Hi again folks, Well, I am sorry to say that HJC have now failed. Two customer service experiences - 1 good, 1 bad. I wonder which is actually normal for them. Last summer the customer service was great. One of the locking lug plastic plates had cracked. HJC in California sent me replacement plates - to Canada - free of charge. I am sure I was toward the tail end of the 5 year warranty at that time, but they did not ask for proof of purchase date when I mentioned this to them. When I went for a ride in early February I discovered that both of the plastic cam mechanisms with the detents for holding the face shield in various open positions were cracked and the face shield would not stay open. I wrote to the HJC rep again - with pictures - to ask him what parts I needed to replace, if they would send them to me and that I would pay as I figured the warranty might now be finished. That was on February 2. On Feb. 9 I forwarded that message to the general customer service email address as I had not received a reply from the rep. They answered saying he was on vacation, but they would look into the parts for me. Fair enough. I wrote back to customer service again on Feb. 20 to ask if there was an update as I had not heard anything since Feb.9. I also asked if they could at least tell me the name of the parts so I could try to buy them somewhere else. I wrote back to them again on March 5 (copying the original rep, vacation MUST be over by now) to ask once again for the part details and reminded them that I was planning a trip in April (I had mentioned this to them before). Still no answer. I feel I must now NOT RECOMMEND the RPHA Max helmet. It does seem like the plastic HJC uses in their helmet mechanisms is not up to the task. I was initially happy when the reviews of the RPHA Max said the locking lugs were metal. The reality is that they are mounted in fairly thin plastic plates that crack. The face shield mounting pieces with the position detents is obviously to thin, as well, since both of mine have cracked from simply using the face shield as designed - opening and closing. BUT, also of concern is the fact that the RPHA is considered to be a premium helmet competing with the bigger name brands like Arai, Shoei & Schuberth with a price a LOT higher than the HJC line of helmets. I am fairly sure any of the aforementioned three competitors would have addressed this problem with AT LEAST some emailed information in much less than a month. Food for thought before purchasing your new helmets. Glenn
