HJC Helmet Issues - how do i fix this???

B

Bugs

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I bought an HJC CL-16 about a year ago. It came with a clear visor and I purchased a tinted visor at the same time. The clear visor opened and closed perfectly. The 'stop' locations were solid but easy to open to each of the partial settings but not so easy that it would move on its own. The tinted visor worked nearly as well but needed just a hair more effort when switching between full open/partial settings/full closed.

Over the months of use, I found the visors 'sticking' when trying to open and close it. The 'sticking' seemed to happen more and more and require more and more effort to open to the point of basically needing to use both hands to make it open 'evenly'.


I've tried adjusting the mounting plates on the side, but to be honest, I'm not sure what the best method for 'lining them up' is.

Does anyone have and experience with these helmets and adjusting then? Is it fixable without replacing the side pieces? will replacing them fix the issue? I dont mind shelling out a couple bucks to get it working smooth again, but i also dont want to put money into something if its not going to help.

Any help would be awesome.
 
On both sides of the visor there are ratcheting teeth. I wonder if some of those teeth got somehow bent out of alignment. You might want to take apart the mechanism and inspect it.
 
Hi Bugs,
A new pair of shield mounting plates is inexpensive (less than $20 bucks, both sides) and will fix you up.
Most HJC dealers keep these in stock.
You have allowed yours to 'run dry' ie. no lubrication.
Arai is the only manufacturer to include a tiny little bottle of silicone lubricant with their helmets, and also with any Arai replacement faceshield purchased.
It's perfect stuff for Shoei/HJC/etc. faceshields too!
The mechanism - specifically the male bump (on the mechanism) and the female indentations (on the faceshield) that control the intermediate opening positions, should be lubricated.
If run 'dry', you will encounter the tell-tale black powdery residue from worn plastic-on-plastic, and must soon replace the mechanism, as you have discovered.
When we change a shield for you in a bikeshop, we will always first lube things up with Arai lube.
Any lube (that doesn't eat plastic) and is clear and viscous should work okay... something mild and silicone-based is perfect, and you don't need much.
L8R
 
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My AC12 started doing it this year... it's weird, because I find it happens more with 1 shield over the other. When I first change to the clear shield, I almost can't close it. The tinted one still seems alright... thanks for the tip Gryphon. I believe if you are having a hard time searching them, they are also called "side pods." I am planning to buy some in the off season.
 
Arai provides some kind of lube (silicone) for this purpose. I had the same problem with my HJC so I lubed it up and bingo, everything worked like new. Dunno where you can get it, for sure where Arais are sold but that's probably more time and money than you need. Maybe Jig-a-Loo at Cdn Tire???
 
Forgot to mention,
Tiny-tiny bit of Vaseline (on the fingertip, or maybe Q-tip) rubbed sparingly across detentes on faceshield, will lube things up properly in a pinch.
But Vaseline can be messy if it gets away from you, has poor optical qualities heheh...
 
+1 on Silicone Lube. I bought new mounting plates and noticed the dab of lube on the sliders.
It's nice if you can find the stuff as it does require re-application from time to time.

Back in the olden days of points distributors you could buy it by the tube.
Permatex was the brand name if I recall. I'm sure they don't call it "Point Lube" any more...

Just googled it, dielectric Tune-up grease appears to be the same stuff
 
Gryphon said:
The mechanism - specifically the male bump (on the mechanism) and the female indentations (on the faceshield) that control the intermediate opening positions, should be lubricated.
If run 'dry', you will encounter the tell-tale black powdery residue from worn plastic-on-plastic, and must soon replace the mechanism, as you have discovered.
Click to expand...

Gryphon said:
Forgot to mention,
Tiny-tiny bit of Vaseline (on the fingertip, or maybe Q-tip) rubbed sparingly across detentes on faceshield, will lube things up properly in a pinch.
...
Click to expand...

Thank you so very much. I got out a q-tip and some vaseline to and put a thin amount in the indentation portion (along the 'grooves' that allow for each open position and it opens and closes like a champ. Almost tooo well :-) After a couple months of basically forcing it open and closed ive worn down the notches a bit. Now that they are lubed it takes almost too little force to move them. Will try it for a while. As long as it doesnt pop open/closed when I dont want it to, I will consider it case closed and randomly grease them up. Otherwise I will replace the sides, and from there one grease the new ones.

Either way, thank you very much. I was starting to get frustrated and looking for a new bucket for christmas list :-) Now I can ask for something else.

The piss off is the manual which came with the helmet says NOTHING about needing lube.
 
fastar1 said:
Arai provides some kind of lube (silicone) for this purpose. I had the same problem with my HJC so I lubed it up and bingo, everything worked like new. Dunno where you can get it, for sure where Arais are sold but that's probably more time and money than you need. Maybe Jig-a-Loo at Cdn Tire???
Click to expand...

Jig a Loo is a silicone based lube. Would anyone agree that it would be good to use for this?
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