Aleeoop
07-23-2010, 01:46 PM
On a 2,500 mile trip to OR, CA, WA & NV last year, I encountered multiple days of + 100 degrees, 2 hours of 114 degrees while riding and a max of 121 degrees in Grass Valley, OR during a 15 minute fuel stop. I wore my Arai Quantum II helmet on the trip which is my favorite helmet except that the face shield won't stay open that half inch needed for extreme heat because the detents aren't strong enough. It slams shut at about 65 mph. Vents don't do much on any helmet so you need the face shield to stay open a little. I decided to find a helmet with better airflow. I was intrigued by the Star Wars look of the Vamar CKQI helmet and it comes with a Bluetooth option. I didn't use the Bluetooth system because all of my trip compadres phones went dead and didn't have chargers or they didn't work. If we get separated, we stop and call eachother and leave a message telling the others where we are located and wait for the call back. I would not use the helmet Bluetooth for conversations with the folks back home while riding. That's for evenings around the camp site where I can use my cell phone. My Idea was that I could get a call from my fellow riders while riding if we got separated but it turned out that our tried and proven method was best. We did get separated once and they had to find a land line to call me but it all worked out with only an hour and a half lost ride time. Not bad for an 8 day trip.
The Vemar: it looks cool IMHO and flows air much better than most helmets. It has a removable face piece which doesn't offer as much protection as a full face solid helmet but was a compromise. It definitely served the purpose of good airflow similar to an off road helmet. The earcups seal well for the Bluetooth and even with the improved airflow, it wasn't louder from wind turbulence than my Arai. The euro style ratcheting strap assembly worked well once I got used to it. The helmet has an inner sunshield which has a medium tint. It would work better if it was opaque like the shield strips road racers use. I will cover it with that type of film in the future. It would be a great feature though, once modified. The earcups were a little short at the top, pushing down on the tops of my ears, causing some discomfort. I will cut out some of the foam in that area in the future and that issue should be remedied. The overall fit is a little odd and doesn't contact my head in as many areas as most helmets which facilitates the airflow. I would recommend trying one on at a shop for size. I found one at "Ducati Seattle" to try be bore I made the purchase. The large clear "fighter pilot" shield is UV protected. I learned that when I wore my transition glasses under the helmet and the glasses did not darken from the sun. They don't work in modern cars for the same reason. Car window glass is UV protected. Side note: I wore a pair of cheater bifocal sunglasses (available from "boomers in the know" online). It was great to be able to see clearly down the road and still be able to read my gauges clearly. Sunglasses worked well for bright sunlight and can be removed easily as most of you already know. I always carry one wet microfiber cloth in a baggie and one dry one to clean my shields at stops and the shield cleaned up nicely. The shield must be made of a pretty tough material since it didn't show any scratches even with the treatment it got from a 2,700 mile trip. The shield is like a big bubble and is very clear except at the very bottom where it distorts a bit but I shouldn't be looking through that portion anyway. My helmet is plain silver and I ordered some "true flames" decals online to dress it up a bit. I like the look. Overall, I would say the helmet definitely served its purpose well and kept me more comfortable in extreme heat than most helmets would have. I did not remove the face piece for safety reasons and bug protection. In retrospect, I would probably purchase the helmet without Bluetooth since I didn't use it as I thought I would. It's $300 with and $200 without. Very reasonably priced in my opinion.
The Vemar: it looks cool IMHO and flows air much better than most helmets. It has a removable face piece which doesn't offer as much protection as a full face solid helmet but was a compromise. It definitely served the purpose of good airflow similar to an off road helmet. The earcups seal well for the Bluetooth and even with the improved airflow, it wasn't louder from wind turbulence than my Arai. The euro style ratcheting strap assembly worked well once I got used to it. The helmet has an inner sunshield which has a medium tint. It would work better if it was opaque like the shield strips road racers use. I will cover it with that type of film in the future. It would be a great feature though, once modified. The earcups were a little short at the top, pushing down on the tops of my ears, causing some discomfort. I will cut out some of the foam in that area in the future and that issue should be remedied. The overall fit is a little odd and doesn't contact my head in as many areas as most helmets which facilitates the airflow. I would recommend trying one on at a shop for size. I found one at "Ducati Seattle" to try be bore I made the purchase. The large clear "fighter pilot" shield is UV protected. I learned that when I wore my transition glasses under the helmet and the glasses did not darken from the sun. They don't work in modern cars for the same reason. Car window glass is UV protected. Side note: I wore a pair of cheater bifocal sunglasses (available from "boomers in the know" online). It was great to be able to see clearly down the road and still be able to read my gauges clearly. Sunglasses worked well for bright sunlight and can be removed easily as most of you already know. I always carry one wet microfiber cloth in a baggie and one dry one to clean my shields at stops and the shield cleaned up nicely. The shield must be made of a pretty tough material since it didn't show any scratches even with the treatment it got from a 2,700 mile trip. The shield is like a big bubble and is very clear except at the very bottom where it distorts a bit but I shouldn't be looking through that portion anyway. My helmet is plain silver and I ordered some "true flames" decals online to dress it up a bit. I like the look. Overall, I would say the helmet definitely served its purpose well and kept me more comfortable in extreme heat than most helmets would have. I did not remove the face piece for safety reasons and bug protection. In retrospect, I would probably purchase the helmet without Bluetooth since I didn't use it as I thought I would. It's $300 with and $200 without. Very reasonably priced in my opinion.