Posts in tag

Middleweight Helmet


Bell Star Helmet First Look The new Bell Star helmet was introduced at the 2008 Powersports Dealer Expo (report) in February of this year. I took some photos (below) at the time and we quickly placed an order. We’ve been waiting ever since — as have many of our readers, who have been asking for …

The Zephir Is A Super $169.00 Helmet Deal from the Helmet Gurus At Vemar The Vemar Zephir is a contender in the sub-$200.00 full face, all-around street helmet segment. It throws a lot of features into the mix, some of which are hard to find all in one place, especially at this price An internal …

El Estrecho “X” Para El Cráneo, This Arai Helmet Will Definitely Help You Stand Out In A Crowd “The Narrow X For The Cranium”. OK, so it’s my attempt at cuteness using a very limited knowledge of Spanish. But this new Arai Signet-X in the “El Cráneo” graphics does two things really well. First, it gets you …

The Newest Member of the Shoei Family The Shoei RF-SR is brand new to the lineup. It’s also the least expensive Shoei full-face helmet. But, it carries a lot of the Shoei DNA from helmets like the Shoei X-Fourteen (review) and Shoei X-12 (review). Shoei markets the RF-SR for both “street performance” and “long-distance touring comfort” and we …

HJC’s Helmet Building Talents Applied to Update to HJC’s Best Helmet. Did They Improve An Already Outstanding Helmet? Read On. The HJC RPHA 11 Pro is the update to the popular RPHA 10 Pro. RPHA helmets are a step above the average HJC product line. They are a showcase for HJC’s helmet building talents, according …

Pilot Motosport Made A $100.00 Helmet. So, How Good Can A 100-buck Helmet Be? Let’s find out… “You can’t get something for nothing.” It’s a tired saying but one that is hard to argue with. However, it can be surprising how much you can get for seemingly little. Over the years we have reviewed helmets from a …

It just doesn’t get any better than this! The new Nolan N87 beats every other helmet in its price range. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to spend twice as much and still get as much. The N87 has fantastic build quality and just about every feature you need in a full-face helmet. Its new double-density …

Round Heads Rejoice! The Arai Quantum is back! Round-heads, earth-shaped heads and “bulb” heads finally have a helmet that fits. It’s been a long time — nearly 7 years — since Arai had a “Round Oval” helmet in their U.S. lineup. The last Round Oval helmet offered by the Japanese company was the Arai Quantum II …

Popular Helmet Integrates the Sena 10S or SMH10 The Bell MAG-9 has been very popular since it was first released back in…was it 2012? It’s an update on the original Bell MAG-8 reviewed on webBikeWorld way back in 2006. The MAG-series was radical when first released but that “peak” is now enjoying great popularity. The new MAG-9 …

T510: “Performance Sport Touring” The Scorpion EXO-T510 is a reasonably-priced mid-range helmet with a “kitchen sink” of features. It’s all wrapped in a variety of colorways and finishes starting at a list price of $209.95. The low price point does show up though in a few key areas that may or may not be a …

A Sport-Touring Flip-Up The Scorpion GT920 flip-up is new for 2016. It’s a good-looking helmet that could easily be mistaken for a full-face. That goes for both looks and performance. It has a super-plush interior, with very thick padding. That makes it comfortable (as long as your head shape matches) and helps control noise. The …

X Marks the Spot! The Shoei X-Fourteen is here! It’s a radical new helmet design and it looks the part. As a Shoei helmet, the build quality, paint and graphics are, of course, superb. The radical design features include a multi-part interior that takes owner customization and fit to a new level. The interior can …

An Intercom-Ready Super Value The sub-$250 helmets made by Bell are probably the best-kept secrets in motorcycling. HJC overshadows everyone else when it comes to value-priced helmets and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s something extra special about the $100 to $250 helmets in the Bell lineup and we have reviewed nearly all of them …

Arai Defiant Gets the Pro Treatment The Arai Defiant Pro Cruise is a variant of the originalArai Defiant we reviewed in June of 2014. The Arai Pro Shade (review) is standard on the Defiant Pro Cruise. Also, the special face shield to accommodate the Pro Shade visor is included. The Pro Shade may seem a bit strange but …

