Yes it is ridiculous, but the manufacturers would probably argue that they are made to very high standards of optical clarity and impact resistance to justify the price though.
I paid over £400 for a helmet so would have to pay what they demand for the visor unless it was very close to replacement as I couldn't afford a helmet of equivalent lightness and comfort for anywhere near £70.
The same thing annoys me with expensive printer cartridges for cheap printers among other things!
Once they have you hooked you either have to stump up for overpriced spares or replace the item which doesn't seem like a good long term customer loyalty strategy to me.
The annoying thing is you can't just chose to live with a scratched visor as it could prove disastorous if your vision is impaired as a result. I think the manufacturers should offer cheaper visors to encourage road safety especially when you have already forked out for a top of the range helmet.
It's a shame there isn't a bit of competition to keep manufacturers spares prices in check like there is with pattern parts for example.
Interestingly on the replacement age of helmets Shoei recommend 5 years from first use of a helmet on their site, assuming damage doesn't necessitate earlier replacement. Funny how advice varies between manufacturers. Are Shoei right or just greedier I wonder!
