Four Wheel Forum

I just got back from a night ride this evening on the V-strom. What a killer helmet the HJC AC-12 carbon is! This helmet is the best thing ever. When I left a friends house I picked up the helmet to walk out the door and it surprised me again how light it is. The wind noise was very low since I was behind the V-strom windscreen. I like to basically break down the helmet noise into two categories:

• 1.The high speed swishing you can hear over the smaller vents or recesses in the mid and upper parts of the helmet.
• 2. Then I can differentiate another type of noise which is the lower frequency waffs of noise that come from the lower opening of the helmet near your neck.

The HCJ carbon had less low frequency noise as it covers your neck a little lower than the Shark RSI thus producing less wind turbulence. But it has more higher frequency wind noise from the number of vents that it has compared to the Shark RSI which only has a couple. In the next coupe days I'll take the HJC out on the Aprilia to get the whole helmet out in the wind so see how it sounds on a sportbike. The light weight is becoming more of an advantage than I thought it would be. Turning your head side to side with the HJC is effortless. I'm not sure if that's because of the aerodynamics of the helmet or solely due to the light weight. When I jump on the Aprilia with it I'll find out pretty quickly. One last note, my ears were most comfortable in the HJC AC-12. There is a lot of room in there for the ears. Wearing earplugs will easily be the most pleasurable in the HJC. I don't think I'll have much of a problem not wearing plugs with the HJC and the Shark is so quiet anyways. The Arai RX-7 almost requires them when you wear it.



I actually could feel the air being pulled out of the rear diffuser / exhuast vents back there. I tested it out by closing off the front vents, standing up and looking down a little. This seemed to cause air to pull out pretty good. I will be trying this with the Arai to see if I can get the same effect. I've never felt the air pull out like that out of the Arai before but I'll try again the same way. With factors like the chin bar being further away from my face then any other helmets I've tried, the amount of air being push/pulled through this helmet and the included breath guard... I can't forsee the (anti-fog) face shield fogging up ever. It's been pretty impressive so far.

**UPDATE notes from November: This HJC is really really comfortable and vents air like crazy. I was surprised when I got up to sporty speed how much air was going through. I'm just really bummed because the Large is just a little too big to ride at fast speeds. A medium hurts to take on and off my head but fits perfectly once on. I don't want to wait for a medium to break in so I'll just use this Large for cruisin around and not for high speed stuff. If anyone finds that this helmet fits their head pretty good and it doesn't hurt to take on and off go for it... this is a GREAT helmet and can be found at compacc.com for $260 with free shipping and no tax. The sheilds are really inexpensive as well which is awesome. Mine hasn't fogged up one bit. Ok END NOTES, thanks for reading.

I also got a deal recently on a Medium Shark RSR2 helmet which I can't wait to try out. I'll be sure to talk about that one when it arrives as well. I'm predicting that the Medium size will fit just as good as the RSI model and be perfect for more high speed situations than the HJC AC-12. If the HJC Large size was a tiny bit smaller it would be a better fit on me. But at this point the Arai RX-7 Medium fits on me the best and is more stable on my head at speed. We'll see how the RSR2 does against the RX-7.

Here is an interesting helmet. The Bell Star helmet is Bell's best offering for street helmets. But here is the interesting part... it's branded by Roland Sands RSD. It's got a custom paint job on it using the $100 bill as the theme and then some burgundy red wings coming from the back. This helmet definitely won't match anyones streetbike but it's pretty neat looking if you ask me. RSD has a lot of haters though, as you can see from the comments. I think this will be a good selling helmet as it comes with a special edition box and also an OGIO brand helmet bag... pretty slick.

Check it out over at the Hell For Leather Website which is one of my favorite websites around. B)

So Santa (Mr. Fed Ex) stopped by my house today and dropped off a present. I am so impressed by my Shark RSI I had to bump it up a notch and order up a Shark RSR2 Fugiwara Replica helmet. I am nothing but happy with this lid and I can't wait to until it's broken in. Right now being a Medium it's a little tight but so was my Arai RX-7 Medium. But now my Arai is well broken in and it's the best thing ever.



The padding is so soft and smooth (like the Arai) that I don't mind it being so small taking it off and on. This would hurt in other helmets that skimp on the smooth material.


This thing fits nice and tight on me and will surely stay in place when warp speed kicks in. I can't wait to try it out.

If you're wondering who the hell Fujiwara is here is his Team Kawasaki webpage: K. Fujiwara Team Green 600 Supersport Kawasaki probably isn't too happy about his helmet colors! You can tell because they chopped off a majority of his helmet on his bio page. You can still see his eyes but this was definitely on purpose. He used to ride a Honda so the RED & BLUE colors made sense back then but now on a lime green bike...

I almost need to break down my helmets in different threads here on this forum... but not yet. Here is a look at my Shark RSI on a ride a couple weeks ago. This is my most used helmet now as it's quiet and fits perfect for casual riding and is just barely tight enough for faster riding without pressing too hard against my nose. People really love the paint job on it which I'm surprised. It's called "The Alien" but it's so crazy that no one has ever figured out what the theme is. The other Alien helmets that don't have the glitter on them are easier to see the Alien details.. I prefer the glitter.

The Shark helmets are so light I think they should be a lot more popular. Mine is breaking in really nicely and I can take it on and off my head all day long and it doesn't hurt my face or ears. AND IT's MADE IN FRANCE... not China.

Here is my buddies Shoei RF-1000 helmet. I haven't heard him say one bad thing about it. He does have a new HJC Elbow style FS-15 helmet on order though. I think he'll use the Elbow helmet for show and the flat grey Shoei for "blending in" when trying not be noticed by the cops.

