alex182
04-11-2010, 11:06 PM
And now for a motorcycle helmet mini-review. I'm currently on my 3rd helmet so far and I'd like to share my impressions.
First helmet was a Fulmer N2 in Electric blue. Sorry, no pic of it, but it's your generic full-face helmet. I ran this guy for a couple years and hated every minute of it. The padding was waaay too tight on my head giving me chipmunk face, and the worst part was the chin bar was so close to my face that I couldn't breathe through my mouth or use a headset or wear a sock for cold riding. The chin bar literally was in contact with my lips. The shell always felt short and it didn't have a chin piece so my chin and throat were always cold if it was below about 80F (which is about 360 days a year in Seattle) and I couldn't wear a hood because of the afore mentioned space issues. It makes a good spare, but was miserable for me.
Then about a year ago I did some research into modular helmets, because I figured if I was going to be dropping $300 on a lid, I'd like the bells and whistles I could get. The pretty universal consensus was the Scorpion Exo-900 Modular.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2009/7/scorpion-exo900.jpg
Scorpion Exo-900 Modular
So I dropped the cash and rode away to be a happy camper. The next day I brought it back to Renton Motorcycles for repairs as I had ripped the chin shield out. Note to buyers: The snaps and velcro that attach the extention to the chin shield are stronger than the pieces that attach the chin shield to the helmet. Yup, a little too tight and in trying to remove the extention while riding, I ripped the entire thing out. Fortunately they have a great warranty so they said they'd get it fixed in a week or two. And then I shipped out. (for those of you unaware, I'm a merchant marine and spend about 242 days a year at sea)
So I returned to get my freshly repaired helmet back (5 months later) and rode off into the sunset. Ouch. This is REALLY uncomfortable. The rim across the forhead was so low that it was pressing my brow down, ala cro-magnon. The chin bar was actually pressing against my chin so I was unable to open my mouth at all. Knowing already that I had the largest size available, I tried to deal with it as best I could. As I wore it over the next few days, I noticed that the release tab for the chin bar was getting harder and harder to open. I noticed after about 2 weeks of this that the plastic tab had actually stretched and was trying to break. The extra stretching kept the latch from disengaging correctly resulting in a fight every time to re-open it.
So, once again down to RMC to get it serviced. Luck was with me that day and the Scorpio rep was in the store and could take a look at it. He told me that the stretching of the tab was not unheard of, and that the chin bar was the exact same piece weather you got a XS or (in my case) a XXXL. Changing the chin piece would avail me no good. Bummer. The brow ridge was another known issue and he told me that the previos advice was to take a spoon and smooth down the foam inside the helmet. Not the best sollution, but it seems to work for most folk. With all the other problems I was having though, it wasn't really an option.
Fortunately, the rep said he'd stand behind the product and if I wanted to get another helmet, he'd OK applying my purchace price ($289) towards another helmet. Rock on! Way to treat your customers. :)
So, I had been loking at another style of helmet that had my interest. The sales gal and the Scorpio rep both called it a "Gimmick" and that it was going to be really noisy, but I figured for the cost difference, it couldn't get any worse than what I'd been through before. With the refund ($289) and the cost ($349) it wasn't that big an investment to try out an Icon Variant.
http://rideicon.com/showImage.jsp?class_id=11012&image_type=fullsize&rank=105
Icon Variant
Now some of you are thinking "That looks ridicumus!" or "Hey, a gold vizor and you're Master Chief!" but I was more focused on the chin space. I tried it on and right away I found it was sooooo much more comfortable. The chin is far enough out that I can actually yawn and speak and stick out my tounge before I run into the chin bar. It comes down low enough to not freeze my chin and neck. It has a chin piece that breathes well and yet still covers nicely. I can get in and out of it without knocking it loose, the vents in the chin piece are very open, the face shield didn't open up as much as I had hoped at first, but more on that later.
As I rode it home for the first time, I paid attention to the helmet noise and fit. I really was surprised by how good the view was! You'd think with that much beak and vizor that the view would be restricted, but with the wider viewport, it was amazing how much my periphrial vision was great. I was very impressed by how the view was not warped considering what bending plastic does to the view. The ear cups were nice and open and I could wear headphones without having them inserted into my nasal cavities via my eardrums. The ventilation was very good and easy to modify for the most parts. The noise though! OMG! It was just as quiet as either of my previous helmets. The noise wasn't bad at all, call me impressed.
Now I can't say it's perfect, but the problems are pretty minimal. The visor did cause a bit of neck pressure if I got too far above my windshield and caught the wind. but it was pretty minimal as long as I kept the tilt a little bit down. Other than that, the nose shield doesn't extend quite as far as I would like, so I still manage to mess up the view. While the anti-fog coating they use works great, the vizor never really fogged up, it didn't do much for the water droplets that condense from said fog. My only other complaint was that the face shield doesn't open up that far, about only 2/3 of the way most others do. It's still enough to get sunglasses on without too much trouble. Still would be nice to have a little more opening.
All in all, a very nice helmet for those who don't gold plate their couch change. :) I would definately reccomend it to anyone with a large head and has troubles getting face space.
