helmets

[jeff healy]

I need to look at different options! the Suomy that I have now is terrible due to not being able to see when I am trying to get behind the windscreen or coming through corners. Ive heard that Bell has one of the largest viewing angles out there but looking for opinions before I drop a bunch of money on a new helmet!

[Bartman]

Alot of riders will use a rag or small towel on top of their head to shim the helmet up so don't give up on you suomy just yet.

[jeff healy]

Bart, you always have the best ideas! That would probably help a ton! Which then would bring me to my next question. I lost the big silver screw on one side that holds the visor on at Miller and had to duct tape the visor on to finish the day One of the corner workers found it later but the plastic piece that mounts to the helmet is effed up and I need a new one. Do you guys carry that type of thing? I believe it is a spec 1R but will have to check tonight when I get home.

[ZiaThunder]

Alot of riders will use a rag or small towel on top of their head to shim the helmet up so don't give up on you suomy just yet.

That's what I did with mine and it made a huge difference.

[DOUBLE A]

The Bells are nice & the new Arai. Galster showed me the rag trick as well, works awesome!

[McLovin]

I have a Suomy helmet too and seemed to have some trouble with it also. With trying to look ahead, through the turn, at the exit etc. I was not getting a far enough picture if the makes sense. You might explore body positioning. I was opening up my chest, lifting my torso up more, instead of being hunched over the tank and my ability to see through the corner was better and my neck didn't hurt so much.

[jeff healy]

Yeah that was the same problem I was having and in my opinion it was making my body position even worse than it already is Looking forward to stuffing a rag in there and giving it another go!

Just out of curiosity Aaron, you don't use the same rag in your helmet that you use to stuff your pants do you!?

[DOUBLE A]

No way that one smells too yucky, & then I would look like a girl with no bulge, if I used it for other occasions!

[Wayniac]

I have no problems in full tuck with my Arai. Best helmet out there in my opinion. I'm curious to see this "Rag" trick. My helmet is so snug I could never fit a rag in it. Seems to me if you could do that your helmet is too loose?

[AdamandNoahsdad]

You guys are scaring me with this thread. I hope you are joking about the rag in the helmet thing. A helmet is a very important piece of safety equipment. If it doesn't fit right, or blocks your vision, GET RID OF IT! Don't put a rag in it to use like a shim to lift it higher on your head. There is an enormous amount of engineering and thought put into the design of a helmet and how it absorbs an impact. Just because they look to be built similar to a beverage cooler doesn't mean that the same amount of engineering goes into them. A helmet is not designed to absorb an impact correctly with a rag in it that changes its position on your head. Wayniac is correct, a helmet should fit snug enough that you cannot add a rag of any appreciable thickness to the inside of it. Mr Healy, please take some time during the off season and visit different dealerships and places like Performance Cycle and try on different helmets. Talk to the people who work there about how a helmet should fit and which helmet will fit your head shape better. Arai has 3 different shell shapes to fit different shaped heads and Shoei seems to fit different then all three of the Arais. Find a helmet that fits correctly ,not just one that looks cool. It will be a much safer and more comfortable option.

[Bartman]

Not kidding at all, not everybody has the same shape dome so we adapt. Its not that we are changing it by inches here just little tweeks to make it work better, my Arai fits me perfect except it could be held up a bit and that is where the shimming comes in. Protection should not change at all by doing so, again we are not talking about making a large fit a medium head but small tweeks.
Shimming your helmet up may in fact make the helmet fit and contact better to cheek and forehead and no matter how tight you helmet may fit you can always put a shim of somekind on top to hold it a hair higher. Some really fast guys do this and have survived many big crashes, hell helmet mfgs make cheek pads different thickness to do the same thing.

[polar x]

Alot of riders will use a rag or small towel on top of their head to shim the helmet up so don't give up on you suomy just yet.

Are you freaking serious!!!!???? :shock: Bart, YOU, of all people know that a helmet either fits or it does not. The helmet is designed to fit snug and hold firm in the event of a crash or hard impact and to stay in place. Shimming or putting anything inside a helmet to make it fit only serves to allow the helmet to move around and or slide on ones head. BAD IDEA.... This is of course just my opinion...not looking for a fight or starting anything. :wink:

[polar x]

Not kidding at all,
Shimming your helmet up may in fact make the helmet fit and contact better to cheek and forehead and no matter how tight you helmet may fit you can always put a shim of some kind on top to hold it a hair higher. Some really fast guys do this and have survived many big crashes, hell helmet mfgs make cheek pads different thickness to do the same thing.

Those manufactures make the check pads to fit SPECIFICALLY WITH THEIR HELMET to provide continuous and full protection. There are no "rags" on the shelf to buy for fitting your helmet. I would not do it. JMHO... If it needs a shim then you need a different helmet that fits your head better.

[KFinn]

HOw is a small rag ANY different than simmonchelli with his mop or bart that is.... lets say, mopless. Its more of a swiffer jet beforethepad. :-)

While yesI agree on the whole that helmet fit is crucial but it is no diferent than when I put my same helmet on afrter a month and a half of growing it and then getting a hair cut and putting it on.

[Desmodromico]

Had a Bell Star, loved it best fit, ventilation, and vision I have experienced. Of course I managed to wad it after only wearing it for 3 weekends. Time to save up for another, why skimp on your melon?

[Clarkie]

With my Spec-1R helmets I used a medium with small (or even extra-small) cheek pads to help hold the helmet in the right position and never had an issue. On the Spec-1R you can cahnge the cheek pads and the crown padding so it isnt really hard to make fit, properly.

Coming from motor-cross I learned that cheek pads help a lot over the whoops to keep the helmet in place, and that continued with Road Racing. If you guys are using a rag to help your helmet fit properly.......... then wow, and good luck to you, you are going to need it.

[jmaher]

simmonchelli with his mop or bart that is.... lets say, mopless.

Wow....staying away from that!

Joe

[AdamandNoahsdad]

What was someone just saying about Marco Simoncelli and his hair affecting how his helmet fit? R.I.P. Marco. We enjoyed watching you ride!

[Wayniac]

No helmet in the world would have saved Marco. Rossi hit him so hard in the back of the head it knocked his helmet off.

[AdamandNoahsdad]

The question is : would a properly fitted helmet have stayed on his head if he didn't have all of that hair?

[Wayniac]

I can't imagine all his hair helped the fit. But after watching the replay a few times you can clearly see the chin strap tore off the other side of the helmet. The impact was very intense. He appears dead sliding across the track. So
I'll stick with my original statement. No Helmet would have saved him, I don't think his hair was a cause of the helmet coming off. It was caused by the chin strap failing. I'm not calling into question AGV either. What I want to know is how his bike shot back across the track. He appears trapped under the bike, was his hand trapped with the throttle open? So very sad.

[AdamandNoahsdad]

It s definitely sad.

[Wayniac]

I'm going to go do some parade laps for Super Sic.....58 seems appropriate.

[KFinn]

ok so i am stuck up in the hospital right now and had now idea anything happend wih simmonchelli. my pointwaw simple of fractions of inches in having different hair lengths. nothing more. I have no aceess to my DVR at home with all my racing and won't want to read or youtube the spoilers.

sorry rip.

[Wayniac]

Alot of riders will use a rag or small towel on top of their head to shim the helmet up so don't give up on you suomy just yet.

I see what you mean Bart, I put my doo rag on and folded it just so to take up a tiny amount of space on my forehead. It did open up the vision a lot. And with the long hair, it kept it out of my face. I still don't think a doo rag, or long hair would drastically effect the performance of a helmet, unless it was poorly fitted.