looking for a helmet

VMAX  Forum

Help Support VMAX Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

VMax-Mike

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
3,395
Reaction score
74
Location
1
Snell fullface with flip down inner visor
 
Snell with tinted inner half visor that flips down for $200 or less
 
Whatever you do, always go to a shop to try helmets on.

Then look online for the model/size that you know you like and fits you, and you'll most probably find it a lot cheaper.
 
+1 to naughtyG.

Bought a gloss black DOT approved full coverage Bell Arrow Helmet Extra Large, $100 online. It was tight, tight, tight. Dropped it scratched the clear visor, would almost cost $50 for a new visor alone with shipping. They had Bell Arrow Shocker, same helmet black with silver designs, on special for $50! Got a 2XL. Fits better. Also got a visor, saved on shipping as with visor and helmet was free shipping.

Bell has been around long time. Guess you can call it a utility helmet. Dot approved.

Just hope I am not laughed at for wearing a Bell. Well, if so I will avoid that crowd!
 
Bell has been around long time. Guess you can call it a utility helmet. Dot approved.

Just hope I am not laughed at for wearing a Bell. Well, if so I will avoid that crowd!

lol, When I was little back in 1970, my first helmet was an open face Bell with the Bubble visor. Good memories :)

rv263bbtr.png
 
+2 to the G-man!.........Went to the local Yami shop a year ago and picked up a helmet and jacket, when I decided on which helmet design I wanted the sales man told me a large would fit, when I tried it on I thought my eyes were gonna pop out! settled on an XL HJC and have been very happy with it.......................Tom.
 
Try them on them let me see what I can get you one for!

Sean
 
Mike I have the HJC IS16 helmet with an inner flip down sun visor and love it! It cost under $200 new, just another option for ya.....
 
Mike I have the HJC IS16 helmet with an inner flip down sun visor and love it! It cost under $200 new, just another option for ya.....

I have the is16 also that I use when not sure if I'll make it home before dark, best bang for the buck....comfortable, but outer shield a bit cheesy....that's what u get for about $100 though.
It's only DOT rated.

You will be very hard pressed to find a lid with the flip down visor SNELL rated...snell testing is pressure from the top of the lid down.....they wouldn't with stand the test.
 
I've never liked the shields on HJCs. They always feel cheap, have detents at all the wrong places, and my last one(why I'll never have another HJC), the visor would like to pop off if you opened it too quickly. It wasn't broken in any way, just had a shitty mechanism design.
 
Do you get Caberg helmets in the US?

Excellent safety ratings (We have the SHARP test in the UK for helmet safety).

Both myself and my better half have them (but I mostly use my Rockhard Slayer lid as it is well cool looking)
 
I really like my scorpion helmet. Cheap, looks/feels good.

+1 on the scorpion, I traded up about 6 months ago. I have worn Xl Shoei for years and the new ones just felt way to tight and the XXL was to big!!! Tryed on a XXL scorpion 700 felt great and only $200.00 out the door. Much better venting and the no fog face shield really works:clapping:.

By the way, Motorcyclist performed testing of helmelts a few years ago and discovered the snell approved helmets were not any better than the DOT helmets, and in some cases worse. The safest helmet in the test was a $75 Z1R DOT. Snell has finally changed their specs. My point is, you do not need a snell approved helmet to protect your head.
 
I've never liked the shields on HJCs. They always feel cheap, have detents at all the wrong places, and my last one(why I'll never have another HJC), the visor would like to pop off if you opened it too quickly. It wasn't broken in any way, just had a shitty mechanism design.

Ditto.....unless you use the lock, which is just as cheesy your shield will fly open when looking over your shoulder at speed, and this weekend my buds shield came off on the left side at 100 & sumthing:rofl_200:
 
OK, I have a difference of opinion on something mentioned here, "go to your local shop and try-on their helmets, find one you like and then order online."

Now I will be the first person who will tell you that I shop online for parts. I don't do what has been suggested here in-regards to helmets. I buy them locally from my independent parts & accessories store, run-by a friend. He has a huge inventory of helmets at all price and features ranges. He has a building that is probably 15,000 sq. ft. which he built for his store. He has a big 'nut' to pay every month to keep the doors open. His prices are fair, and he gives me a discount. You know you have a good deal when someone like Kyle tells you "that's a good price you're getting!"

