Is an expensive helmet any better at controling air?

[SL_Don]

Now I'm not sure if this should go here or not but sometimes in the larger parts of the forum things drift away from topic or get overlooked. So my question for you locals is would getting a more expensive helmet (looking at: AGV) control the wind into my helmet better?

Right now I have a on the cheaper end helmet. I was buying a lot of gear at the time so I found a helmet that fit and on the cheap end (read as like: $125). But as I've been doing more and more freeway riding the wind in my eyes is killing me. The knobs to *supposedly* control air intake seem to do nothing and has no change on the air flow in my helmet. The only place I can feel "air" is directly forcing against my eyes. It's rather bothersome.

Now me being a new rider and not having worn a few different helmets at speed, I don't know if this is just something I need to get used to or if it's in direct reflection with cost of helmet.

If anyone has any opinions I would appreciate and input.

Thanks a bunch,

-Donovan

[DarkS2R]

Wow, are these the type of things you think about at 5:24am in the morning?

Get the better helmet. More gear bling is always good...if you can spare the $$$.

I've never had any problems with controling wind in my eyes with my Shoei or my Arai.

I do wear contacts, and any wind on my eye balls just dry up my contacts.

I've also riden with a couple people with AGVs, and they like em.

Also, the better helmet should be lighter and quieter.

[ducati_tim]

I am not sure if it is a factor of price or not, but different helmets have different venting options. I like the *vents on my Arai, which is an expensive helmet. It has vents around the mouth, on the visor and on the top of the helmet. My Shoei had a variety of vents as well, albeit in a different configuration.

Even with all of the venting, even expensive helmets are hot on hot days. Your big cokie is gonna sweat; your hair will get matted, and women, children and dogs will all point and laugh at you.

Lastly, everyone's head is different, so the best thing to do is try on a variety of helmets from various manufacturers.

[Hombre]

Here's a cheap helmet that does a great job, HJC CL-SP.* The link relates to a review in Bike World:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/motor...met/hjc/cl-sp/

[SL_Don]

Originally Posted by DarkS2R

Wow, are these the type of things you think about at 5:24am in the morning?

Haha.. I had been up for almost an hour and a half I guess I was still bothered from my ride home from last night. It was reallly bad and made it d**n near impossible to ride when coupled with the sun.

I'm planing on a trip to sacramento tomorrow and don't want to have this issue for my entire ride. I think it's only really bothering me when the wind is high outside as well. But with more speed I assume it's going to get even worse.

Thanks for the help guys. Maybe I'll be able to check out Motostrano's before they close tonight. Or might even have to go down to SJ. We'll see.

*EDIT*
I just searched the net for some reviews and have found a few people saying the same thing that the wind goes right into their eyes. But had the same good opinion of the comfort and weight. So we shall see. Oh it is a Scorpion helmet if any of you were wondering.

[B-Rock]

I have an HJC that leaks a ton of air. Used an Arai for a while and it was like a space helmet.
In a nutshell, yeah, they do a better job.

[ducati_tim]

Originally Posted by SL_Don

Haha.. I had been up for almost an hour and a half* I guess I was still bothered from my ride home from last night. It was reallly bad and made it d**n near impossible to ride when coupled with the sun.

Another plus for the Arai is the ease in which you can switch visors. It literally takes me less than 20 seconds to switch from my clear visor to my smoke visor. I generally carry one in my tank bag and switch as needed. This is really useful when I go from the fog of SF to the sun of the Penninsula. [thumbsup]

[Dan071]

DORK! put the visor down! :

[SL_Don]

Originally Posted by DanTheMan

DORK! put the visor down! :

Hahaha I was wondering how long it was going to take someone to put that.. lol.. I almost disclaimered my post but I wanted to see the funny responses...

I think Arai's (at least the one's I tried on) weren't the best first for my head. THe Suomi's felt good but it seemd like my chin was hanging out.

The AGV doesn't appear to have closeable vents.. and I can't recal when I tried them on. I'm all for open vents as long as the air isn't directed towards my eyes..

[gampe]

I've had a few low-end helmets and aside from leaking and being loud, they're heavy. Got a Shoei RF1000 for under $300 two years ago from helmetcity.com and couldn't be happier. It's aerodynamic, which helps when you have a monster, light and well-vented. It tends to fog up ocassionally, but I haven't seen one that doesn't.

I've also heard from a few people about scorpion helmets and they seem to be great for the price.

My suggestion is try them on for size, find what you like and buy it online. With places like helmetcity or newenough.com, try calling them and say your friends bought helmets from them... they'll often give you a better price.

Spend the $$ on gear but do your research. It's worth it.