limmy
23rd July 2005, 19:16
Well...what can i say. there's lots of carbon fiber and its light. That's the short review.
Now here's the unabridged version. I'm wearing an XL (i've got a big round asian head) and it weighs in at a hefty 1300g. If u have a small white boy head and get a smaller size then it'll only weigh 1250g for the L. Don't know if it gets lighter for the M and S. The weight is probably due to different shell sizes. For comparison my Shoei X-11 (X-Spirit) weighed the same. From what I've seen most top of the range helmets have roughly the same weight.
Lets start with how the helmet looks. Obviously lots of carbon fiber. From the pic you guys would have noticed that the helmet has chromed air vents. initially this put me off cause they looked very bright in the photos but in reality they usually look quite dark even in the sun. In short they don't look the greatest on the helmet...but its not hideous either.
How does it feels? The pads are thinner compared to the likes of Shoei and Arai so the fit is not as snug. But by no means does this make it uncomfortable. It just doesn't feel very tight on your head. The helmet has a DD ring strap that's quite easy to put on. The strap itself its a bit shorter than what i'm used to. The strap that the D rings are on is pretty short and one of the D rings has the tendency to get stuck behind the padding. There's also a little button on the end of the strap so you double back the strap and clip it to the button so the strap doesn't come lose. I guess this is a pretty standard feature these days. The button is much easier to fasten than the clip that I had on the Shoei.
Is it stable? That was one of the first questions I asked. I noticed almost immediately that it didn't have a wing like the x-11 had so I was a bit sceptical about how stable the helmet would be. After wearing it for a few days the helmet seems to be pretty stable. i think this has something to do with the fact that the helmet isn't round. It actually has ridges on the top. This could explain why it doesn't need the wing like some of the other helmets. I noticed there was another new HJC helmet at Colemans that did have the wing attached to the helmet like the Shoei and it didn't have the ridges.
Ventilation wise this helmet is not bad. My visor hardly fogs up even when I'm stopped at the lights on a cold winter's day. This could be partly due to the fact the visor still has some anti-fog on the new visor. But so far it has been good. There is ample air flow coming through the front vents. There is actually two notches on the front vent so you can have it opened a little or a lot :). You can also open and close the top vents but not the back. I have kept all the vents closed so it doesn't get too cold when I'm riding so I don't know if it will be an issue if you ride with them open on a rainy day.
This brings me to the next million dollar question. Is it quiet? Well...downside of having good ventilation is lots of wind noise. It's only slightly quieter than my CL-12 which is almost bottom of the range HJC helmet. I would highly recommend you use ear plugs if you have this helmet. The visor on this helmet also only has two open positions i.e. it only has two click points when you open it. After reading the manual I found out that this is suppose to be a feature to help reduce noise as well. Not sure how that works but that's what the manual says.
Other things about the helmet. It comes with skirting at the bottom of the helmet to keep some of the wind under the chin out and help with noise. However it doesn't come with a nose guard. Dan from Colemans told me that you still can't get a nose guard for this helmet and he's not sure if you can fit one on either. He also said you can't get tinted visors for this helmet. This confused me a little but I didn't enquire any further since I wasn't planning on getting a tinted visor for this helmet. The helmet also comes with a nifty bag. It looks like a bowling bag...you know the ones that you use for carrying bowling balls. This helmet also has removeable padding which is good for the commuters and clean freaks. :yes: The only other miscellaneos thing about this helmet is that scratch marks and finger prints are very obvious on this helmet. I've already noticed a few smudges and marks on the helmet after only 2 days of use.
Some other things to note about this helmet is that if you look at the top back of the helmet you will notice that there is some imperfections in the carbon fiber weave. There is also black dots on the weave all around the helmet. I don't know what to make of this. After some thought I think what is going to save my head in a collision is the resin coating on the helmet. I assume the other helmets with the fancy paint jobs just has a coloured coating instead of a clear one and underneath they are made of some other high-tech material as well.
The price for this black beauty? RRP$799. $649 at the Colemans sales. For the bean counters this works out to be a 18.77% discount. This was definitely one of the reasons why I got the helmet.
During this review I've made some comparisons between this helmet and the Shoei X-11 (X-Spirit). In my opinion if price wasn't an issue (the X-11 retails for $1100) then I would go for another X-11. The X-11 still feels more firm and secure when i'm wearing it. It's also quieter but does fog up. This is fogging partly due to me not using any anti-fog on the visor and also not cleaning it though. But is a bit of comfort and quiet worth $300? Well...that's up to personal preference I guess.
I will have to need to get a bit more usage into the helmet before I can comment on the build quality. With my track record of late you guys can also look forward to a crash report on the helmet in the near future.
