What's your helmet

OOOH WOOCACUCOO CA WOOCACOO! You must be THE UNKNOWN MACKENZIE BROTHER!

 

My other helmet just makes me look like a dick head ....

 

Went with an HJC CL-Max as it was one that fit my fat head the best. Some others were too narrow for me and even if we did try to offset by changing out cheek pads. I was not ready to fork out a lotta dough until I knew much more about helmets, at the time, and had one that really fit well, ventilation etc. Any recommendations for those of us with "full featured" heads? (think that is the way the salesman so eloquently worded it)

 

I remember when I bought my Shoei thinking I had made a big mistake as it fit just so tight. But it did conform nicely after a week or so to a nice snug fit, for me. When I bought the new cheek pads, it felt extremely tight again but it is now nicely adapted to my block.

I saw a site somewhere just recently that discussed the different head shapes and what helmets would most likely be the better fit but I can't remember where I saw that. Was informative as hell though. But if they don't fit really tight when new, they are the wrong fit or wrong size.

 

I believe 'Zilla discusses this on their site (head shape).

A helmet should feel tight when it's brand new ... like it's gently squeezing your head but not painfully. Some helmets will break in faster than others. The key is that you should be able to grab it by the chin and move it in every direction without it slipping around on your head.

 

I've been a Shoei head since they've been out, some helmets are more for round heads and some for oval, I'm not sure which one is which but Shoei works for me....until of late when I tried out what I thought was going to be the latest and greatest from em with the x-14, NOT!even the rf1200 leaves an odd sense to it. I get the safety remove part, but the new impact foam area is larger making the helmet larger, yes it may weigh the same or even lighter, but it doesn't feel right. So I went and tried the Arai version, now that was more like it, even cool looking designs, which IMO another short coming with Shoei, that's another story. But as it turns out I can't handle their shield mechanism, nice helmet, but??? So back to Shoei I crawl, maybe if it looks to be worth it just for the sake of a neat transmicroautic shield. ain't tech fun. I ain't so worried what it costs, I've been through what a helmet does for you, so there's no way I'm going to be a cheapskate on this one. But it does need to look cool too, right?

 

What's the weight on that Labatts helmet? I hear they are a long square fit and have an excellent ventilation system. Ha-ha.

 

I have a round shaped head, so I don't have the luxury of looking for a desired helmet. Fit is REALLY problematic for me, so I have to try on any and all brands in a hunt for something that will work. I used to wear Shoei and then they changed the inner shape. When I started riding after a long break, KBC was the perfect fit, but they are no longer in business. I went on a helmet hunt last year to replace my KBC, and it turns out the current Shoei GT-Air fits really well and gives me the built-in sun shade. I am really happy with it.

Jose

 

Webbikeworld.com is an excellent source for helmet reviews/specs. Sadly they haven't gotten around to reviewing the Labatts helmet yet:witless:
Just got me a new HJC IS-17, happy camper.

 

I have a bunch of retired helmets, mostly Shoei and a few Arri's. Currently ride with a Shoei X12 and have a Nexx XR2 carbon for the track, has a wide vertical view that helps the neck while hanging off. The Nexx is super light and no buffeting at any angle. Wind buffeting is one of my important points when I choose a helmet, (fit and safety first for sure) . I also look for ECE 2205 rating as I think that is the best rating system. They look more at brain deceleration in their testing Snell, though the new Snell testing is gotten better. My next helmet is probably going to be a Shark Speed R carbon. I think it would be a great sport/tour helmet, very light, built in sun visor and excellent at speed.

 

I have a shoei neotech and an arai spencer replica (RX-Q I think it is).
Both very comfortable and reasonably quiet.

 

Helmets are such an individual thing because it all depends on fit, the most expensive lid you can buy is useless if it's not the right shape for you. I have a Shoei Qwest which would be the perfect helmet if it had a sun visor. I have a GT-Air for when I need a sun visor but the visor and ventilation aren't as good as the Qwest. I also have a Shark Speed-R which is my 'summer' helmet so doesn't get worn much over here.

 

I have/had a few helmets and here are the bullet points as to why

Schuberth C3 (Soon to be retired)
I wanted a light and quiet modular helmet and this seemed to fit the bill. They also offered a comm system that integrated very well and does not have anything sticking out on the side of the helmet.
- The helmet is very aerodynamic and does great when turning your head for lane checks.
- The drop down sun visor is great and has very good optics. The sun visor does not have any fog free coating so it can fog up at times.
- It comes with a pin-lock shield and lens. One of the best systems for keeping your visor fog free.
- Field of vision seems pretty good as well.
- Although airflow is OK, it does not flow a lot of air but enough to not be an issue when it gets really hot. I'm sure this is what helps it be a quiet helmet.
- Although most modular helmets are heavier than traditional full face helmets, the C3 is actually pretty light.


Schuberth C3 Pro
This is the replacement to the above helmet. It's pretty close to the same helmet with a few minor improvements. It supposedly has a quieter sound level, but I haven't done an A/B comparison to say it is or by how much. So far, both Schuberth helmets have not disappointed me and for anything other than sport riding or a track day, it is my go to helmet.

Shoei GT-Air
Because Shoei helmets seem to fit me very well and are very comfortable, I chose this as my sport riding helmet. Although I like the modular helmet for commuting and touring, I prefer a full face helmet for sport riding. I was considering the Schuberth S2 or the Schuberth SR1 as possible candidates, but felt the Shoei was priced a bit better and I like the look of it. It also helped that I got a great discount on it!
- Although it does fairly well when riding on the freeway, it does catch the wind a little when turning your head for lane checks.
- Similar to the Schuberth, it also has the sun visor, which is a feature I like and like the Schuberth, the sun visor is susceptible to fogging.
- Also similar to the Schuberth, air flow is mediocre at best but does make it a bit quieter than my previous Shoei (RF-1100), in all but triple digit temps, it is not an issue though.
- Field of vision is good too.

