Looking for helmet advice

[B6T]

I'm going to be getting onto two wheels this summer and have been starting to look for gear. I work with a few very experienced riders who have suggested to me that I spend a decent amount of money on a helmet. So I started my search at Royal Distributing in Guelph and have tried on many different helmets - AGV, Icon, Bell, Arai, Shoei, HJC - basically everything they sell. The two helmets which seem to comfortably fit my very large and very round head the best are the Shoei and the Joe Rocket helmets.

I since have been researching the Shoei RF 1100 and it seems like a great helmet. However, the Joe Rocket RKT 2000 seems to be a good helmet (with a snell rating) for half the price.

From the initial guidance of my friends I was put under the impression that the more expensive the helmet, the safer it is. How accurate is this? Is the Shoei bucket worth twice the price as the Joe Rocket?

Does anyone have any experience with the Joe Rocket RKT2000 helmet (I couldn't find any reviews online).

Thanks in advance for the help!

[boarder360]

They will both be safe. The shoei will most likely be lighter and use higher end materials, but both will equally keep you safe.

Couldn't find the exact model you're talking about it, it isn't this one is it? Theres a video review on the site

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/j...1-solid-helmet

[Gryphon]

So there you go, you can get a good helmet -
or for twice the money you can get a great helmet.
Shoei's are the best, the best materials & engineering, and a top-quality faceshield design.
The whole faceshield and the seal and the closing mechanism are very well developed.
The Shoei is designed for 200 kph; notice the lack of little vents, lips and ridges that are often prominent on 100 kph helms like the RKT 2000.
Also don't forget, if you're in the middle of nowhere you can always get a Shoei faceshield.
Shoei's basically last forever, but a lot of people don't like that, they want a new inexpensive helm every coupla years.
Some folks are heavy sweaters, people can be hard on their equipment...
Plus there's a bit of a brand cachet, and you look forward to wearing your Shoei and being seen with it.
It makes the right Quality statement (but this is more important to some people than others).
My personal advice?
There is no dress-rehearsal, you only go through once.
Get a Shoei if it is within your means,
Regards

[tricky]

I'd shoot for a midrange helmet, like the Bell Vortex, Icon Alliance, etc, which have the features you want (removable liner, good ventilation, quick swap visors) but aren't stupid expensive. More expensive helmets aren't any "safer" than dirty cheap ones, as long as they are both rated the same. You just pay for features, designs, and the brand. Oh, and noise protection.. but I use ear plugs for that

[AF4iK]

I'm glad my first helmet was inexpensive (HJC CL-16). I didn't really know what I was doing at the time and bought a size too big but it did the job. When it came time to buy a new helmet I had a much better idea of what I wanted in a lid and also bought one that fit right. Proper fit is hard to gauge as a noob and you tend to err on the side of comfort.

My advice is to go cheap on the helmet as long as it's SNELL and DOT approved. Learn what you like/dislike about it and then apply that knowledge to your next helmet purchase.

Btw, this sorta contradicts what I just said but, if you were looking at the RF-1100 but iffy on price, consider the Bell RS-1. I recently bought this helmet and, features-per-dollar-wise, it's hard to beat. It's about $100 cheaper than the Shoei. Actually someone on GTAM was selling Bell helmets for pretty cheap but don't know if that deal is still around.

[richbilt]

RF-1100 is one of the best. Get one and not only will your brains stay safer but it'll treat you well too - great ventilation keeping your head cool and visor clear and better quality interior keeping your head more comfortable. You do need to try one one though - if you don't have a Shoei-shaped head, it probably won't be much use.

For more info, here's a good review on the helmet (released as the XR-1100 for some unknown reason in Europe)

[ViperZ]

RF-1100 is one of the best. Get one and not only will your brains stay safer but it'll treat you well too - great ventilation keeping your head cool and visor clear and better quality interior keeping your head more comfortable. You do need to try one one though - if you don't have a Shoei-shaped head, it probably won't be much use.