Keep on riding! :)
First helmet was a Fulmer N2 in Electric blue. Sorry, no pic of it, but it's your generic full-face helmet. I ran this guy for a couple years and hated every minute of it. The padding was waaay too tight on my head giving me chipmunk face, and the worst part was the chin bar was so close to my face that I couldn't breathe through my mouth or use a headset or wear a sock for cold riding. The chin bar literally was in contact with my lips. The shell always felt short and it didn't have a chin piece so my chin and throat were always cold if it was below about 80F (which is about 360 days a year in Seattle) and I couldn't wear a hood because of the afore mentioned space issues. It makes a good spare, but was miserable for me.
Then about a year ago I did some research into modular helmets, because I figured if I was going to be dropping $300 on a lid, I'd like the bells and whistles I could get. The pretty universal consensus was the Scorpion Exo-900 Modular.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/photos/2009/7/scorpion-exo900.jpg
Scorpion Exo-900 Modular
So I dropped the cash and rode away to be a happy camper. The next day I brought it back to Renton Motorcycles for repairs as I had ripped the chin shield out. Note to buyers: The snaps and velcro that attach the extention to the chin shield are stronger than the pieces that attach the chin shield to the helmet. Yup, a little too tight and in trying to remove the extention while riding, I ripped the entire thing out. Fortunately they have a great warranty so they said they'd get it fixed in a week or two. And then I shipped out. (for those of you unaware, I'm a merchant marine and spend about 242 days a year at sea)
So I returned to get my freshly repaired helmet back (5 months later) and rode off into the sunset. Ouch. This is REALLY uncomfortable. The rim across the forhead was so low that it was pressing my brow down, ala cro-magnon. The chin bar was actually pressing against my chin so I was unable to open my mouth at all. Knowing already that I had the largest size available, I tried to deal with it as best I could. As I wore it over the next few days, I noticed that the release tab for the chin bar was getting harder and harder to open. I noticed after about 2 weeks of this that the plastic tab had actually stretched and was trying to break. The extra stretching kept the latch from disengaging correctly resulting in a fight every time to re-open it.
So, once again down to RMC to get it serviced. Luck was with me that day and the Scorpio rep was in the store and could take a look at it. He told me that the stretching of the tab was not unheard of, and that the chin bar was the exact same piece weather you got a XS or (in my case) a XXXL. Changing the chin piece would avail me no good. Bummer. The brow ridge was another known issue and he told me that the previos advice was to take a spoon and smooth down the foam inside the helmet. Not the best sollution, but it seems to work for most folk. With all the other problems I was having though, it wasn't really an option.
Fortunately, the rep said he'd stand behind the product and if I wanted to get another helmet, he'd OK applying my purchace price ($289) towards another helmet. Rock on! Way to treat your customers. :)
So, I had been loking at another style of helmet that had my interest. The sales gal and the Scorpio rep both called it a "Gimmick" and that it was going to be really noisy, but I figured for the cost difference, it couldn't get any worse than what I'd been through before. With the refund ($289) and the cost ($349) it wasn't that big an investment to try out an Icon Variant.
http://rideicon.com/showImage.jsp?class_id=11012&image_type=fullsize&rank=105
Icon Variant
Now some of you are thinking "That looks ridicumus!" or "Hey, a gold vizor and you're Master Chief!" but I was more focused on the chin space. I tried it on and right away I found it was sooooo much more comfortable. The chin is far enough out that I can actually yawn and speak and stick out my tounge before I run into the chin bar. It comes down low enough to not freeze my chin and neck. It has a chin piece that breathes well and yet still covers nicely. I can get in and out of it without knocking it loose, the vents in the chin piece are very open, the face shield didn't open up as much as I had hoped at first, but more on that later.
As I rode it home for the first time, I paid attention to the helmet noise and fit. I really was surprised by how good the view was! You'd think with that much beak and vizor that the view would be restricted, but with the wider viewport, it was amazing how much my periphrial vision was great. I was very impressed by how the view was not warped considering what bending plastic does to the view. The ear cups were nice and open and I could wear headphones without having them inserted into my nasal cavities via my eardrums. The ventilation was very good and easy to modify for the most parts. The noise though! OMG! It was just as quiet as either of my previous helmets. The noise wasn't bad at all, call me impressed.
Now I can't say it's perfect, but the problems are pretty minimal. The visor did cause a bit of neck pressure if I got too far above my windshield and caught the wind. but it was pretty minimal as long as I kept the tilt a little bit down. Other than that, the nose shield doesn't extend quite as far as I would like, so I still manage to mess up the view. While the anti-fog coating they use works great, the vizor never really fogged up, it didn't do much for the water droplets that condense from said fog. My only other complaint was that the face shield doesn't open up that far, about only 2/3 of the way most others do. It's still enough to get sunglasses on without too much trouble. Still would be nice to have a little more opening.
All in all, a very nice helmet for those who don't gold plate their couch change. :) I would definately reccomend it to anyone with a large head and has troubles getting face space.
Keep on riding! :)