I was just reading a thread on an HJC lid, I thought, oooo, I will have a look at those as I have no idea what they look like, I Googled it and thought, wow, they look nice lids, only to find out it don't have a built sun visor, for me this is a high priority as I generally ride on sunny days, but also into evenings. So, with all the knowledge you guys have can someone suggest a lid with the following spec? 1) Built in sun visor 2) A recommended brand, but doesn't have to be Arai as I always find them over priced. 3) With a preferable red / white / blue scheme, something to match a 2010 HRC blade scheme (though not essential) Current lid is a Shoei GT Air, which apparently they do a nice scheme as above which matches all my spec, but I kinda fancy trying something else as I actually find this particular lid very noisy. Over to you guys and girls, thank you
AGV are doing an LCD visor which you change with click of a button, think it's got 3 levels of tint & powered by a battery. It's an add on tho n not cheap. I've got an old shoei xr1100 I'm sure the new ones have drop down sun visor inside!?!
I have the GT Air too, and tried on a Shark last week which felt very good. I didn't have a lot of time, but will go back and look again, as it felt more comfortable to me.
I know you said not Arai but for me they are worth every penny, the sound protection is spot on, the fit is pefect for my Fat Head and they also do an add on Visor drop down that takes half the visor up, But it takes about 30 seconds to change the visor on an Arai and i always carry my Clear one in a visor bag around my waist if i'm on a ride where i don't know what kind of light/weather i will encounter
I whole heartedly agree, nothing much wrong with it as such, nice lid and all that, but I was using a temporary lid that was less than £50 in the week running up to getting it as I dropped my HJC, and on the way home I was thinking, bugger, my £43 lid was quieter than this on the way up here, feeling quite disheartened about spending all that money on it and feeling I had just been mugged off, lol Hence I am on here asking for recommendations before I spend another £300 to 500 on a lid
I bought the shark carbon, know it's not in the colours you are looking for but just for comparison I had to take the bung out my exhaust the bike was so quiet once I got it nice and comfy too
I am quite old school and I remember the Shark brand in the early days, they didn't have that good reputation, I am assuming that has all changed now as many people seem to be using them on sports bikes?
Have always found shoei's quieter than arai's as have had 2 rx7 and 2 shoei's and currently running a nxr marquez black ant which is still better than any of the rx7 I had! Could be the extra vents and visor switch causing more noise on the gt air
I bought a Shark S700S with came with a sunvisor & pinlock included last month. Comfortable, light weight & matchs the tri-colour blade. Good enough for me and pleased.
See, now this is what I mean. Are Shoei and Arai just charging way way over the odds or is something missing in a lid that only costs that sort of money and looks that good? Now I am totally confused. I mean, I don't mind spending money to get my head in something safe, but I don't want to "just" be paying for a name, I want something more tangible out of it for another £300+. What am I missing here???
I bought this one, matches my bike colours is very light due to being carbon, comfy quiet pin lock and internal sun visor all included. Great helmet imo
Are you buying online or trying on in a shop ? First lid I bought I checked my measurements myself and was convinced I was between a med and large, more like a large. When I went to buy an upgrade I looked at all the makes as my local shop is well stocked. First up, the factory (Arai/Shoei) trained staff sized me as a small ! Then I had a good look at HJC, X-Lite, Nolan, Shark, AGV, Schuberth etc They all had plus and minus points. In the end I went for an Arai as both Shoei and Arai seemed to be of a higher quality, (plastics/paint/fixings) and I wanted something special as a first "proper" (had a cheap Bell before) helmet. Also I loved the Arai pro-shade as an alternative to internal visors. I had problems with the Arai and managed to return it and get a Shoei NXR. I am much happier for many reasons. I guess the main point of this ramble is get sized up by a professional, it makes a massive difference (safety, weight, comfort, noise) to get the right size shell and I forget the stats but it is something like 60 % of people wear the wrong size (too big) Essentially they need to be really tight to get on and off, and not "lift" at speed. Finally if you can wait I think some of the big shows allow you to "try" a lid beforehand on one of the test bikes. Also, when I was researching recently the GT Air came out as one of the quieter helmets out there, noise is quite subjective from person to person, where is it noisy, wind or exhaust, from around the visor or the vents whistling etc ? Do you use the chin curtain/buff/ear plugs ? I do get where you are coming from, they are expensive. Hopefully I will keep the NXR for many years. Shoei also do the transitions visor now as an alternative to inner visors but is expensive. Lots of the budget lids suffer from rattling internal sun visors that eventually give up the ghost and you can't get in there to fix them. Look for online reviews, revzilla, webbikeworld, even utube.
Personally I don't think there's any substitute for getting into a shop and trying on every lid. I was always an Arai guy but when I replaced mine last year none of them felt right on my head at all. After 2 attempts to tune the size with pads and ordering a different size I gave up and went to the shop and just spent half an hour trying on helmet after helmet. Ended up with a Shoei NXR. Whatever features it had or didn't have I didn't really care. It fitted the shape of my head and that was enough. As a bonus it was lighter and quieter than my old Arai but it's the fit that's the most important for me. If it doesn't fit right it distracts you. I barely notice that I've got my lid on. That's got to be safer, surely.
All extremely good points. I always buy from a shop after trying load of lids on, but tend to stick to the older well known brands as its all I used to know, it appears times have changed maybe. The Shoei GT Air was the best fit for me, but I have removed the chin guard for more air flow and I don't these days generally wear ear plugs as I have a Sena 20 attached to the lid to talk to the Mrs while she is on her bike, apparently me talking her through the corners and roads is of great assistance to her at the moment, though the singing can be a bit of a downside, lol I find the lid wind noisy, more like it has air leaks, with whistling noises, it that makes any sense? Maybe I already have a great lid and am expecting more as I always used to ride with ear plugs, or I have a Friday afternoon job, not sure which as yet, lol
As above put chin guard back on but would use ear bud headphones for the sena makes a bit of difference also make sure you turn off ambiance mode as think this might be causing more noise
Haha yeah think so! It mentions it in the manual, did you try helmet before fitting sena and did you think it was noisy then?
