Gladius Comfort

[Seeker]

...so it might be your helmet causing your discomfort and not the bike? At least that should be a cheaper fix

One thing I find irritating about looking at helmets is the fact they rarely indicate what head shape they fit best. I have a "long oval" head shape as opposed to a "round". Selecting the wrong shape will guarantee discomfort. The only comparison I ever found was this chart:

http://www.lidpicker.com/free-data

Unfortunately, it is now getting old and many of the helmets have changed names or have been superceded. It is an American website so some helmets have different names within Europe too.

Buying a helmet is one of the few times that purchasing from a store is worthwhile; spend a bit of time, try on different brands to get a good fit. If you're anywhere near Lincolnshire, Sportsbikeshop has a good selection in the south of the county and gearchangeonline in north county (despite the name, they are a shop).

[Talking Heads]

Best site I know of for information on helmets: https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/

Everyone should read this page and watch the video: https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/get-the-right-fit/

Aftermarket screens very often make turbulence around the helmet worse.

[SV650rules]

This is good guide to helmet ratings, a few years ago Billys published a graph showing price vs safety and there were one surprises that some of the expensive big names came pretty low in safety ratings, IIRC I posted it in the Caberg review under riding gear..http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=211122&page=3 The billys link takes you to same as below, the graph is a word.doc attached to post, info out of date now but still shocking..

This is latest info from Billys..

https://billyscrashhelmets.co.uk/top...crash-helmets/

[Craig380]

It's amused me for a long time that the Sharp ratings are often argued against / dismissed by some riders because some helmets by Arai, Shoei and other expensive brands don't score highly ... or at least, not as highly as they should for the money. Whereas some cheapy £60 models from Frank Thomas and Box score 4 out of 5.

I guess this happens because the big helmet manufacturers design for global markets, and the Sharp test regime only applies in one specific international market. Because the Sharp test regime is very clearly defined, each test impact is targeted at a specific part of the helmet ... so that if a particular design of helmet has a wide visor aperture, it might be weaker in the Sharp side impact test. But this doesn't diminish the validity of the Sharp testing process: rather, it shows which helmets protect best against specific impacts.

From my own limited experience, I crashed earlier this year in a £60 Box lid. I like Box lids 'cos the XL size fits my skull perfectly. I had no face or head injuries at all, not even a stiff neck. The lid did its job - the chin bar had deep scars from sliding down the road. Would an Arai or Shoei costing 6x the price have protected me better? No, and I would still have had to throw it away. Would an Arai or Shoei protect me better in another type of crash? Not necessarily, according to Sharp.

[Craig380]

@RiffRaff - nice ride video passing High Hunslet beacon on the road out of Walkington, there

That's my old stamping ground, I was born & raised in 'ull.

[Talking Heads]

Originally Posted by Craig380

The lid did its job - the chin bar had deep scars from sliding down the road.

This is why I don't wear open face helmets.
Mate of mine in an open face helmet slid on his face going about 40mph.
It was not a pretty sight.

[R1ffR4ff]

Originally Posted by Craig380

@RiffRaff - nice ride video passing High Hunslet beacon on the road out of Walkington, there

That's my old stamping ground, I was born & raised in 'ull.

Some great roads around here as you know Craig

On the Helmet thing.My previous Lid was a,"Box" Flip-lid.Served me well for several years until a couple of years ago a Pheasant Kamikazed into me at speed.Nearly took my head off on a country bend.Managed to keep control of the bike but pulled up ASAP.
Cracked the visor and some of the plastic chin area.I think I had slight concussion but always keep some Paracetamols with me and a drink so was fine.Sore neck for a week after I got home.Pheasant didn't make it

As per other post.If I had been wearing an,"Open-Face" I would have had an Open-Face!

I'm now using a cheap,"Leopard" brand one off eBay/Amazon .I stuck some stick on eyes on the back as it's an old Psychological trick.It helps stop people Tailgating at slow speed as we are,"Hard-Wired" to react to Eyes looking at us.

The Leopard one is even more comfortable and less noisy than the,"Box" one was and I will buy again when required

PS
I started using flip-lids because I needed to wear glasses for riding but since I gave up cigs for Ecigs in 2010 my Eyesight has improved so much that I don't need glasses for riding anymore

I still buy flip-lids though as they are much more useful I find for clearing flies out etc on country roads,which I like to ride.

[Seeker]

going back to screens for a minute. These people are agents for MRA screens and they offer screens on top of screens which will reduce buffeting but probably not eliminate it completely.


https://www.bikehps.com/cgi-bin/ss00...rch&PR=-1&TB=A

[quinnj3]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

I fitted an MRA screen ( https://www.bikehps.com/acatalog/MRA..._BwE#aCOL63009 ) Noticed the buffeting more with my AGV helmet than with my Caberg Duke helmet, mainly because the AGV is longer back to front than the Caberg which is a more rounded shape.
.

I received my resized Caberg Duke 2 today. I spent quite a while checking the fit. The ‘bowl’ around my head fits very snugly, almost tight. My cheeks are slightly pressed so that chewing gum would be difficult but not impossible. I can feel contact all around my head, even pressure all around. The helmet will rotate side to side but only after stretching my cheeks and not fully. It will not move tilting the back to the front. Tilting front to back with some pressure will move it but certainly no worse than my old lid. I sat with it on in the living room for at least 15 mins. Zero pressure points.

Couldn’t resist taking it for a run even though we are having thundery showers this evening off and on. A quick 6 mile spin turned into a 20 mile ride through the rain. All I can say is I love the fit of this new lid. Moving my head around at 70+ mph doesn’t catch the wind and the lid stays firmly in place, my old AGV would have felt like it was rotating. It also doesn’t press against my nose at speed, again something my old lid does. Vision is vastly improved as well.

The really big plus is the buffeting or rather lack of. I don’t know if it’s partly the heavier weight or better Aero but I didn’t notice any effect of wind or turbulence what so ever. There was no wind blowing around under my chin and up past my eyes. It is so much more comfortable. Noise levels are certainly lower below 40 and about the same over this.

I’ll know better when I next commute but I’m going to say I think my old lid was a large part of my problems. This one only cost £120. Bargain!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SV650rules]

Exactly what I found difference between AGV and Caberg in the buffeting area, and whenever I turned my head in AGV while moving it felt like more buffeting and a bit of an effort to turn it back straight ahead, nothing like that with the Caberg which because of it rounder shape does not seem to care if it is straight ahead or turned. I do find that ventilation around chin and up face better ( or certainly more noticeable ) in the AGV. In the Caberg I found it could get a bit stuffy feeling but drilled a few 6mm holes through the inner foam in the chin area to line up with the mesh air intakes in the chin area of the outer shell - this gave more cooling air onto lower face, but that is a personal preference, being able to flip up the front of the helmet is also a good thing for me, and I expected the fact it had a flip front would make it noisier, but it is quieter than the AGV .

If you want use the sun visor on the Caberg the lever is easy to find, unlike the AGV which is so tiny, also the Caberg visor is stepless so it will stay in any position between fully open and fully down.

I also like the fact the Caberg is made in Italy and not the Chinese number 34 crash helmet factory, luckily there are no electrical parts in a crash helmet so being Italian made is not a problem......