Shark or Shoei ?

[Spy]

Hi all,

I am buying my first helmet, having borrowed a friend's spare Shoei for the past few weeks.

I have narrowed it down to the S900c or Shoei Qwest.

I have tried both on and they both fit great but am debating with myself which would be the best value helmet.

I am wondering if the Shoei is worth the extra £75 difference between them. Interested in people's views.

Here are my thoughts:

Shark S900C:
Pros:
- Nice design
- Great reports on its anti-fog coating
- Ability to pump up the cheek pads for tighter fit
- Integrated Sun Visor (extremely useful for those winter mornings where you get the sun glaring at you as you turn a corner and can be flipped away for later in the day when it gets darker/mistier)

Cons:
- Thermoplastic construction
- No SNELL rating
- 4* SHARP rating

Shoei Qwest:
Pros:
- Good reports on sound proofing (comparatively)
- SNELL 2010 rated
- Fibreglass construction
- Pinlock included

Cons:
- No integrated Sun visor (means I would have to have to use the clear visor and risk being blinded by the sun)
- 5* SHARP rating

As you can see, the Shark seems to have the better features but is let down by its Thermoplastic construction and lack of SNELL accreditation. The Sun Visor seems to be a real bonus to me though.

[waffles]

If they both fit perfectly well and you have no issue with the cost of either helmet then go for the one with the features you like. I have the Shark lid you are looking at and I must say that the internal sun visor has been incredibly useful, especially at this time of year. The downside to it is that it doesn't fit my nose properly so I had to modify it a little. On the other hand a pinlock insert is easy to fit if the posts are already on the visor.

If you really can't choose between the two, buy the one with the design that you like
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Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[Rogue_Shadow]

Without pictures or knowing how they would fit.
It would be the Shark for me
4*
Sun visor
Adjustable fit via cheek pads
Anti fog built in (could aways install pinlock late for less than £75)

[bikertomm]

Get the one that fits you best mate.

I'd be getting the one that felt the best and 'tighter' out of the two.

Then go onto features and gizmo's.

I have a Shoei-XR1100, without a sun visor. This is hardly a 'con' because you can get dark / smoked visors for when it's sunny. Personally I don't even think twice about using one. Just saying incase you didn't know these are available!


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[ginny]

i have just bought a qwest for lids direct with 25%, thanks to another thread kicking about. Tried it in a shop and could feel the quality, coming from a very old OGK FF4. similar weights but shoei felt lighter, maybe centre of gravity? Pinlock is supposed to work great. Not tried any sharks though an 'anti-fog' coating on the shark will probably not work/ disappear after a couple of washes. I used a helmet with flip down sun visor- it just misted up.

my only concern is wind noise, but i guess you cant check that in the shop!

[ginny]

i have just bought a qwest for lids direct with 25%, thanks to another thread kicking about. Tried it in a shop and could feel the quality, coming from a very old OGK FF4. similar weights but shoei felt lighter, maybe centre of gravity? Pinlock is supposed to work great. Not tried any sharks though an 'anti-fog' coating on the shark will probably not work/ disappear after a couple of washes. I used a helmet with flip down sun visor- it just misted up.

my only concern is wind noise, but i guess you cant check that in the shop!

[Skudd]

Go for the one that fits first, within your price range, then do the brands and colour scheme stuff.
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[pits]

When I come around to changing my lid I will be doing it on what ever fits the best and has an internal sun visor, sod riding around with two visors or having spare visors.
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[Rogerborg]

Thermoplastic versus tungsten carbide fibreglass is a non issue according to this study, which also notes that in practice, helmets that are only Snell rated are the least protective.

ECE (275g) and DOT (400g peak but practically 250g) are both stricter than BSI/Snell (300g).

[esullivan]

I've been mulling over this for some time. I have a Shoei XR1100, which I've had for about a year and I love. The one major con is no flip-down visor. Fumbling around in the tank bag for my sunglasses while sitting at a set of lights near Kings Cross (and praying they stay red long enough) is a real pain in the arse. However, I've also heard that the built-in ones mist up easily (or even flip down ready-misted...).

Since I've just passed my test (still smile when I say that!), I've kitted out my wife as a pillion. She picked out a Scorpion with a flip-down visor. I'm going to see how she gets along with that for a bit. In the meantime, I'm finally going to relent and get an "illegal" tinted visor (did I mention I passed my test?) and carry the spare in the top box.

[Matt B]

[Rogerborg]

[Spy]

[J.M.]

[Matt B]

[Rogerborg]

Perhaps I was unclear. I'm specifically interested in this issue:

[alexinlondon]

Hey, for what it's worth I tried on several helmets at Infinity in London and found the Caberg Ego to be a good fit for me.. £114, has the good safety rating, the sun visor, pinlock etc. And comes in a nice Matt Black finish..

https://www.infinitymotorcycles.com/product/caberg-ego-helmet-matt-black/2640
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[DrDonnyBrago]

Fit.

[Matt B]

[Alpha-9]

Hi

I have a Shark S900 Enigma (black and white)
Brilliant helmet from the crappy duchini I used to have, pros and cons:

Brilliant anti fogging - Never had it mist up once on a cold day EXCEPT for in the freezing fog, where it started to form ice, but that's unavoidable really
Also the integral sun visor isnt anti fogging at all, have it down and exhale and it will fog right up BUT
Its so well ventilated that it takes any fogging away instantly
BUT
It's so well ventilated that the wind noise is really bad! At 50-60 on a windy day I can't hear myself on the red line. Also cold as fuck because it sweeps wind all in the helmet and around it so I find without a scarf or something your face gets freezing, i've tried playing with the vents on the forehead and mouth, closed, opened, closed while riding, make no difference however they are done, still freezing wind pouring in.

Very comfortable though.
Sun visor is brilliantly useful, although when the suns low and bright it doesnt completely take the edge of, although it's much better than just having a normal visor definitely. I often have the visor up and the sun visor down and ride around like that

Great quick release strap, had it a few months now not worn down or anything and very easy to get on and off even with gloves on, couldnt stand the double D straps.

Didn't know about pumping up cheekpads, lol wut? Maybe not on the enigma version?

Also thought I had a big head, last helmet was medium, had to get a small size for the shark to fit
So be wary if you're buying online

https://www.bigbikebook.com/csi/1824063488/i/pzi/s900_c_prime_enigma_black_white_1.jpg
That one's mine. I got a black and white monochrome thing going on suddenly, matches my gloves and jacket
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Fzr-600 1999

[Rogerborg]

With respect, Matt, your helmet is glass-and-kevlar-fibre re-enforced plastic. I'm not sure why you'd be confident that the plastic matrix isn't subject to UV degradation.

None of those links make any distinction between thermoplastic shells and any other sort, and I'm as yet unable to find any that do.

Fair enough though, there is a fair amount of documentation of UV degradation of some unstabilised thermoplastics outwith the context of motorcycle helmets, and there's doesn't appear to be anything in any helmet testing regime that tests for it.

To be clear, I'm not arguing against the sense of replacing every 3 years, but it's more because of a lack of information, and that bugs me.
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[Spy]

[chris-red]

I have a Qwest it is a great lid, so quiet and very well built. I'd happily replace it with another.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
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[Matt B]