I have bought many parts from members on here and have never been 'taken advantage-of.' For me, being able to ask questions and to find used parts deals is why I spend time here. I am only an amateur in mechanics. Some things I do on my own because I can, other times I do it because I am cheap, and sometimes I pay for it to be done right at a shop because either I don't have the knowledge or the time to do it correctly, and do not want to make an expensive mistake. I don't begrudge the professional mechanics their rates. I just save until I can pay for it, in the meantime, I may not be riding. That's part of the reason I have two bikes.

If you don't use the local dealer, whether factory or aftermarket, who carries your ordinary stuff you consume to maintain your bike? Or, do you just go online for everything? That might be what you have to do if your dealership for your brand goes out of business because there isn't enough traffic in the door buying things to stay open. We know the dealership doesn't make big $ on the sale, it's service and accessories that have the profit margins, similar to the movie theater selling $5 sodas and $7 popcorn.

I do object to what I consider gouging by the dealer when they charge a shipping fee. When I go to NAPA I don't pay a shipping fee separate from the cost of the item for my alternator or brake calipers and pads, it's built into the price. Just set the price of your parts sufficient to cover shipping, and don't list it separately.

On a different note, about helmets. I saw 'naughtyg' I think it was, endorse a Schuberth, who I believe is who has made the BMW modular helmets (opening chinbar). I bought the first one of those I saw from the local BMW dealer, and enjoyed it for the comfort, but didn't like it for the looks when open, it made me feel like a WW II German officer in a dress uniform with that big chinbar open & sitting on-top of the helmet. I wore-out that one, and bought the first Shoei Duo-Tech in the same opening-chinbar style. I wore-out that one too. Then I went to the full-face Shoei's as I never could find an Arai that fit me well, too-many pressure-points or too-loose when I found one that didn't squeeze like a wrestler having me in a headlock.

Last year I bought a Shark Evoline II ST Moovit which is a moving-chinbar but the chinbar swivels all the way to the back of the helmet, a far-superior design. You can wear it at-speed open, and you won't feel your head pulled-back as you would with the others which sit open on-top of your forehead. I have been told by my local shop that Shark lost its former distribution deal and was now being handled by a CA dealer.

The helmet may be avail on a close-out some places for far less than retail. It has removable padding, a tinted interior slide-down visor, and as for venting, it has sufficient venting to keep the visor free of condensation in steamy south FL summers, but hey, isn't that why I got a flip-up chin bar? The fit and finish is very good, no loose ends or flimsy parts coming loose, the windshield and visor both are easy to use and their mechanisms are sturdy. It will probably cost > $200 even on close-out, it is DOT.

Checking online, most places are sold-out. I did find this one which still has access to them apparently, listed as a 2012 model:
http://www.extremesupply.com/product/Brand-Shark/SHARKEVOLINE2STMOOVITHELMETS.html
but the price is $440. Even on closeout the lowest I saw was $340, it retails for $489 when I bought mine, but I got it from my friend's store after another customer ordered it but didn't take delivery. I got it for less than the above prices. It is very comfortable and I consider it to be superior to either the Schuberth or the Shoei opening helmets I previously bought new.

I saw the pic of the Bell w/a bubble shield, to me it appears as though someone removed the rubber strip around the opening of the shell, as both the RT and the TX500 had a wide rubber strip, black, around their opening. I always preferred the flat 'competition shield,' as the bubble shield tended to fly-away in the wind if you allowed the airstream to intrude beneath the opening by turning your head the wrong way, 'voice of experience.' I even lost a pair of Ray-Bans that way, not the cable wrap-around temple piece model. I turned my head to check surrounding traffic on I-95 in-front of Ft. Lauderdale International Airport, and they were gone quicker than a Colombian street-thief could have removed them in a urban crowd.

I think Scorpion makes a good helmet product at a good price, I have many friends who buy them and like them.
 

Attachments

  • Helmets Competition Cycle FL.jpg
    Helmets Competition Cycle FL.jpg
    70.6 KB · Views: 13
I took a chance on an e-bay Shoe 1100 for $99. It was brand new, but said Suzuki all over the helmet. I lucked out and got a good deal though. a few stickers and problem solved, small problem if any. It is more comfortable than the HJC I wore for a long time.
Steve-o
 
I need snell for the track. It dont look like what i want is made. I looked on line and nothing. I wish the bell vortex had a tinted half shield. I like that bell vortex. The revolver evo is nice also but not snell.
 
Back
Top