What is the best street bike helmet?

[Poppy39]

I need realy cool hellmet, that looks awesome and having light weight so what should i get? Please suggest

[Poppy Dave]

I, and quite a few friends, wear a Shark Evoline 3. They are a 'Flip-up' helmet, rated for both fullface and open. There is a 'Sun visor' inside the clear visor that can be lowered without the outer, clear one, thereby allowing extra air-flow. Not cheap but well worth the money.

Happy riding

[yankee99]

Index makes some cool helmets http://www.indexhelmet.com/product/Product.html

[bigjules007]

Only one brand is good enough for my head and thats Arai, expensive but you cant put a price on safety, well i cant anyway.

I bought an RX7RR over from U.K and brought it over with me although they are available here. I found that for me, they are the most comfortable and quietest lids you can buy.

Have a look at http://www.paddock.co.th/

[macknife]

I'd go with a Shark helmet. Best looking helmets around and as good as any Arai or Sheoi helmets. As far as safety goes... ALL Shark helmets have at least 4 out of 5 stars on the SHARP testing standard which no other brand can claim. Worn by many GP riders including the current Superbike world champion.

Shark is still fairly expensive but wont cost half as much as Arai or Shoei. HJC make some nice helmets too. Get online and see what you like.

[cornishcarlos]

Loving my HJC Rpha 10... 5000 baht on sale at Paddock.. Just as good as an Arai if it fits your head properly

[brfsa2]

I'd go with a Shark helmet. Best looking helmets around and as good as any Arai or Sheoi helmets. As far as safety goes... ALL Shark helmets have at least 4 out of 5 stars on the SHARP testing standard which no other brand can claim. Worn by many GP riders including the current Superbike world champion.

Shark is still fairly expensive but wont cost half as much as Arai or Shoei. HJC make some nice helmets too. Get online and see what you like.

same here.

I have a Shark Speed-R L size, weight 1590g, It has a sun visor and use it everyday. I love it.

I've probably pulled up and and down the sun-visor over a thousand times, and it's still there working perfectly.

I think the best city helmet is a helmet with a clear visor, to use at night, and sun visor for sunny days, as well with ability to use glasses with the helmet, of most important able to wash the inner linings.

[brfsa2]

in my opinion, INDEX helmets are super crappy, I would never recommend them.

The other day I bought a Real helmet for a thai boy, the helmet was 1800 baht, and I was impressed with the quality!

all inner linings are washable, and the helmet was quite comfortable as well. not as good as my shark but not bad either.

for a budget helmet, Real are ok, for a middle-end helmet HJC and Shark are great too.

[revgreen]

I have a Bilmola Defender.

It is ECE R22-05 approved. It has a clear visor and flip down sun visor as others have mentioned. Fairly lightweight. Good ventilation. ~3,000 baht. Has a very nice sporty look to it as well.

[macknife]

I'd go with a Shark helmet. Best looking helmets around and as good as any Arai or Sheoi helmets. As far as safety goes... ALL Shark helmets have at least 4 out of 5 stars on the SHARP testing standard which no other brand can claim. Worn by many GP riders including the current Superbike world champion.

Shark is still fairly expensive but wont cost half as much as Arai or Shoei. HJC make some nice helmets too. Get online and see what you like.

same here.

I have a Shark Speed-R L size, weight 1590g, It has a sun visor and use it everyday. I love it.

I've probably pulled up and and down the sun-visor over a thousand times, and it's still there working perfectly.

I think the best city helmet is a helmet with a clear visor, to use at night, and sun visor for sunny days, as well with ability to use glasses with the helmet, of most important able to wash the inner linings.

I have the same helmet but in a size M and only 1490g. The things you mention at the end, Shark helmets have all those capabilities; I believe it has the only optically perfect visor on the market and for safety, the thickest. I swear, when it is clean, it's like there is no visor there at all, and I keep moving my hand to shut it but it's already shut.

One of the best points about this helmet is the variety of different colour designs they have for it, there must be at least 20.

[ttakata]

OP: do you mean a cool temperature helmet or a looks cool helmet?

As mentioned you have to decide how much money you are willing to lose if you crash it, drop it, or its stolen.

