Whats on your head?

51723 Views 201 Replies 126 Participants Last post by bluedevil3758, Jul 3, 2009

G

Discussion Starter · Nov 1, 2006

So what are you guys wearing out there?

Probably shopping for a new lid this coming season, to replace my HCJ FG-12.

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21 - 40 of 202 Posts

jakew129

· #21 · Nov 5, 2006

You pay more for comfort and features, The Shoei RF1000 is a helmet like no other, the materials used are nuthing but the best, it has an extremely lightwieght shell, better venting, and locking faceshield, which my next helmet will have! cause a flipped up faceshield on the interstate is no fun....trust me....and it is just as safe if not safer than ur Z1R...and ive read other articles that say different about that helmet, that its really only a tiny bit safer, i mean they rated it based on how much G-force was impacting it, and the forces on each helmet werent that far off, so i dont know, but basically you pay for the comfort and quality when you pay more...

I totally dont agree with buying a $500 helmet, but u can find the RF1000 new on Ebay for like $240

And im not knocking ur Z1R, just explaing why people would spend more

ninjamon

· #22 · Nov 6, 2006

No offense taken from your post Jakew129. As I said, the Z1R is my first helmet, so I really have no basis for comparison. My helmet choice was a no-brainer, as I'm not a long distance or all day rider. My average ride is 25-50 miles on county roads at less than 60 mph. I suppose if I get more serious about cycling, then all day comfort may become more of an issue. At this point safety is my most important issue, so the Motorcycling article hit the press at just the right time. For my relatively short rides I have not experienced any comfort, shield, or other problems with the Z1R, so for me it works. I think the most important thing is to have and wear a good helmet...period.

knightslugger

· #23 · Nov 6, 2006

I've been asked many times why i bother with a helmet at all when all i travel is 5 miles to work. This is what i tell them, and it's been said before...:

"It only takes 50 ft to crash."

I'm glad that all of you are at least wearing a helmet. You could be suited up with a back protector, full 1pc kangaroo hide suit, gloves and boots to the max, but the moment your head hits the pavement, it's lights out, game over. Brains don't heal as well as skin or bone you know.

so thanks guys, for wearing your lids.

jakew129

· #24 · Nov 6, 2006

"It only takes 50ft to crash"

SH*T i got one up on u, i can do it in 0ft, as in trying to put my bike on the center stand in flip flops on a slippery concrete floor, or backing up in a parking lot with sand on the ground...in my newbie days of course...live-and-learn right

PontiacJack

· #25 · Nov 13, 2006

Knightslugger said:
^ you need to get a different lid my man.

I have to agree, I though my CL-14 was the bomb lid! (newbie attitude right?) Its garbage. Esp. those mickey mouse vents. Do I ever learn anything the easy way? Nope... unforeseen events forced me to buy another helmet after less than six months. I bought a CL-SP, a little better, but still garbage.

Has anyone had any experiences with Nolan? It's the mark my father uses. I was looking at the Nolan N102

http://www.nolan.it/caschi/Images/Big/N102_45.JPG

just wondering what you guys thought...

knightslugger

· #26 · Nov 13, 2006

I haven't heard anything BAD about them... however i've heard mixed reviews about convertible helmets.

personally, i'd stick to a full face rather than convertible. i see no benefit from having a flip up. also, what's with the robocop visor?

PontiacJack

· #27 · Nov 13, 2006

I thought it was neat. (Robo Visor) Seeing as I have the worst habit of forgetting/losing/breaking my sunglasses and taking into fact that I refuse to install a hideously inconvenient tinted visor... Robo Lid is a happy medium. IMO

Mixed reviews? where? (on line source?)

ex_dsmr

· #28 · Nov 14, 2006

"why pay 500 for a helmet?"

hmm, sounded like me when i was looking at first...exactly like me. after visiting my bike on the show room on a few occasions i mosey'd on over to the walls and walls full of helmets. i had been doing my research online and was quite famalier with helmets and their price ranges. of course..i wanted to go cheaper. they had a number of nice looking HJC's on the racks. tried some on..wow, pretty comfy! so thats what i planned on. when reading what some pay for arai and shoei helmets...im like who needs all that!? these are only 69-200. so the day i picked my bike up from the dealer, the guy who had been with me the entire way through was helping me pick out a helmet. i told him i was just gonna get a cheapie. he said "thats fine, but before you do, i want you to try a few others". so im like ok..he's just bein nice, ill try em on and go with my cheapie. so having that in my head...he shows me a shark. wow, ALOT more comfortable. and at the last he said...i want you to try an arai, just so youll know what one feels like. im like no way...i know those things are hella expensive! i try anyways...PURE HEAVEN. my entire face was padded and cushioned. fit like a glove and i felt very safe. locking face, etc etc etc. so just for the hell of it, i go back and try on a hjc..i can barley stand the feeling of getting it on. felt like an old bicycle helmet from wal-mart compared to the arai. padding was like 1/3 the thickness, fit was crap no matter what size i tried in comparison, and felt VERY heavy. he told he i could chose the shark of the arai for 300...needless to say i left that afternoon with a black arai.

your not paying for saftey, your paying extra for comfort in padding, fit, lighter weight, cooling, etc. mine is super quiet and i feel like im wearing a pillow wrapped around my face. thast how well the padding and fitment is. it fits like a helmet should...not lose for your head to go rattling around inside.

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OreoGaborio

· #29 · Nov 14, 2006

REGARDING THE "BLOWING THE LID OFF" ARTICLE:

You guys have to realize how rediculsouly controvercial that article is. It created a huge up-roar in the entire motorcycle community... very, very debatable either way as to how much credibility the article has. I don't know the whole story, but there was alot of fishiness going on between a major helmet manufacturer and one of the "engineers" that headed up that project. From what I heard, there was alot of animosity in the air before those experiments even took place... but that's only what I heard, not something I know for sure... regardless, I'm not gonna put a whole lot of trust in that article. It's my head i'm worried about, not my wallet.