X Means Big Changes to the Corsair Series The Arai Corsair-X (RX-7V in Europe) has been updated with features that are sure to make it more popular than ever. The most dramatic change is the new face shield pivot location and removal system. Called the “Variable Axis System” (VAS), the face shield pivot point is …

Caberg’s “Street Enduro” We published the Caberg XTrace preview in November 2015. The helmet was announced at the EICMA show in October 2015. Call ’em what you want — dual-sport, adventure-touring or Caberg’s “street enduro”, these helmets have become super popular. But the new XTrace has a slightly different take on the formula. It’s slightly more biased …

Street, Sport and Track Day Helmet The Kabuto RT33 is a relatively lightweight street/sport full-face helmet, brand new for 2015. It splits the difference between the top-of-the-lineKabuto FF-5V (review) and the Kabuto Aeroblade III (review). This gives Kabuto three very similar helmets in $50.00 price increments, starting at $349.95 for the Aeroblade. One differentiator is that the …

A Flip-up Joins the Lineup The Kabuto Ibuki is a new flip-up helmet recently added to the Japanese company’s expanded lineup. The styling is “flip-up generic”, designed for owners in this market segment, who tend to be more concerned about function over flash. The Ibuki’s upper ventilation system is excellent and among the best of …

The SCHUBERTH of Open-Face Helmets The SCHUBERTH M1 may look like a (somewhat) ordinary length open-face motorcycle helmet, but it isn’t. Every detail makes the M1 the “SCHUBERTH of open-face helmets”. That includes the outstanding build quality, paint and overall finish, the no-seams ultrasonically welded three-part liner. And the list price… It has a huge …

New Nexx Top-of-the-Line Supersport Helmet The Nexx XT1 is the Portuguese company’s new premiere full-face motorcycle helmet. It’s what we’d call a “supersport” helmet, with features such as the locking face shield and Pinlock posts cribbed from racing helmets. But the very nice, full coverage internal sun visor and “quick release” chin strap retainer, along …

The Nexx XD1 Dual Sport/Street Convertible The Nexx XD1 is a Dual Sport helmet that we call a true modular, because it can be converted to a full-face or off-road helmet. It is a lightweight, high-quality and full-featured Dual Sport helmet that also looks good as a “Streetfighter” when the peak is removed. Or, leave …

Sport Touring and Street Riding Excellence A helmet that fits? A miracle! The Kabuto Kamui is said to be the helmet for sport touring, aka street riding. And it’s perfectly suited for that task…especially for us “Round” heads. The level of quality belie the Kamui’s low list price; it’s just a penny under 250 bucks. …

Hard to Beat This Good-Looking Open Face Helmet The Nolan N40 is a very nicely made helmet with several useful features. The shell design has a city/scooter/touring style with some angular creases that give it a modern look. The helmet is also very comfortable and the relatively thick padding helps control noise levels. The large …

Carbon Fiber Street/Dual Sport/Off-Road Helmet The new Touratech Aventuro Carbon dual-sport modular (convertible) helmet is also what we call a true modular. That’s using the webBikeWorld definition of the word, because it easily converts to a full-face or off-road helmet that can be used with goggles. Touratech is known for their luggage and accessories and …

The Arai Signet-Q Gets the Pro Tour Treatment Arai has a couple of new options this year; the popular Arai Signet-Q (review) gets a “Pro Tour” option and 2014’s Arai Defiant (review) also has a doppelgänger, with the Defiant Pro Cruise version. The Pro Tour and Pro Cruise treatments include the Arai Pro Shade sun visor (review), fitted to the SAI …

A Helmet for the Rest of Us Round-heads, narrow-heads and anyone else with a head shape way out on the ± 2σ and beyond tails, rejoice! The impossible is possible and you too can have custom-fitted motorcycle helmet of your very own. All you need is money — lots of it — and an appointment …

The Arai of Off-Road Helmets The Arai VX Pro4 is new for 2014, having been previewed on webBikeWorld in the Spring. A significant update from the popular Arai VX Pro3 and a worthy successor in the VX Pro off-road family tree. The VX Pro4 feels “just like an Arai” as soon as it’s pulled out of the …