Since I ride at lower scooter speeds I prefer DOT rated helmets over SNELL but I actually ride with the Bilmola Defender also.

I love it's flip down sun visor and price.

Research show ~30% of crashes are to the chin so I don't trust the flip up/2 part helmets anymore.

I had a certified HJC flip up helmet but I could feel that tiny bit of play in its joint that might fail in a crash.

Here's some math from elsewhere....http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/impact-force-d_1780.html

"A person with weight (gravitational force) of 200 lbs (lb_f) falls from a 4 feet high table.

The energy of the falling body when it hits the ground can be calculated using (4) as

E = (200 lb_f) (4 ft)

= 800 ft lb

The impact on a human body can be difficult to determine since it depends on how the body hits the ground - which part of the body, the angle of the body and/or if hands are used to protect the body and so on.

For this example we use an impact distance of 3/4 inch (0.0625 ft) to calculate the impact force:

F = (800 ft lb) / (0.0625 ft)

= 12800 lb_f

So if the body might take 6 tons in an impact falling 4 feet, what forces occur from biking?

To many variables to guess but I feel safer with a 1 piece helmet with any safety approval for sure.

Edited November 27, 2014 by ttakata

[dave_boo]

I've found that asking others to recommend a helmet can be hit or miss. Everybody has a different shaped head and what works for one doesn't work for another. However, take all the recommendations and then go try them out.

I used to use HJC, but my most recent purchase was the Icon Airframe Ghost Carbon. Looks really flash, doesn't get buffeted around, and flows a decent amount of air. Fairly quiet also.

[eisfeld]

I have a Bilmola Defender.

It is ECE R22-05 approved. It has a clear visor and flip down sun visor as others have mentioned. Fairly lightweight. Good ventilation. ~3,000 baht. Has a very nice sporty look to it as well.

I have bought both a Bilmola Defender as well as the (don't know the name) top model with carbon fiber. The cheap Defender for 2.5k has annoying plastic around the nose and chin which seperates easily when carrying or holding the wrong way. The top of the line one for I think 8k is better in that regard and also quieter. Their visors are very good visibility wise but get scratched easily. A spare one costs 500 THB which I find overpriced for what it is. I also had an issue with one handle on the side for the visor breaking but they sent it to BKK and fixed it for free which was not a bad thing. All in all I am looking into other helmet brands now, I heard good things about Shark several times now so next one will be from them I guess.

[dave_boo]

OP: do you mean a cool temperature helmet or a looks cool helmet?

As mentioned you have to decide how much money you are willing to lose if you crash it, drop it, or its stolen.

Since I ride at lower scooter speeds I prefer DOT rated helmets over SNELL but I actually ride with the Bilmola Defender also.

I love it's flip down sun visor and price.

Research show ~30% of crashes are to the chin so I don't trust the flip up/2 part helmets anymore.

I had a certified HJC flip up helmet but I could feel that tiny bit of play in its joint that might fail in a crash.

Here's some math from elsewhere....http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/impact-force-d_1780.html

"A person with weight (gravitational force) of 200 lbs (lb_f) falls from a 4 feet high table.

The energy of the falling body when it hits the ground can be calculated using (4) as

E = (200 lb_f) (4 ft)

= 800 ft lb

The impact on a human body can be difficult to determine since it depends on how the body hits the ground - which part of the body, the angle of the body and/or if hands are used to protect the body and so on.

For this example we use an impact distance of 3/4 inch (0.0625 ft) to calculate the impact force:

F = (800 ft lb) / (0.0625 ft)

= 12800 lb_f

So if the body might take 6 tons in an impact falling 4 feet, what forces occur from biking?

To many variables to guess but I feel safer with a 1 piece helmet with any safety approval for sure.

