried on the bottom edge of the screen.