Bottom line, I WILL NOT put anything on my head that has a plastic shell. Kevlar/Composite, Fiberglass or Carbon Fiber shells for me only, thank you. And that even goes for dirt helmets. As a racer, I've seen first hand my fair share of what happens when friends crash while wearing a helmet with either proper or improper shell material and I've experienced it myself as well. There are SO many deals on pricey helmets online nowadays that there's no reason to spend 500 bucks on a top quality lid. So before you buy a cheap-o plastic shelled helmet, I strongly suggest you do yourselves a favor and find a close-out deal and get last years 300 dollar helmet for 1/2 off.

Helmets are replacable, brain matter isn't.... then again, with all my rabmling aside, at the end of the day any helmet is better than no helmet. If all you can afford is a 50 dollar special, so be it... just don't expect much from it.

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MrSciTrek

· #30 · Nov 15, 2006

I have a medium-large noggin & wear glasses.

I searched a few helmet tests on-line & decided that a modular/hybrid helmet was for me.
Wanted convenience w/ putting it on, and taking a drink or talking w/ helmet on.
Here's a site w/ some plus some user reviews:
http://motorcyclehelmets.net/yvs500/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=44&cat=Flip+Up+Helmets

Read an article on how to make sure the helmet fits, then went to a couple of local (Omaha) shops & tried some on. Some brands were not in stock at all, or not in the size I felt best with. Modular/hybrid reduces the selection.

Found that the Vega Summit II XPV, medium, fit me best- snug w/o pressure points.
Read where bright & white helmets were statisticallty safer so ordered one in pearl white ($150) from a long-established place at 84th & G St. People there were knowledgable AND helpful and calm, no sales hype. I could have saved $10 plus tax buying on line but these folks earned the extra $$.

Other sites about helmets, tests, safety, etc...
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/
http://www.saferoads.org/issues/fs-helmets.htm
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-Safety/safetypage.htm
http://www.msf-usa.org/

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knightslugger

· #31 · Nov 15, 2006

PontiacJack said:
Mixed reviews? where? (on line source?)

none i can really point too. mostly ramblings among younger and older sportbike riders on various boards... unhappy this and useless that and too heavy here and uncomfortable there... blah blah blah i just think their pissed that they spent all that money on a convertible and thought it would be BETTER than a fully enclosed lid when really, their no better than your typical 200 dollar lid... meh. again, i see no benefit to having a convertible lid, even IF you wear glasses. i can get mine in my Über tight HJC just fine. and by god they stay put.

MrSciTrek

· #32 · Nov 15, 2006

Knightslugger said:
PontiacJack said:

Mixed reviews? where? (on line source?)

Click to expand...

i see no benefit to having a convertible lid, even IF you wear glasses. i can get mine in my Über tight HJC just fine. and by god they stay put.

I like being able to lift the front & talk to folks face to face, and w/o helmet echo (deafening); and to get a drink or scratch my nose w/o goofy hand contortions. To me those are benefits.

However, there are some reports of modular helmets being made with crappy weak lock pins &/or mechanisms... so folks oughta give those parts a good look-see.

PontiacJack

· #33 · Nov 15, 2006

I was always wondering about that, would one have to be concerned about the whole face lid opening up when not intended to? ie. doing a shoulder check, crash, etc...

MrSciTrek

· #34 · Nov 15, 2006

The jaw piece is released by pressing/pinching a lever or button: different companies use different designs.
Some are solid and others... perhaps questionable.

Even if you're not in the market for a helmet they're kind of interesting to examine.

bluesinged

· #35 · Nov 18, 2006

got a Scorpion Ex-700... love it

AudrEEz

· #36 · Nov 19, 2006

same here Scorpion EXO-700

MrSciTrek

· #37 · Dec 1, 2006

Vega helmet... $150

Go to site below. Click on full face helmet... Summit II.
Above the picture, click on ">" arrow to pearl white.
http://www.vegahelmet.com/

dsmmcken

· #38 · Dec 1, 2006

HJC CL-12,

Do not buy this helmet. It is loud, about as aerodynamic as a cinder block, visor is prone to fogging and randomly flying up all the way, it is hot in the summer and it has more weight to it then I would like. On the plus side I got it really really cheap.

Kcrunch1

· #39 · Dec 2, 2006

I have a Scorpion EX0 400. Cost 125.95. The solid colors were cheaper. It fit the best for me out of HJC, Arai, Shoei, Nolan, and ICON. I paid 7.00 for the chin guard to make it quieter.
Best features of this helmet are Anti-fog shield included, removable pads to wash, breath guard to redirect your breath downward, vents work alright, fit's very very comfortable in the heat, cold and the rain
Worst features are: Noisy as hell (wind echo in helmet), heavy, first notch in open position for shield is a little high,

I need a quieter helmet. I wear ear plugs but my ears still ring after riding. What's the quietest helmet around? I had a Shoei before that seemed quieter than this one.

MrSciTrek

· #40 · Dec 2, 2006

Some online info (can't sleep, so look what I do):

Article on helmet noise & a product that helps...
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-helmets/helmet-noise.htm

A "seriously quiet" ($400) helmet by Dainese...
http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mcbeware/dainese_helmet.html

UK test of helmet noise...
http://www.isvr.co.uk/at_work/m_cycle.htm

Modular helmet test...
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/accessoriesandgear/flip_face_helmet_comparison/

A Naehr helmet for communications...
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/baehr/baehr-helmets.htm

A review & user comments of my helmet, a Vega Summit II...
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/motorcycle-helmet/vega/summit-xpv.htm

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