There's a couple of assumptions in the example you gave which are touched upon. The angle being the most important for a discussion of the effectiveness of motorcycle helmets. If one were to unfortunately spear into an immovable object, than the numbers are nearly correct. However, as soon as there is an angle involved, the weight changes...and in 90 degrees can go down by 92%. The average human head is ~8% of body weight; or approximately 16 lb using your quoted scenario. Plugging that in to the formula, the least amount of force will be about 1024 lb_f. Still a lot, but that does not count the amount of deformation that the helmet provides. I don't have the numbers, and I assume that ³/₄ inch is an average deformation of the body with the skull having much less, but let's say the helmet and head allows 1 inch of deformation. Sticking with the superman style impact (where instead of head down you end up flying through the air a la superman and your helmet smacks the pavement at the same time as the rest of your body resulting in all, and only that of, the force of the head) and the 1 inch of deformation drops the impact down to 768 lb_f. That's still a lot....but what is it in ^lbf/_in2? I have absolutely no idea of what type of area would be covered upon impact inside a helmet, but let's just for shits and giggles assume that it's a 4 in (10 cm) diameter circle. That's 12.5 in². Sticking with the superman scenario, that means 60.95 ^lbf/_in2. Luckily Tokyo University conducted a study that determined the minimum amount of force to deform a skull 1mm was 85 kg/mm(²?) or 120 000 ^lbf/_in2. They also mention that those who had fatal injuries as a result from strikes from sporting equipment did not necessarily have fractured skulls; thus my determination to use the lowest reported result.

Note that the previous long winded paragraph does not invalidate your post; it's merely food for thought. I do also think that, without wanting to get too far into the DOT/SNELL debate, other than the lack of the mandatory testing the DOT is a better standard. The pulse duration, which SNELL derides, I believe is a good idea. The thought that SNELL allows up to 300 G for as long as required while DOT allows 200-400 G for 2 ms and 150-200 G for 4 ms seems to me that for impacts lasting longer than 2 ms I'd much rather have 2/3 the allowed force (DOT 200 G / SNELL 300 G) transmitted to my brain pan. I also agree with your line of thinking about the modular helmets. If the worst should come and I was to die...I at least want an open casket funeral even if that inconveniences me a little bit when I'm on the road.

[Poppy Dave]

The Shark's have removable-washable liners also.

Just to digress slightly, I wear an 'LDComfort' helmet liner too. I also have the T-shirt ( I should have bought the LONG sleeved version though) and Riding shorts. I can't recall what the material is they're all made of (threw the labels away many moons ago).

Before riding, you wet the material with cold water, put your helmet and jacket on and then ride, allowing some air-flow through the jacket's sleeves and helmet vents. This then acts like evaporative air-conditioners do and keeps you cool until the material dries out. You then simply pour water down the neck of your jacket and start riding again.

Not too sure how this would work in Thailand with the high humidity but it works brilliantly in Australia. Highly recommended

Have a look at their site for a range of stuff: ldcomfort.com

[8OA8]

Whatever helmet you opt to purchase, remember to make sure its TISI approved.

If it doesn't carry the TISI sticker then its not managing to meeting the TISI (Thai Industrial Standards Institute) standard for helmets.

Of course Shoei won't be carrying the sticker, but visit Lotus, Big C... their helmets starting at Baht 79 (or is it Baht 150) all meet the TISI standard, or at least they will have a sticker saying they do.

[8OA8]

HJC flip front with the integral sunshades is ideal, but don't try and remove the shades after using, highly susceptible to breaking. Leave the shades alone and just clean in place and you'll have no problems.

Interior linings can all be easily removed for cleaning

[8OA8]

The Shark's have removable-washable liners also.

Just to digress slightly, I wear an 'LDComfort' helmet liner too. I also have the T-shirt ( I should have bought the LONG sleeved version though) and Riding shorts. I can't recall what the material is they're all made of (threw the labels away many moons ago).

Before riding, you wet the material with cold water, put your helmet and jacket on and then ride, allowing some air-flow through the jacket's sleeves and helmet vents. This then acts like evaporative air-conditioners do and keeps you cool until the material dries out. You then simply pour water down the neck of your jacket and start riding again.

Not too sure how this would work in Thailand with the high humidity but it works brilliantly in Australia. Highly recommended

Have a look at their site for a range of stuff: ldcomfort.com

Sounds like good gear, currently the only time I seem to feel cool on a really hot day is for the first few minutes after leaving the gas station, as my shirt will be saturated with perspiration and the airflow through my jacket will cool me down, but as soon as its dried out its quickly back to hot hot hot. I will purchase some of the LDComfort gear later today, hopefully they will send to Thailand and Customs wont double the price as happened last time I got some Kevlar gear delivered by DHL

[Just1Voice]

I have REAL for wife and son, but my preference is my HJC. I love it.