HJC CL-16 (Spare)
I bought this helmet on a whim. Motorcyclegear.com had a great deal on it. Buy it for $39.99 plus shipping and they give you a $30 gift card in return! The graphics on the helmet look great too! For the price I really can't complain but I will anyway. :wink:
For the most part the helmet feels to fit very close to Shoei and is pretty light.
- It comes with a pin-lock visor and lens.
- Airflow is slightly less than mediocre but surprising the helmet is a bit noisy. A lot of air does come from under the chin bar so I had buy the chin curtain to help with this. Probably where most of the wind noise comes from.
- To add to the above, the vent open/close mechanisms seem to be a bit flimsy and they are just that, on or off. The above mentioned helmets have a least more than the two positions, on the top vents at least.
- Although aerodynamically is feels good, when turning my head to do a lane check, the visor usually pops open a little, even with the shield lock engaged.
- Field of vision is good.

Shoei RF-1100 (Retired)
I had this helmet before the fore mention make/models and it was a great helmet but had a few things I did not like about. However, it would have been a great track day helmet minus one item.
- Did not come with a pin-lock lens or shield, it was an option.
- Airflow was top notch and had several vents so it allowed for more or less airflow. Of course the consequence made for a very noisy helmet!
- One pet peeve was the little lip on the back of the helmet that would rub and/or bump into the hump on the back of my leathers. This was really annoying and often disruptive to my riding when I was leaning and in a corner. It kind of felt like someone was pushing on the back of my head. If my leathers did not have the hump or the lip was not on the back of the helmet this would be great track day helmet for me.

 

Just found a new site to assist with helmet selection. lidpicker.com, this was developed by motorcycle gear.com, they offer a kit (for sale) to help with sizing and head shape, looks like it's a caliper and a tape measure. Appears that they would put your measurements into their data base and then appropriate size/shape helmets would be recommended. I looked at their sample chart/graph, pretty cool. Worth a look IMO.

 

I forgot about that. I was going to add a link for that in my post but got side tracked and posted my reply without it. Good job on adding that OBJ.

 

ObJ, that link should be a sticky on every bike forum made!

 

Well you guys were in the know before me. I just came across lidpickers today while updating my email address with motercyclegear. I've been used to going to webbikeworld for reviews, then going around locally with that information to see if the selected helmet actually fit my bean like I thought it would. One thing that Iv'e run into a couple of times now is that a helmet might fit well but doesn't accommodate my prescription glasses well. There's a deal breaker when that's the case.

 

Last spring I searched all the local shops for a full face street style helmet for my 5 year old son. People smiled and pointed over at that area in a couple different stores. Cycle gear had the only one we could find that actually fit him. Unfortunately it was butt ugly.
Just before going with bigger goggles onto his DOT street helmet, I found a good looking kid's helmet on Amazon from a company called Typhoon. They shipped quickly and he really likes it. I got one for myself at the same time. It is Snell 2010 certified and came with both clear and smoke shields. I got both for a little over $100 and so far they've been just swell.

Over the years I've worn Bell, Shoei, HJC, and now this off brand thing. Seems like a great bargain and is holding up quite well.

 

My Joker helmets.

:joker: Well what didya expect? :lol: (Pic 1)


I wear Shoei's more often than anything else simply because they fit my head shape.
The 3 MT Thunder Joker helmets toward the bottom of the pic also fit my head well.
The two Headcase Joker helmets (Blue helmet far left top row and Silver helmet far right top row) don't fit my head shape so I don't wear those two.

Transitions type visors are cool but I don't think they make them for any of my Shoei's RVFR.

I do have a Sedici Strada Azzardo helmet though that's equipped with both the clear visor and the flip down dark smoke fighter pilot visor. (Pic 2) It has quite a few neat features and works well enough although to be honest it is just a tiny bit noisy.

I used to carry a clear visor with me when I went on long day trips until I started using Hi-Def visors on my Shoei's. The Amber Hi-Def visor (Pic 3) works extremely well in daylight. Colors are bright,vibrant ,and in your face with this visor.
Took me a little while to get accustomed to using it because everything was so freakin' bright. Does a really good job of knocking down glare though.
It also gathers light exceptionally well at dusk,I would often times flip the visor open to find that it was much darker outside than I had thought.

The thing with the Amber visor though is that at a certain point it just gets too dark outside for the visor to gather any more usable light. At that point it becomes completely useless. Yew cain't see chit meng! It's as though you're suddenly wearing a dark smoke visor.

The Hi-Def Yellow visor (Pic 4) works just as well in the daylight as the Amber visor. Although colors aren't quite as in your face they're still fairly bright. As with the Amber visor it does a good job of knocking down glare.
I've found that the Yellow visor however works well at night. It gathers light at dusk same as the Amber visor does but it doesn't darken as daylight transitions into night.
I've worn the Yellow Hi-Def visor back to back with a clear visor at night and I didn't see all that much difference between the two.
The Yellow Hi-Def visors have slowly become my "Go To" visors.

The Orange Picotte 1 helmet (middle helmet second row in Pic 1) has an Amber Hi-Def visor on it.
The Blue Picotte 2 helmet (the helmet just to the right of the Picotte 1) and both of the Orange Picotte 3's and Blue Picotte 3's (middle 4 helmets in the top row) all have Yellow Hi-Def visors on them RVFR.

And since it's wintertime and we're tossing around topics I thought I'd throw in a pic of my leather riding jackets too just for the fun of it. Enjoy. (Pic 5)

 

Holy crap, got helmets?
Love the bottom left and the one in front of it.
D, I think he's got ya beat.