Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

Excellent, sounds like just the sort of place you're lucky to still have. If truth be told, our local guys really aren't usually 'that' far off the bigger places, so faced with a choice of spending a few quid more and feeling well looked after is a no brained for me.

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

How much do you think the yearly rent alone on Orwell's place is?

Want a clue? It's well into six figures.

That's an overhead. Your little independent bike shop probably bought his premises when they were dirt cheap and doesn't have that overhead to worry about. It's the same story in virtually every town in the country. That's why he can afford to be a couple of quid cheaper, but his shop will be the first to go when online sales reach that level where shops are just not getting enough business. He doesn't have the backing of new and used bike sales and a workshop to keep him going.

Seriously Paul, I'm not trying to be patronising or derogatory when I say this, but you need to be working in this field and looking at the daily takings to understand just how difficult it has become out there. My boss has taken a massive gamble opening two shops in the current climate in the hope that in a couple of years they'll be established enough to be at the top of the tree when fortunes rise again. We have to watch every single penny and capitalise on every person who walks through the door to keep at a profitable level. Online sales hit every single shop hard in the till.

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

And ironically the little one man band used to work for Orwell's when they had a small comer shop

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

no doubt all true but they are not the only ones who have to watch the peenies,and i can like mav said remember when orwells was in a corner shop then they took the plunge and took over what used to be land of leather or some such name,and by this time almost all the small bike shops had gone,(as the big boys had taken all the franchises) or had been forced into doing training and selling the odd moped,mots, and chinesse bikes,the names that are no longer on the high street in ipswich ,bob nichols ,coxs ,revvits,davey brothers,stags, tot hill,to name a few, in some cases these firms are alive but only picking up the crumbs and have small workshops hidden up a back street,so in retrospect orwells and lings where most probably the final nail in the coffin off a least 3 smaller bike shops

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

Getting back to buying a lid in-shop or online, I've always bought mine in the shop having tried numerous lids on. If it's the difference between 0-£50 I'll buy it there and then due to the service received during fitting. If it's more than that I would haggle with the retailer as they all know by what amount the online retailers are under cutting them and they all know how much they can move on price without making a loss.
There is something quite twisted about trying something on in a shop with the intention of buying online imo.

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

Oh and I've emailed SHARP to see if they ever got around to addressing the issues raised in the past. It does seem daft having a testing body that every retailer and biker ignores.

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

yer i do much the same with tyres,i see what i can buy them for online and add the fitting charge and then ask them to price match,if they can find the online price then they normally match it,which saves me around 30 to 40 pounds on a pair of tyres,as to online helmets only bought 1 online and as it was the same helmet as the one i already owned but in a different colour then there was no problem with fitting but a saving of about £30 on a £120 helmet

Got the hjc one

Just picked it up now, great fit. Really like it, got a pump thing in it to make it fit tight. Very good ventelation. Just brilliant.
Thanks for the help guys

Regards
Josh

Sent from my GT540 using Tapatalk

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

Ace sounds like you got a good deal.

Does anyone if the RX7-GP is the same fit as the older version the RX7 which I currently have? I have seen one at an amazing price, so I'll go try it on, its also a good idea to check out the paint job on it anways meh its a great lid tho i'll pick it up it isn't far away and kinda on the way back to the city...

Re: Quick, helmet advice
 

I find the RX7s far too noisy and uncomfortable for road use. I'd rather use one of the more road orientated helmets on a daily basis and keep an RX7 only for track use. The ventilation is too much on the RX7 unless you're using it in the height of summer and the vents make a hell of a row. I find the interior less comfy because of the amount of channelling needed to make the vents all work properly. Safety wise the slightly cheaper but more road-biased Arais are up there with the RX7 as they use the same materials and construction techniques, but are easier to get on with on a day to day basis.

Ken Arai who's MD of the company never wears an RX7 on the road, his reason is "It's a race helmet, I don't race"