A sort of Comparison: 1Tonne Modular helmet vs SHOEI Raid II
by
, 18th June 2013 at 15:47 (16141 Views)
I call this a "sort of" comparison, because the 2 helmets are quite dissimilar. However, I had my hands on both and thought it an interesting comparison between a $160 helmet and a $500 ish helmet.
The 1Tonne modular helmet is my own, and I have been using it for about 2 years. The Shoei Raid is a friend who was unable to use it, so I thought I would test it out and see if I needed to upgrade. So.. my impressions were these:
1Tonne:
- service is good.
- helmet is fairly decently made
- visor clips for changing visor are a bit fiddly
- visor doesnt go up out of my field of vision.
- visor stays up till about 100kmh then closes (no issues for me actually, I like this "feature")
- vents are not great
- rarely fogs up.
- seems quite noisey
- I like the strap clip
- modular nature means it is good for glasses (even without flipping it up, there is plenty room for glasses)
- replacement visor = $30
- all insides are removable and washable.
- has an awesome internal sunvisor
Shoei:
- seems fairly large
- vents work well
- fogs up easily
- dont like the d-ring
- the visor clicks are stiff and require some force to move but will stay in place at speed.
- the "brow" of the opening seems to be at the top of my vision and is annoying.
- found it annoying getting my glasses in and out.
- replacement visor = $50-70
- insides are removable, washable, and replaceable.
- I found it slightly quieter, in a sort of muffled way, which I didnt actually like much.
- visor change mechanism is easy to use
- no internal sunvisor.
The upshot is, I'd like a better helmet, but I am not sure that something worth $500 gives me much benefit, in fact, unless I could get it in modular form with an internal sun visor, I probably wouldnt bother. The 1tonne helmet it turns out, is great value for money. One of the big differences I have noticed is how they react to airflow. The SHOEI is quite directional. If you turn your head at all, it seems to be noisier and harder to control, where the 1tonne does not change much at all.
If I had less than $500 I think I would buy another 1tonne helmet and use the difference to buy a better jacket/pants/gloves/boots - this is where I think I would notice the real value. I have a NERVE (cnell) jacket which has been good, but when I compared it to a REVIT jacket (same price difference as the helmets) there was no comparison. The revit jacket was lighter, thinner, warmer, better looking and more comfortable (particularly under the dririder rainsuit). HUGE difference.
I'd like to compare now to a helmet in the next range up.. $700 up.