If those helmets fit your head perfectly, then either of them will be a great fit and will be as safe. The difference is that more expensive Shoei will have better venting, better padding, weight is most likely lower, etc etc. So if those extra things make sense to you, then go for Shoei. For me, Shoei fits my head the best, so I had RF-1000, which saved my head, and got RF-1100 after that.

[nomo]

Motorcyclist magazine's helmet test a few years ago essentially blew the lid off the old belief that expensive helmets necessarily protect the best , or conversely , that cheap helmets are dangerous . The $95 Z1R Strike won by transmitting the least energy to the head . Now , this doesn't mean it has all the features you're looking for ; only that you shouldn't let price dictate your buying decision .

[m.breen]

I would get the most comfortable..imagine riding for 6 hours in a lid that is so uncomfortable that it gives you headaches.

[revrandy]

I have tried various brands over the years and keep coming back to Shark. Fit very well, quality is excellent, good ventilation and is both DOT and SNELL (Evoline 2).

For the person who said replacing every 2 is a waste of money, I have always read and been told to replace your helmet every 2 - 3 years as the padding compresses and it loses some of its effectiveness. My older ones I keep as spares.

[redridernl]

I have tried various brands over the years and keep coming back to Shark. Fit very well, quality is excellent, good ventilation and is both DOT and SNELL (Evoline 2).

For the person who said replacing every 2 is a waste of money, I have always read and been told to replace your helmet every 2 - 3 years as the padding compresses and it loses some of its effectiveness. My older ones I keep as spares.

Every 5 years, if I'm not mistaken.

[krrakt]

I have always used arai helmets, due to their reputation in the racing scene going back decades. The racers have always used the exact same helmets that are sold to the public. Arai are amongst the most expensive, 12 years ago my helmet was 500 bucks 400 without graphics.

Saying that, I went shopping for a helmet at cycle world on sheppard ave. I was there for 3 hours looking, trying, choosing and trying to decide what feels best and looks good, but they only had 4 arai helmets and none in my size...

So there I was, I decided on the top line bell helmet with red black graphics. 600 bucks I think was the price.

The lady helping me suggested I try the suomy vandal, but I was not too interested. I did try it to be polite though and guess what.

Wow, what a comfortable helmet (for my oval head anyway), and it weighs only about 3 pounds compared to almost 4 for the bell. I wore it around for a while and decided it was a no brainer, sold 338 plus tx. Never heard of them B4 but Kept an open mind and I'm very happy. As a bonus it has killer graphics.

My point is, the best way to choose a helmet is not by brand or looks or even reputation. You need to wear a helmet for a while to know it feels and fits right, and everything else is secondary.

I am lucky they had no arai helmets, I got a much better (for me) helmet for half the price..

[Baggsy]

A couple of points:

Different brands and even models fit differently, so try on as many as you can.

A helmet should fit really tight without giving you a headache, but most people buy too big. There's a Shoei video with Jay Leno on this.

They are one use items. Don't buy anything that you will keep because you paid so much for it once it goes down with a head in it.

[EngineerJoe]

More expensive helmets aren't any "safer" than dirty cheap ones, as long as they are both rated the same.

Just because two helmets share the same rating, doesn't mean they're equally safe. The safety rating is a minimum requirement.

[krrakt]

IMO comfort and proper fit is most important pertaining to all gear, safety ratings being secondary.
If you are pre-occupied adjusting or even thinking about your gear, you are not paying attention to the road. In which case the highest spec gear is unsafe, the best gear is the stuff you totally forget about even having on. So your focus can be such that your gear will not even come into play

[tricky]

Just because two helmets share the same rating, doesn't mean they're equally safe. The safety rating is a minimum requirement.

Right, I should have worded my thought better... I'm saying, take 2 full-face helmets, one expensive and one cheap, there's nothing saying the cheaper one is any "less" safe than the expensive one. Sometimes it works out the other way, and the expensive helmet fairs worse in testing then the cheap one.

Example, from an independent tester, here's a Suomy Spec 1R (retail ~$600+) getting a 3 star rating, http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/testhelme...discontinued=1

and here's a Shark RSX ($160) getting a 5-star rating http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/testhelme...discontinued=1