A True Modular Multi-Sport Helmet The AFX FX-55 is a true “modular” helmet, in that it can be converted to one of 7 different styles by using the included parts. This “many helmets in one” concept isn’t new but it is rare and, to be honest, still yet to be perfected. We first came across …

Scorpion EXO-R2000: High-Tech Benchmark? The Scorpion EXO-R2000 is the company’s top-of-the-line racing helmet and it’s packed with features and technology. For its first all-out racing helmet, Scorpion worked with MotoGP racers to re-think every aspect of motorcycle helmet design and they’ve come up with a winner. The helmet comes in 4 shell sizes and 6 …

Fire and Water: It’s Elemental! Take your basic Icon Airmada helmet, pump it up to levels previously unknown in motorcycle-land and you have the Icon Airmada Elemental. The Airmada has been a very popular helmet for Icon, offering a lot of go for not much dough. It’s available in solid colors and a cornucopia of …

SCHUBERTH C3 Pro Helmet Review The SCHUBERTH C3 Pro is an evolution of the popular SCHUBERTH C3 (review). Although the helmet may appear identical, it has several updates and improvements, added based on owner feedback. Only a C3 owner might notice the differences, but the changes are significant. The updated C3 Pro features include a rear …

New Arai Defiant Added to the Lineup The Arai Defiant (Arai Rebel in the UK) was introduced in 2013 and updated with a few new graphic choices for 2014. The helmet is similar to the Arai RX-Q (review) but it has a new ventilation system, revised cheek pads and a few other updated features. I own an …

Can HJC Improve the IS Formula? The HJC IS-17 is a sort of mashup between the HJC FG-17 (review) and the HJC CL-17 (review). Both of those helmets were reviewed recently on webBikeWorld and many of you asked for an IS-17 review, so here you go. In the U.S.A., the IS-17 trades the Snell certification for an internal …

AGV Skyline Motorcycle Helmet Review The new AGV Skyline slides into the “GT” category of the AGV expanded 2014 helmet lineup. The Skyline differs very little from the AGV Horizon (review). Both helmets have a very similar appearance, with the newer generation AGV styling theme readily apparent. Both helmets have an internal sun shade, which leaves …

HJC FG-17 Helmet Review The HJC FG-17 slides in just under the company’s top-of-the-line RPHA-10 race helmet, which was formerly known as the HJC RPS-10 (review). The FG-17 incorporates many of the high-spec features from the RPHA-10, including the unique centrally-located visor lock. It has a fiberglass composite shell in place of the polycarbonate shells …

Kabuto Aeroblade III Helmet Review The OGK Kabuto Aeroblade III is the newest version of the popular Aeroblade series. It’s basically a street/sport version of the Kabuto FF-5V (review) that was reviewed recently on webBikeWorld.com. The Aeroblade III uses the same type of composite shell and the internal shape and fit is roughly the same as the …

HJC CL-17 Helmet Review The HJC CL-17 is the latest iteration of the company’s “CL” line of motorcycle helmets, which are probably the world’s most popular helmet type. The CL-17 improves on almost every feature of the already-excellent HJC CL-16 (review), including a new shell and redesigned ventilation system. The internal shape best fits “Neutral” to …

Kabuto FF-5V Helmet Review The Kabuto FF-5V is the latest iteration of the OGK top-of-the-line race helmet. Don’t let the phrase “race helmet” scare you though, because the FF-5V is also an excellent choice as an all-around street/sport helmet. It meets the DOT standard and all sizes are Snell M2010 certified. The FF-5V has outstanding …

HJC CL-Max II Helmet Review The HJC CL-Max II is a basic, no-frills, flip-up motorcycle helmet. It’s comfortable (for “Round” shaped heads) and the price is right; it can be found for $115.00 in solid colors. One of the big selling points for the CL-Max II is that it is available in a huge number …

Shoei RF-1200 Helmet The Shoei RF-1200 is the latest iteration of the very popular and venerable RF-series. It’s an all-around sport, sport-touring and streetbike helmet that comes in lots of different colors and graphics and it spans 4 shell sizes in an XS to XXL head size range. The DOT version of the RF-1200 is …