I wouldn't buy another Shark. I am on my second Evoline flip front and bits drop off them . Firstly bits of trim off the bottom and now the visor. In addition the chin latch has got stiff and hard to open. They are quiet and look good but the quality is poor much worse than Shoei or Schuberth and worse than Roof.
For years I've either used Arai's or Shoei's, but my current helmet is a HJC RPHA 10 and I'm really impressed with it, very light as its carbon construction, the venting is really easy to use and effective and as far as visor change mechanism goes, it is far superior to either Arai or Shoei, its also pretty quiet on the noise front, but I do wear earplugs, as we should all. The design of Arai helmet's in particular are lagging way behind, I won't even consider buying another Arai until they re-design that bloody awful side pod visor release mechanism , always sounds like it's gonna break and the little clips on the underside of the side pods break really easily, then you have to buy a pair at £35 quid or so and that's if you can even get your hands on your particular helmet paint scheme! And that pathetic attempt at a stick on, tilting sun visor - jeez!!, I think they got the idea from those clip on glasses sun shades the pensioners wear!! it just looks like a total "bodge". I would buy another Shoei, but not just yet, as their paint schemes at the moment are totally gash, who want's matt black and pink ffs!! Have a look at the new HJC RPHA 11, nice light weight carbon helmet and not ridiculously priced, your money, your decision, but before you press the button and buy one, just spend 30 mins on t'internet searching for spares for it, availability, pricing etc.......my mate has just bought a Shoei X-Spirit III and a photochromic visor for it, £700 for the helmet + £170 for the visor - crazy money!! I think once you get above £400 - £450 quid, the law of diminishing returns kicks in, if you know what I mean, good luck whatever you choose.
After 10 years of shoei ownership, I've decided to try out the Xlite. It has great reviews.....only time will tell. I managed to pick up a new lid from Helmet city yesterday, Xlite 802RR ultra carbon Carlos Checa replica for £300! Great sale on at Helmet City at the moment.
Same one as me. When we dress up in our Held Slade leathers and helmets only our mothers will be able to tell us apart EDIT: well yours will as mine has dementia and can't recognise me at all
Unfortunately it's true. It's not nice to see a once very active and gregarious person steadily decline and become nothing but a shell of what they once were.
@Sam74 Thanks for the heads up on the Checa helmet. Picked one up today for £299.99 from Helmet city, feels very good quality and fits my , what I thought was an Arai head, perfectly. Cheers. notice that you have a dark visor, did you buy that separately, or did it come with it?
Prob too late to be of use now but I'm very happy with my AGV Rossi "Fish" Corsa. Comfy, light and quiet with a smooth airflow. Only negative was trying to fit earpeices into lining which was a PITA.
Hello @CRYSTALJOHN , I'm really pleased with mine. Super comfy to wear all day and very light. Mine came with the spare dark visor.
@Sam74 You had a result there with getting a spare dark visor, I presume as a 'free extra' ? Just been for a quick spin and it feels incredibly light compared to my Arai Chaser and much quieter. I'm not used to the web of material which prevents air coming up into the underside of the helmet ( not sure what that's called) it's rubbing slightly just below my bottom lip!
Fuck it I've a terrible helmet fetish....I think I called a halt last year at seven lids lol, herself shits herself when the postman arrives with a 2ft square box...... The X-Lite X802RR is a fantastic lid, I've owned 8 or so since they first came out. Brilliant quality and fit, lovely looks. Loved my Schubert SR1 but very plain Jane in the looks department, felt like I should be riding a GS while wearing it. The RPHA-10 is the best value lid out there, brill helmet for both road and track, I'd imagine the RPHA-11 is more of the same but better. I quite like my NXR, it's a pretty nice lid and does everything decently but have never really taken to it. One of my current favourites is the AGV Corsa. Really nice and comfy lightweight lid that looks gorgeous in the Rossi colours, I currently have the backwards face one but had the Elements for about two years when they first came out. I had the Pista too at one stage but I found the pop in bungs for the vents a bit stupid and unnecessary. Had a few Suomys and they were nice but quality was a bit shite. Never really liked Sharks too much either for the same reason. I like Arai but just couldn't justify the price to quality ratio and hated the fragile vents and visor mechanism. I listened to all the MCN bollocks about the NEXX XR1 Carbon and bought one, wasn't really disappointed just was expecting it to give me free blowjobs and a back massage everytime I wore it after what they said in there review. Still a nice lid though. One lid that really surprised me was the Airoh GP500, really light with brilliant looks and very well vented. Surprisingly quiet for a full on race lid, even though I wear earplugs always. Great quality too and they pop up at big discounts too at times as the're relatively unknown.
