What are the trusted helmet brands these days?

Discussion in 'Gear & Accessories' started by RobVG, Nov 17, 2014.

  1. pbg07

    pbg07 New Member

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    I have a helmet and the base model can be fitted with a transition lens. I leave it on through day and night. Works a treat. Still cheaper buying the helmet and lens than going to a shoei or Arai etc.
     
  2. Gman74

    Gman74 New Member

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    I always recommend trying on all sorts of brands and models within the brands. Anything from the lower cost to the extreme dollar version. You need to find the right fit for you. Your head is not the same as all others. After that the brand you choose will allow you to shop online for the perfect price.

    I'm a through and through Arai fan, for the fit on my head. I believe the more costly the lid, the more you can tolerate riding longer hours with comfort. It's made lighter, better ventilated, and fits more snugly. However there is one negative, the better the ventilation, the louder the noise level. Isn't a problem if you wear earplugs. What I like about the Arai is the cupped ears. Makes wearing earbuds comfortable.
     
  3. nookiaz

    nookiaz New Member

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    I have a Shoei RF1100 & an Arai Vector2. The Shoei fit me well (snug but not tight), for about 30min. then I fell extra pressure around the top part of my skull. No way to get a thinner liner from Shoei. The arai has the same snug fit (small vs med. for the Shoei). Again, I can feel the extra pressure around the top part pf my skull just like the Shoei after about 30min. of riding, but I was able to relieve that pressure by getting a less thicker liner from Arai. The Shoei seems to be quieter & offer better ventilation than the Arai...I wore the Shoei in the store for 10-15min. to get a proper feel/fit (guess not long enough). The Arai was chosen after getting fitted by an Arai rep. at my local bike show in Feb. last year. So my 2 cents: Arai offers more customizable fitting with their head liner & cheekpads in different thickness.
     
  4. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    Got the Bell Revolution yesterday. Solid silver-looks really sharp. Bought the dark smoke sunshield but it doesn't look a whole lot darker than whats on there.

    The shell and chin are plastic but I knew that going in. I would have preferred a fiberglass helmet because I've crashed with one that saved my noggin.

    I'm not sure how the chin will react or stay latched in a crash, hope I never find out.

    It's fits really tight. The cheek pads are almost painful until I cinch the chinstrap down. This is probably a better situation than my old Shoei which I could almost turn sideways.

    The shell is bigger than what I'm used to, kinda like putting on a pumpkin.

    Might be awhile for a ride review, weather sucks but I'm fucking addicted to riding right now. I might have to go out in the rain and see how the new jacket and pants hold up.
     
  5. pbg07

    pbg07 New Member

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    I reckon you'll love the Bell. I do. Also a bike is there to be ridden not looked at in your garage!!
     
  6. pacemaker

    pacemaker New Member

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    I like my Shark Evoline. The way it opens, you can flip the chin back to what is basically an open face complete with visors. Easy to do while riding. Don't know about the Snell, but it exceeds the requirements for the AS1698 for Oz.
     
  7. DaHose

    DaHose New Member

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    I just bought my daughter a Scorpion Exo R410. Very light, Snell M2015 and Cycle Gear has them for $149 right now.

    Jose
     
  8. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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  9. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    When they say flip up does that mean its a modular helmet Rob? Sure looks good...hows the noise level?
     
  10. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    If that's the store you bought it from see if they'll credit you back the difference. Worth a shot.
     
  11. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    Yep, it's a modular and no I didn't by it there. Just thought I'd pass it along.

    No ride review yet, just got my turn signals fixed and it's been pouring rain.
     
  12. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Guess I'll check it out...hows it with glasses? Thats if ya wear them....us old guys have to
     
  13. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    I read some reviews where glasses are a little tight for some people. But since it's a flip up, you'd think it would be easier to put your glasses on.

    A big selling point for me was the internal sun shield.
     
  14. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Cool..Shoei is what I was looking at but $500..not so sure...fits great....may have to check the bell out...dont think I've owned one since 15 years old
     
  15. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    My first Bell was at 16.

    I'm temped to buy another Revolver to bring my unit cost down. :rolleyes:
     
  16. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Like the black...
    Maybe with some black 3m reflective tape...
     
  17. Alaskan

    Alaskan Member

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    The one that fits.









    .
     
  18. RobVG

    RobVG Member

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    I love my new Bell Revolver. It fit's perfectly and it's totally comfortable. All the features work well.

    It's very quiet- standing still. There's a fair amount of wind noise around the faceshield but still less than the old Shoei RF200.
     
  19. Big_Jim59

    Big_Jim59 Member

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    I think helmets are like shoes, until you get some time in them they just feel strange. I bought a HJC and I am having trouble getting used to it. It's OK it's just not my old helmet. It's not as quiet as I thought it would be.
     
  20. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    So I thought I would update here on the HJC (CL-16) Helmet I posted about earlier, just to put closure on it.

    For the most part the helmet feels quite good is pretty light and is fairly quiet, although I do wear earplugs, so that does help out a bit I'm sure, but I have not tried it without ear plugs yet and probably will not. The paint job looks really good first hand, more so than the pictures can convey and the over all build quality seems to be good as well.

    It does have a decent field of view and with the pinlock lens does a great job of keeping fog off the face shield. It did come with a clear lens, but I actually bought with a smoked pinlock lens, vice smoked shield. However, I did find that there is a pretty decent gap from the top of the lens to the bottom of the top edge of the helmet, so sometimes the sun does peek through over the top of the smoked lens. Maybe a little tape to cover that gap might do the trick.

    So now that I have had some "freeway" time i.e. higher speeds, with it I did find a few short comings. For one, even with the chin curtain installed (optional purchase BTW), there was a lot of airflow coming from beneath the chin bar, which may have led to the other issue I have. When turning my head to do a lane check, the face shield would pop open a little, even with the shield lock enabled, albeit a little less. Which of course let in quite a bit more airflow and if this was in rain conditions, I would imagine this would allow rain in as well. The airflow under neath the chin bar may or may not be an issue depending on your bikes windscreen, but on my '09 VFR800 with the GIVI touring screen it was. May ride the other bikes to see if there is any difference.

    For the current price of $69, it feels like a solid unit and would do it's job if/when called upon to do so but for me, the face shield issue would need to be resolved before I would give this a 2 thumbs up. For a spare helmet it was well worth the price I paid.
     
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