helmet???

As I read the thread, I was a little bit confuse because there are lots of suggestions. But I noticed that Shoei and Bell brands got the most of it. But how about Arai? I heard that this brand is goos too.

ednadiaz wrote: As I read the thread, I was a little bit confuse because there are lots of suggestions. But I noticed that Shoei and Bell brands got the most of it. But how about Arai? I heard that this brand is goos too.

IMHO Arai and Shoei are in a league of their own. Their budgets and operating costs eclipse the other brands.

Look at the SBK racers. 99% of them are wearing Arai.

Always had Arai. Vector-2 currently. You get what you pay for IMO.

i use a shoei rf1100
but i also use ear plugs on long rides
quiet under 50 mph
and extremely well vented

mtbspeedfreak wrote:

ednadiaz wrote: As I read the thread, I was a little bit confuse because there are lots of suggestions. But I noticed that Shoei and Bell brands got the most of it. But how about Arai? I heard that this brand is goos too.

IMHO Arai and Shoei are in a league of their own. Their budgets and operating costs eclipse the other brands.

Look at the SBK racers. 99% of them are wearing Arai.

So Arai is popular to SBK racers. hm. maybe the brand is good. What do you think? But I don't know about the price. Jafrum store has $700 arai helmets. Is that the range price of this brand?

All dots are DOT

Find one that fits, ordering one based on someone else's head shape is a hit or miss deal.
Go in, try some on if at all possible, next maybe ask friends to try theirs on.
Find good charts egg shape, round etc
I bought two online, both sucked.
Went in, tried on a dozen, gave the poor dude a 5.00 bill and ordered online.

I never use to ride with one, now I do, so does the Mrs.
I bought a Raider for 69 bucks on sale I think at Farm and fleet.
Fits great,has upper and lower vents , nice and commfee and cool on long rides.
Loud as hell though, :S I need ear plugs for the long fast hauls, no biggie
And I'm not afraid to leave it hanging on the bike mirror most places when I park it.

A couple of things to keep in mind. Sooner or later someone will mention an article on helmets that Motorcyclist ran some years back (I have the issue around here somewhere). Certain conclusions were reached, but not without some ax grinding toward the Snell Foundation, IMO. The claimed conclusion was that DOT only helmets (no Snell certification) were safer due to less rigid construction and thus transmitted less energy to the head than the Snell 2002 certified helmets due to Snell 2002 requiring a hard outer shell for resistance to penetration. The argument was made that a motorcyclist's helmet is more likely to hit the pavement than a pointed object in a crash. As I noted earlier, the author did seem to have an ax to grind.

Another point to ponder. The US DOT does not test helmets nor, to my knowledge, does it retain a lab for testing. DOT rated helmets are "self certified", meaning the manufacturer certifies that its helmets meet the DOT regulations.

On the other hand, for a helmet to carry a Snell certification tag, the manufacturer must go through a process with Snell where Snell will purchase some number of a given model of helmet at random and test them. The manufacturer cannot choose which helmets Snell tests. Once the tests are passed, the manufacturer is then authorized to tag that model as a Snell certified helmet. Any significant change to the construction of the helmet requires another round of testing for Snell certification.

What this amounts to is if you will only consider a tested and certified helmet, then a Snell rating is what you look for in the USA. As I recall, Snell did make changes to its 2010 specification. I'm not sure if that was a direct result of the Motorcyclist article, however.

Okay guys,

I get your point. SO, I'll to see to it that the helmets fits me and it meets the DOT regulations. Okay. So maybe I have to try it first before purchasing it.