[Can samui]

Looks are secondary to fit. We all have different sized and shaped heads, one helmet does not fit all heads.

When I bought my newest helmet (an HJC IS17) at Paddock I was there for three hours trying on helmets until the fit was just right. A too sloppy helmet will do more harm than good. Vision must be accounted for as well as ventilation.

If you just want a good looking helmet then you may find yourself the best looking dead guy around!

Take your time and DO NOT buy one from the internet unless you have proven the fit with a live version.

Just my two cents.

[revgreen]

Well of course fit and protection is most important... but it's perfectly acceptable to also want a decent looking helmet. Finding all three isn't difficult if you're willing to take a day or two to shop around in BKK.

[Strangebrew]

If you value your brain and life I would suggest a new one from Either Shoei or a Bell Star there up to US standard's which are strict. Don't even buy these half helmet at local bike shops The coconut you save just maybe your own. If buying the above mentioned check to see If DOT sticker is in it if not don't buy. DOT = Department of Transportation tested and rated. US standard's. Where laws are upheld better than else where. But your looking at 100+ USD and above depending on the value you place on your coconut. GOODLUCK oh never ever buy used one.

[Strangebrew]

Broken bones heal, broken coconut is another matter.

[Strangebrew]

But Kevlar comes to mind.

[ll2]

shoei z 7 at Paddock Bangkok. good looking, best tech and quality and a very new helmet. Also, great vision and ventilation.

Also you can get 4000 - 5000 thb good quality and looking HJC helmets from that shop as well.

I recommend you not going down from 4000 - 5000 thb if you want a reliable helmet that can go for a long time.

Edited November 28, 2014 by ll2

[revgreen]

If you value your brain and life I would suggest a new one from Either Shoei or a Bell Star there up to US standard's which are strict. Don't even buy these half helmet at local bike shops The coconut you save just maybe your own. If buying the above mentioned check to see If DOT sticker is in it if not don't buy. DOT = Department of Transportation tested and rated. US standard's. Where laws are upheld better than else where. But your looking at 100+ USD and above depending on the value you place on your coconut. GOODLUCK oh never ever buy used one.

DOT, Snell, and ECE R22-05 are all perfectly acceptable. They all have their pros and cons.

http://silodrome.com/snell-vs-dot-vs-ece-r22-05-helmet-standards-throwdown/

[arunah]

I, and quite a few friends, wear a Shark Evoline 3. They are a 'Flip-up' helmet, rated for both fullface and open. There is a 'Sun visor' inside the clear visor that can be lowered without the outer, clear one, thereby allowing extra air-flow. Not cheap but well worth the money.

Happy riding

Agree, I have one of these. Can try and find the Thai supplier in my records if you want

[surfinglife]

Street bike to me means riding in town, right? And riding a motorcycle in town is like riding a pushbike and you would not wear a full face heavy helmet on your bicycle, would you? I have two helmets: one for town (half helmet) and a proper full helmet which I bought in New Zealand for the open road cruising.

[dave_boo]

Street bike to me means riding in town, right? And riding a motorcycle in town is like riding a pushbike and you would not wear a full face heavy helmet on your bicycle, would you? I have two helmets: one for town (half helmet) and a proper full helmet which I bought in New Zealand for the open road cruising.

If I am out in the countryside that I know and am just going down to the village to do some shopping or the reservoir to do some contemplating...then I don't wear a helmet. Otherwise, especially in the city, I will wear one. Having to interact with idiots makes me more cautious.

[ll2]

Street bike to me means riding in town, right? And riding a motorcycle in town is like riding a pushbike and you would not wear a full face heavy helmet on your bicycle, would you? I have two helmets: one for town (half helmet) and a proper full helmet which I bought in New Zealand for the open road cruising.

that is wrong thinking. riding a motorcycle is never like riding a bicycle! day or night!

you never know when accidents happen.

plus more vehicles around, probability of making accidents are higher.

full face all the time.