Helmet advice please!

[Overkill]

Thanks for all of the advice so far. I am still digesting it. I think I will stick with the full face. I have learned about which ones to try, some of which I had not heard of before. So I am getting great benfit from all of the help. Thank you!

[BeemerMike]

2. Stay away from open face or flip up style. They do not give good protection for your face.

While I think we all probably agree with this about open face helmets, not all of us agree about "flip up" helmets. While there is probably SOME difference in helmet integrity between a one-piece full-face helmet and a flip-up full-face helmet, a lot of the difference certainly depends on the design and quality of the hinge and locking mechanism. I do not think I have ever seen an objective test comparing flip-ups to one-piece. Has anyone else? You would, of course, need to know this to judge how much (if any) safety you are giving up to gain the convenience offered by a flip-up.

[crgrbrts]

I wore a bargain-priced "modular" helmet for about a six months and enjoyed the convenience greatly. However, after this time -- just from normal, even careful, use -- the latching mechanism on one side of the chin bar ceased to function. I envisioned the other latch giving way in a spill and decided to return to full facial function.

I now own an Arai Profile (which fits my long oval head perfectly) and feel much safer.

Of course, my experience may have been due to exercise of the "you get what you pay for" principle. Perhaps a more expensive modular helmet might have proved to be as rugged as needed.

[Polarbear]

Arai is a fine helmet, but certainly NO better than many 200$ ones I've seen. I will never again spend 450+$ for a helmet, because the market is so diverse now with options and Arai is out of touch with their prices! HJC is one of the only ones that makes my size now, too at XXXL. The Arai fits at the XXL, but the price is so rediculous and its not well made for the money spent. I would expect a carbon fibre, gold striped one for that again! I just recently tried a HJC that fit very nice, Snell approved and 150$, with a great graphics job. Quiet? The Arai certainly is NOT. Randy

[USERNAME]

i was an HJC full-face guy before (size XL) and now i'm a shoei flip-face guy. (XL)

i love the shoei. (i have an oval head) and i love having a flip up helmet. i really love it.

[sibud]

Take a look Here

[Nonskid]

Mine's an Arai. You are right in that it costs a bundle BUT how much would you pay to fix your face or head if your helmet failed you in a crash? I'm probablly cheaper than most but I do believe you get what you pay for. (Most of the time)

[THOMPSONR]

I bought a HJC Symax II Modular helmet about a month or two ago because I wanted the modular functionality & a built-in sun-shield, etc. I like the helmet overall but just this week I've started having problems with the visor and the fact that it won't stay up once I hit around 60mph or so. I tend to ride with the chin-bar down (of course), the internal sun shield down and the visor itself up. I've never had a helmet with this problem but due to whatever (wind, etc.) it just slams down anywhere over 60mph or so like the mechanism to hold it up is worn down.

I'm calling HJC tomorrow, will let you know how it turns out. Other than that, I really like the helmet.

I too have a Symax II. Got it for the same reasons and as with yours I can not keep the face shield up at hwy. speeds. Thought I would just remove shield but there are times I may want to use it would be interested in what HJC has to say about it.

[gabentx]

I too have a Symax II. Got it for the same reasons and as with yours I can not keep the face shield up at hwy. speeds. Thought I would just remove shield but there are times I may want to use it would be interested in what HJC has to say about it.

Hey...so just to restate the problem...after about 4 months of riding it seems that the face shield won't stay up at any speeds over about 45-50mph now and is getting worse. I went to HJC's website and all warranty work has to be done through the dealer.

I went to Lone Star BMW (where I bought it) and after telling them the problem they tried to tell me face shields weren't meant to be up at speed I said well then all the helmets I've had for 15 years must've been unique. Anyway, they're really nice there so we were talking about it and she called up HJC. After confirming the problem HJC said they would do an RMA for it but that means that I'd be without helmet for a while so no riding. As a compromise, what Denise & Crew did was have HJC send them a new shield & side piece and then she got a new one off the shelf and we swapped those pieces out with the ones on mine to see if that will solve it.

I looked at the old parts and didn't really see that much wear down on the parts other than on the faceshield knob itself so I'm concerned it's just a bad design but I'll test it out with the new parts and see if it happens again.

I'd love to know if others have the same problem......

[BeemerMike]

Yes, it could be that Shoei and Arai are just ripping us off by charging a big premium for helmets that are no better than the lower-priced brands . . . but I have been wearing Shoei helmets for 20 years and I have NEVER had a faceshield mount break or "wear out" so that it would not stay open. I'm taking an 1,800 mile trip this weekend with my new Shoei Multitec. I'm anxious to compare it to my Shoei X-11.

[crgrbrts]

I have heard that Scorpion helmets are very good -- and reasonably priced. I've never owned one, though.

Most of my helmets have been Italian -- Bieffe (one of my race sponsors in olden days before they -- and I -- went out of business) and AGV. The reason I have an Arai Profile now is because the fit is the best I've ever gotten from an off-the-shelf model. Plus, you can buy different sized liner bits for it to really customize the fit.

[Polarbear]

My Arai has a broken shield latch, a year after I got it. Somebody else mentioned, get what you pay for! Snell rates all of these "beyond" most scenarios of what could happen to us riding down the road and crashing. The tests are quite well done, if you want to read up on the science of it at Snell. The 200$ ones test out just like the 500$ ones, as I see it to get the rating at Snell. I know from my racing days, that I've not seen any helmet fail a rider, after some serious crashing on the track. Mine too! There are, I admit, catastrophic crashes where NO helmet will save you, but this is not our discussion here. Buy what you can afford and be happy with it as long as it has been approved. The high dollar ones have some farkles that are really neat, but look hard, because they are cheap plastic fixtures in most cases added to a nice hard shell and they break. My Arai did, so go figure. Happy Trails, Randy"Polarbear"

[BeemerMike]

My Arai has a broken shield latch, a year after I got it. . . . The high dollar ones have some farkles that are really neat, but look hard, because they are cheap plastic fixtures in most cases added to a nice hard shell and they break. My Arai did, so go figure.

I said my SHOEI helmets never had a faceshield failure!

The Arai faceshield mounting system always caused me a little concern due to way you have to "pop" it open to release the faceshield, which just seems to put stress on the plastic pieces. The Shoei spring-loaded rotating latch seems much more sturdy, plus easy to replace if it does break. The Arai system is probably OK (although apparently not in your case), but Arai helmets just never seem to fit my head. I do generally like Arai graphics better than Shoei . . . Shoei is just way too much into claws and dragons now. Shoei really needs to work on this (they used to be much better in their graphics). My new Multitec is just plain white, and I'll have some decorative touches added myself (I'm thinking Motorsport stripes).

[DJERROLDS]

I looked around on ebay and found an rf900 in new condition, it came in as described.Since it is an older model no one wants them ,but they are great hlemets mine closed with shipping for 130.00. a great bargain. I have a blue multi color in xl if you want to deal.The cl-max is junk I have one and it sits on the shelf

[Overkill]

I bit the bullit and bought a Arai quantum 2.

http://www.araiamericas.com/helmets/...quantum-2.html

I will have to see how it is on the bike but it did seem to fit my head well. Wish me luck! I will be really pissed if I spent all that money and I am not happy with the helmet. This week is so crazy I won't even be able to try it out until next week. Thank you all so much for your help!