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Why I will never buy another SUOMY helmet

Might try HJC AC Series. I find it easy to replace the visor and it has a locking button so the visor doesn't come flying up.
 
HondaFreak said:
Arai is NO better. SOS. The side pods a sacks of crap that seem to have been designed by a 3 year old. I have a helmet at home that has less than 1k riding miles on it that I can't wear until I can get new side pods. Autistic!:x

Christian
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Not true. The side pods do not come off. It takes about 15 seconds to swap visors. It just takes a few tries....not that hard. You HAVE to take the side pods off the suomy which can be a bitch and they take a while to get them back on.
 
Um...get an HJC CL-SP. Effortless use and a great bargain at $150ish.

Don't knock it till you've tried it.
 
pussycatzrule said:
I have had my Suomy helmet since when I started riding a little over 2 and a half years ago. While it may be very light and well ventilated there is no way in hell I will buy another one. Why?

:madBecause the visor system is the biggest piece of dog turd in the world!! :mad

Who the hell designed such a hard to work with system with those stupid side pieces that never want to go back on? I have to spend what seems like forever trying to snap those pieces back on after switching my visors between the light and smoke one. I already had one pop off while on the highway and had to order a new pair. Well, the new pair is sitting unused because I can't get them back on the helmet so I am going to use this helmet without the side covers from now on. I notice Arais have the same side panels on their visors. Are they also a pain in the ass to switch visors on?

Shoei here I come...
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One word: sunglasses!

I've had my Suomy Spec 1R for 3-4 years now. To be honest, I have no idea how to change the visor. It's still scratch free and swapping lenses back and forth in my Smith sunglasses only takes 3 seconds so I've never bothered to mess with the shield. As an added bonus, I can carry 3-4 different sets of lenses for the sunglasses in my pocket and be ready for any conditions that happen to come up.
 
after 5 years, my arai side panel thingys finally came off while i was changing my visor. took 2 seconds to put back on.
 
I don't have a problem changing shields on my Arais, but I do notice that over time the plastic tabs on the shield that allow it to "click" in to the highest open position wear down pretty quickly when you change shields a few times, and soon there is no longer a position where it will lock at the top. It has happened on all shields that I use for a reasonably long period. At first I wasn't sure if the problem was on the shield or the helmet, but I found when I replaced the shield with a new one on an old helmet, that detent came back.
 
i love my suomy helmet, not a big fan of the visor changing "system" but i do like the side covers simply due to the cosmetic value, my helmet looks so fucking sick it's worth the pain in the ass.
 
ianG said:
Inferior helmets focus on things like moisture wicking or how easy it is to swap visors, because it's easier to market gimicks to easily influenced riders.

Quality helmet companies put their resources into protecting your cranium. I completely trust Suomy to protect my head, removing the visor is secondary to everything else.
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Paying half the MotoGP grid to wear your stuff doesn't come cheap, I'd bet.
 
ianG said:
Inferior helmets focus on things like moisture wicking or how easy it is to swap visors, because it's easier to market gimicks to easily influenced riders.

Quality helmet companies put their resources into protecting your cranium. I completely trust Suomy to protect my head, removing the visor is secondary to everything else.
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I too do not agree to your analysis I've crashed on a less $$$ helmet compared to the *Bling* brands. I've seen a helmet crash study done and during the testing they decided to try a football helmet and it faired very well against the high-end brands. To each his own but the primary purpose for all these helmets are to minimize head trauma. And it is also the reason helmets are required to have a DOT approval or a Snell certification. Also each manufacture makes their helmet for certain facial and cranial shape. i've heard of student complain that their Arai put too much pressure on their forehead and I've heard of some KBC helmets sizing are way off other vendors. So even with a $700+ Soumy (whatever flavor of the month it is) may protect your cranium, there are other
vendors that will do the same, offer better convenience, and fit better for the rider.
 
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Tests have shown that expensive helmets don't protect any better than the cheaper ones. So what what I'd suggest you should focus on is fit, comfort, convenience and quality of worksmanship.

I wore Shoeis for well over 20 years, but then they changed their shape. I never found the face shield system easy nor difficult. Just slightly annoying. My latest helmet is a Scorpion, it was what I found that fit well. The cheap price was nice, too. I don't race or do trackdays and my bikes have real windscreens, so noise isn't much of an issue at all really. Frankly, I have no idea if it's a noisy helmet or not, but I've heard the EXO-700 is.

It's ok so far, although I degraded the visual quality of my smoked screen faster than any Shoei I've owned. But I've ridden WAY more in the last year than I used to (25k miles in the last year on bikes). I also keep the face shield up all the time unless it's raining, so I really don't care too much.

YMMV.
 
it just takes practice...

lub,

Be Por
 
The Arai Corsair vs Shoei X-11 debate is pretty funny actually.

When you start spending close to $600 for a helmet of any brand, as long as it fits your head well, everything else is bells and whistles, and they're all going to do as good a job protecting your head as the competitor.

The X-11 fits my head well, inexplicably, so does the Arai Corsair. But I can change my Shoei visor, without taking off my helmet and also only using only one hand, I can't do that with the Arai. That's why I use my Shoei more often than my Arai.

I know that its a small issue, but I have alot more important things to devote mental resources toward than making sure I'm carefully following the Arai technique so as not to break the sidepods.

Arai is defintely the better looking helmet though :) I also have a Suomy Pitt replica. I wear that when I want to look all psychedelic...

Stefan
 
:rolleyes
pussycatzrule said:
I have had my Suomy helmet since when I started riding a little over 2 and a half years ago. While it may be very light and well ventilated there is no way in hell I will buy another one. Why?

:madBecause the visor system is the biggest piece of dog turd in the world!! :mad

Who the hell designed such a hard to work with system with those stupid side pieces that never want to go back on? I have to spend what seems like forever trying to snap those pieces back on after switching my visors between the light and smoke one. I already had one pop off while on the highway and had to order a new pair. Well, the new pair is sitting unused because I can't get them back on the helmet so I am going to use this helmet without the side covers from now on. I notice Arais have the same side panels on their visors. Are they also a pain in the ass to switch visors on?

Shoei here I come...
Click to expand...

Well, I found the visor fairly easy to change on my Spec1R once I figured out to push the small release buttons under the hinge covers with a small screwdriver. Besides, the two Shoeis I had seemed like they were painted with easter egg dye.
 
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