Arai helmets

[Trev B]

Sat here reminiscing with my pipe and slippers,and a thought came rushing back from ohhh it must be 25 years or so,can anyone remember Arai helmets having a machine ( about the size of a slot machine),a computer design jobby where you could pick what model helmet you wanted and then design what patterns you needed,( quite varied) adjusting colours etc,picking different colour visor cheek plates and various other bits like coach linings(I think),then you pressed a button and the price came up on the screen and you could order direct from Japan.i think I saw it at Ally Pally or Olympia....anyone???!!!

[Sir Trev]

Er... no. Sorry.

[Trev B]

Seeing as there's a low take upon my fading memory,I've e-mailed Arai and awaiting their reply I'll let you know,still hoping the grey matters firing on both cylinders !!!

[garynortheast]

Dunno about a crash helmet designer slot machine but I'll have some of whatever it was that produced that particular hallucination!

[BanannaMan]

Originally Posted by Trev B

Sat here reminiscing with my pipe and slippers,and a thought came rushing back from ohhh it must be 25 years or so,can anyone remember Arai helmets having a machine ( about the size of a slot machine),a computer design jobby where you could pick what model helmet you wanted and then design what patterns you needed,( quite varied) adjusting colours etc,picking different colour visor cheek plates and various other bits like coach linings(I think),then you pressed a button and the price came up on the screen and you could order direct from Japan.i think I saw it at Ally Pally or Olympia....anyone???!!!

Not sure it was exactly the same but Arai used to have a display at AMA US Superbike races as late as 2002 - 2004 with factory reps, a giant helmet that people posed for pics with and something like what you are talking about inside a tent.

Although invited, I never did actually go in and see it myself (as I was a working as a reporter at the time) however one of my mates did but told me little about it other than you could design your own helmet and order it right then from the factory.
Payment due first of course and they would not save designs.
It was order that moment or not.

Can't seem to find anything about it or anything else to do with their racetrack displays on the net. ???

[Trev B]

Had a reply from Arai today,and they said that they did have a custom design computer over 20 years ago called POMS as I described,alas it's no longer available(no surprise), but the good news is the old grey matter is still working!!!