Better than my Shoei Raid & Xr1000, best helmet i've owned

“Better than my Shoei Raid and Xr1000, best helmet i've...”

Written on: 07/05/2012 by bmw e30 (16 reviews written)

I've long since owned a Shoei helmet, had a Raid for 7+yrs, and then a Shoei Xr1000. Raid was perfect for me, tho misted up badly and and the vents broke, i still have it btw. Then i bought a Shoei Xr1000, good quality, vents worked great, pinlock worked great, but i just couldn't get on with its restricted field of vision, the upper edge restricted how far up the road i could see when riding my motorbike(suzuki Sv), so i bought a secondhand Shark S800 due to reviews and i am very impressed. It had an aftermarket black visor and standard clear-this has a thin stick-on film when you view closely and stops it misting up. As effective as the Shoei pinlock system but instead of an insert the whole visor has this film applied so none of it mists up. I have a medium and a tad under 59cm size head, it fits nice and snug, med is 57-58cm, large is 59-60cm, so i'm inbetween, and as the xr1000 wqas large and felt too loose i opted for the medium on the shark.
Vents work ok at speed,(the top one more so) ie at 70mph or more, but do little below this, and the chin vent is actually detrimental at slow speed with the visor closed as it seems to blow your breath up into the helmet and promotes more misting than if you have the chin vent closed and naturally breath down. Nose guard helps deflect breath well, the lower chin piece stops any draft coming up into the helmet too. So both are a practical addition.
The standard visor when closed sits lightly touching the rubber seal all the way around the top and sides, but there's a tiny(less than 0.5mm) gap along the bottom edge, the dark aftermarket visor has a tiny gap most the way round so isn't as good a fit as the standrad one-something to be wary of if purchasing non-genuine visors), The dark one actually let rain run down inside during a torrential rain/hail/thunderstorm but seeing as i was soaked to the skin and to the point of lifting my hands up to pour water out my gloves! i doubt even the standard visor would have held up to this weather!
Fit of the helmet is great, i found the xr1000 would press against the back of my neck alot when holding my head up to view further up the road but the shark has none of this problem, i think the bottom of the helmet sits slightly higher than a Shoei does.
Wind noise is there, its a never ending debate-which helmet is quieter-use ear plugs etc, its all pointless to me as no-one can agree on anything! but my opinion is if i'm not exceeding 60/70mph then i don't use ear plugs on my journey as long as its not like half hr or more riding at those speeds, if i'm going for a weekend blast then earplugs in, no debate. Its no noisy than my other 2 helmets, i'd go as far to say its better than alot of others. Its probably mid level. And there's no buffering from wind either.
Forward vison is great, much better than the 2 Shoei's i have, the upper edge is higher so your not cranking your neck back to see up the road, side vision is also good if not better than my Shoei's. Vents push in to open, and a switch nect to them pops them closed when you push it. But gimmicky but so far been trouble-free. Finish is definetely impressive, Mine is red on the sides with white and black swirl pattern and its spotless, vent fit is excellent, the removeable pads inside are still 'as new', and support against your face is spot on.
I wasn't expecting this helmet to be this good, and i originally bought mine as a test one to see if it fitted ok, then i'd spend the money and buy a new one if it did, but i love this helmet so much that i've decided to keep it rather than buy a new one.
The visor removeal rivals the best makes, literally a couple of seconds to remove, another few seconds to fit another. Just push each side in and slide the visor forward, its a very basic yet effective method Shark have got but it works great.
I've nothing but praise for this helmet, it may be discontinued now for a later model but i'd buy it again for sure.