I have had some time to really put some miles on the ol Shark RSR2 helmet and I love everything about it. It fits tight and secure on me and I once it's on I don't have to adjust it one bit for as long as I ride for which is really nice. Me and my group were riding "swiftly" for a whole day and we covered a lot of California ground on different types of roads... from open valleys to mountain paths down to the 101 and back up the coast.

At one point we were spaced maybe 2 bike lengths between riders at the most and we all found our tires kicking gravel right up into each others faces. These few seconds I got showered with more rocks at high speed than I have ever seen in all my life. We did a lot of miles that day and that instance was the most dangerous instance the whole day. Seeing rocks fly right at your face makes you flinch your head down and that half of a second looking away from the road almost had me riding off the hillside. These shrapnel were as big as quarters just shredding the front of your bike and helmet. It was like some evil elves had jumped out from the bushes in front of you and started shooting you up rocks. It was bad.

NEVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD. As long as your face shield is down just grin and bear it. Better to look into the hail storm then to ride off the road cause you are ducking down. I almost went right off myself!

When we stopped up ahead I instantly took off my RSR2 to survey the damage to it. The face sheild being the thickest one that you can buy on a streetbike helmet was nicked in a few places but not severely scratched to the point that I would need to replace it. But the one big shot that I took to my dome really put a dent in the left temple area of the helmet. It's not that bad but considering the force it takes to chip the plastic that much that one particular rock was a doozy. It seriously felt like small baseball bats to the head and the front of my Aprilia. My front fender is actually missing a 2 inch piece out of it from that barrage. Needless to say there are many more random nicks and dents in the front of my bodywork. Oh well I don't care. That's riding!

If you look close you can see a few chips. The obvious one and then another one on top of the Shark logo and another just above the mouth piece.


In case anyone wants to see the shield mechanism. The round buttons don't do anything at all. They are just a pivot for the shield. The thing that looks like a tooth turns once the shield is placed on the helmet, in order to hold the shield in place.


Thank goodness the shield is so thick! I had to tell myself that the shield is rated for F1 helmet thickness and to put my eyes back on the road even though it was raining debris.

My next helmet will probably be an AGV GP-Tech. Not that I need a helmet anytime soon but if I could ask for one more...

Here is a GREAT review showing all sorts of details of this helmet that you wouldn't otherwise see. They are simply awesome and fit sooo nicely around the head. A friend of mine has one and it's the best helmet I've ever played with. It's too large for me so I can't really try it out and get a good feel for it. It's really too big. Ok the best review I've seen on it so far: http://gordonfraser.wordpress.com/2008/ ... ch-helmet/

Ok after trying on LOTS of helmets and riding around with them on here and there I can say that Arai is still my favorite. People say that the Scorpion helmets fit awesome so I need to try one of those next. I know a couple that each owns a Scorpion and they just LOVE them. So I need to try one sometime.

In the meantime I'm having a hard time not buying another Arai. I don't want the super air cooled venting ninja style RX-7, I just want one of the regular models. I couldn't help but check this one at a local store. It has my colors that for sure. And everyone loves the checkers. I like the fact that they are ghosted into the paint.

The size is Large which fits great but under some xtreme wind it could be a tad loose. A broken in M is perfect for me but a new Large would be relaxing for just cruisin.

Hmmm the Pinlock system seems reasonable: http://pinlockusa.net/Home

Seems like you buy one of their fog shields that accept inserts that cut out the fog. Pretty interesting. For all you cheapos out there I have also found the unknown answer to your fogging problems. I think that Rain-X antifog stuff if absolute junk. It's a pain in the butt to put on and it stinks. I don't even know if it works in helmets but I tried it in my truck once and it was a mistake. So what do I use if I have a shield that isn't anti-fog from the factory? Well the best thing that I have found that prevents fogging is SHAVING CREAM! Yeap its' true. Grab any can of shaving cream and wipe some on the inside of your helmet lense. Everyone has the stuff so it won't cost you a dime.... AND IT WORKS!!

And in Helmet News!

I think this new Vector design will be a first choice for nearly all Arai Heads.


http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_0905 ... index.html

Shark RSR2 Helmet Update

Well I've ridden a few times with the Medium RSR2 on and it still fits tight, tighter than my Arai Medium. I don't mind so much BUT it hurts the tops of my ears! I actually took out the earpadding and removed some material which helped a great deal (more on this later). But for now I would just like to point out to people that the sizing on these RSR2 helmets run small. And I'm not the only one that noticed that there is a comfort issue with the ears. Over at webBIKEWORLD.com the author compared the Shark RSR2 (same color! he has good taste and also found that the top of his ears hurt after a while.

Now more about my experience. I rode with this helmet all day at one point. My ears were hurting a bit but I just toughed it out and didn't think about it all that much. Then the next day the top of my left ear puffed up and I seriously thought that I was bitten by a small spider while I was sleeping or something. My ear began to get even more sore and the cartilage toughened up for a couple days. I thought and thought about what was going on... then after another day it finally hit me when I was looking at my Shark sitting on the shelf... AHA!

So I removed the padding and started figuring how I would modify it to allow more room for my ears. Pictures and some descriptions to come soon...

If you guys haven't checked out Jay Leno's garage website you got a good reason to now. He welcomed Arai helmets as a guest to explain a little about fitting a helmet. It's always fun to watch Jay make some wisecracks along the way so it's not too painful to watch at all.

Jay Leno's Garage talk with Arai Helmets