Metzeler Clearfix

METZELER CLEARFIX

EVALUATION

FOUL-WEATHER FRIEND AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

FOG, DRIZZLE OR LIGHT RAIN CAN coat a rider’s faceshield like batter, until he’s almost as blind as justice, and neither white canes nor seeing-eye canines can help. Wiping away the moisture with a gloved finger might make matters worse; gloves inevitably pick up road grit, which mixes with water to form a wonderfully abrasive, shield-scratching paste.

Swell.

Metzeler’s Clearfix, though, will cut a clean swath across a murky shield, without clawing it up in the bargain. That’s right—Metzeler. Several tire companies manufacture a variety of rubber goods, and this German firm is no different. In this case, it’s a 3-inch-long extrusion of a soft rubber similar to that used for bicycle tubes, with an inch-tall rib that runs the length of one side, looking much like a windshield wiper blade.

That’s precisely how it works, too. Before setting sail into the soup, slip the Clearfix on your thumb or index finger. One side is cut away to pre-

vent binding at the knuckle, and it’s big enough to fit even the sausagelike digits of heavy winter gloves. Then, as necessary, wipe the blade across the shield; a single pass squeegees clean a 3-inch-tall strip, clearing vision in an instant. A torrential downpour will, admittedly, overwork the Clearfix—and your arm. Your hand would be a blur of motion trying to chase water off the shield. But heavy rain tends to run quickly off a shield anyway.

Instead, the virtues of Metzeler’s little, ribbed rubber tube stand out in sharpest relief in sticky, gumbo-like fog or sputtering, misty drizzle. It’s precisely such clinging, low-grade precipitation that turns a shield almost opaque, and that’s when the Clearfix (available from most motorcycle dealers for $3.20 a pair) works wonders. It’s a visible improvement over flying blind. g]