Now here's the unabridged version. I'm wearing an XL (i've got a big round asian head) and it weighs in at a hefty 1300g. If u have a small white boy head and get a smaller size then it'll only weigh 1250g for the L. Don't know if it gets lighter for the M and S. The weight is probably due to different shell sizes. For comparison my Shoei X-11 (X-Spirit) weighed the same. From what I've seen most top of the range helmets have roughly the same weight.
Lets start with how the helmet looks. Obviously lots of carbon fiber. From the pic you guys would have noticed that the helmet has chromed air vents. initially this put me off cause they looked very bright in the photos but in reality they usually look quite dark even in the sun. In short they don't look the greatest on the helmet...but its not hideous either.
How does it feels? The pads are thinner compared to the likes of Shoei and Arai so the fit is not as snug. But by no means does this make it uncomfortable. It just doesn't feel very tight on your head. The helmet has a DD ring strap that's quite easy to put on. The strap itself its a bit shorter than what i'm used to. The strap that the D rings are on is pretty short and one of the D rings has the tendency to get stuck behind the padding. There's also a little button on the end of the strap so you double back the strap and clip it to the button so the strap doesn't come lose. I guess this is a pretty standard feature these days. The button is much easier to fasten than the clip that I had on the Shoei.
Is it stable? That was one of the first questions I asked. I noticed almost immediately that it didn't have a wing like the x-11 had so I was a bit sceptical about how stable the helmet would be. After wearing it for a few days the helmet seems to be pretty stable. i think this has something to do with the fact that the helmet isn't round. It actually has ridges on the top. This could explain why it doesn't need the wing like some of the other helmets. I noticed there was another new HJC helmet at Colemans that did have the wing attached to the helmet like the Shoei and it didn't have the ridges.
Ventilation wise this helmet is not bad. My visor hardly fogs up even when I'm stopped at the lights on a cold winter's day. This could be partly due to the fact the visor still has some anti-fog on the new visor. But so far it has been good. There is ample air flow coming through the front vents. There is actually two notches on the front vent so you can have it opened a little or a lot :). You can also open and close the top vents but not the back. I have kept all the vents closed so it doesn't get too cold when I'm riding so I don't know if it will be an issue if you ride with them open on a rainy day.
This brings me to the next million dollar question. Is it quiet? Well...downside of having good ventilation is lots of wind noise. It's only slightly quieter than my CL-12 which is almost bottom of the range HJC helmet. I would highly recommend you use ear plugs if you have this helmet. The visor on this helmet also only has two open positions i.e. it only has two click points when you open it. After reading the manual I found out that this is suppose to be a feature to help reduce noise as well. Not sure how that works but that's what the manual says.
Other things about the helmet. It comes with skirting at the bottom of the helmet to keep some of the wind under the chin out and help with noise. However it doesn't come with a nose guard. Dan from Colemans told me that you still can't get a nose guard for this helmet and he's not sure if you can fit one on either. He also said you can't get tinted visors for this helmet. This confused me a little but I didn't enquire any further since I wasn't planning on getting a tinted visor for this helmet. The helmet also comes with a nifty bag. It looks like a bowling bag...you know the ones that you use for carrying bowling balls. This helmet also has removeable padding which is good for the commuters and clean freaks. :yes: The only other miscellaneos thing about this helmet is that scratch marks and finger prints are very obvious on this helmet. I've already noticed a few smudges and marks on the helmet after only 2 days of use.
Some other things to note about this helmet is that if you look at the top back of the helmet you will notice that there is some imperfections in the carbon fiber weave. There is also black dots on the weave all around the helmet. I don't know what to make of this. After some thought I think what is going to save my head in a collision is the resin coating on the helmet. I assume the other helmets with the fancy paint jobs just has a coloured coating instead of a clear one and underneath they are made of some other high-tech material as well.
The price for this black beauty? RRP$799. $649 at the Colemans sales. For the bean counters this works out to be a 18.77% discount. This was definitely one of the reasons why I got the helmet.
During this review I've made some comparisons between this helmet and the Shoei X-11 (X-Spirit). In my opinion if price wasn't an issue (the X-11 retails for $1100) then I would go for another X-11. The X-11 still feels more firm and secure when i'm wearing it. It's also quieter but does fog up. This is fogging partly due to me not using any anti-fog on the visor and also not cleaning it though. But is a bit of comfort and quiet worth $300? Well...that's up to personal preference I guess.
I will have to need to get a bit more usage into the helmet before I can comment on the build quality. With my track record of late you guys can also look forward to a crash report on the helmet in the near future.