New helmet time... trying to decide...

[tahrey]

I'm quite budget limited ... try to decide whether to splash or take the default cheaper option.

Very much liked my Caberg Trip, it was a good fit, decent features, not too noisy, well rated, and inexpensive. Only thing that stopped it being an automatic buy-again when I dropped the first 7ft onto the ground (oops ) was it was a bit too snug around the ears - making earpieces (radios, bluetooth) near impossible to wear, and it was a bit too misty in winter. Flip front, internal visor - plus adjustable venting and a high SHARP rating - are all big ticks in the YES box for next time. Incredibly useful and mean not having to take the helmet off to investigate stuff below your sightline or talk to people, or nob about changing visors on sunny days.

However, it looks like they have a new, slightly more expensive one out... And various other manufacturers have rivals out with similar or better setups... so, which way to swing?

As a baseline, I'm currently using some POS from Lidl that apes the Trip (or more accurately the V2R)'s look and features, but may as well be made of Lego for the quality it brings. Was supposed to be a spare/pillion one but unexpectedly became my main. Noisy, rickety, and literally not screwed together right (as I found out Friday PM), but it was only £40 - which buys you a vanilla full-face anywhere else - and at least has passed the basic euro standards.

So, anything's an upgrade. Personal reccs/warnings and the like very welcome!
One thing I WON'T be doing is buying an official Bluetooth kit. £100-£230 for something whose functionality I can replicate with a ten quid doohickey that I can also use off the bike? I'll pass for now. Only going to use it for ring/message alerts and satnav directions anyway - save the talking for when I'm parked.

Choices....

Replacement Trip, as above. £80-90, 5*
V2R about the same price. It's got the same features but is lacking a couple of minor but unexpectedly important bits, e.g. the wind-cheater chin flap, so isn't a contender. (Strange...)

Duchinni D619 (I think?)... or Lazer somethingorother (ask my stepmother, she noted the model code). 4* or 2* depending which. Seen in a random Suzuki dealer where I had my tyre done. Ticks all the right boxes and I think has space for bluetooth. Know practically nothing else about it, didn't even have it on long. £100.

Caberg Konda. Like the Trip but slight redesign, a few more colours, hopefully better venting, and space to wear something on/in your ear. Decent fit. £120-130. No SHARP rating yet, though.

Caberg Justissimo GT. Similar to the above, maybe a bit more heavy duty. Apparently quite loud, though. 4*. £150-170.

Nolan 90D or similar. Basically like the Konda but different maker. Very snug, comfy fit (in the shop...), and a unique & quite secure-seeming flip release system. All their other rated models score 4* but this one isn't listed so, like the Konda, it could be anything. £200...hrrm.

Shark Evoline. Very swish. 4*, does everything the others do, but the chin bar actually goes right round to the back to form some kind of spoiler (no more headbutting doors or being kept upright by the aero above 25mph) on a smooth-as-glass trick hinge system. Sizes seem to run large, can fit a Small quite happily whereas the other tested ones were Medium. Available in various colours and styles including one with lots of glow-in-the-dark stuff. £260-300 depending.

So to take the sensible choice at £100-130 or so ... form fitting (possibly brain-crushing? ) £200... or push the wage envelope with a high class £300?

(It also determines which shop gets my money! Won't reveal which of course.)

[polarman]

I posted a similar thread which is worth looking through:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=202484&highlight=
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Gixer 750

[gearboxkart]

You need to go to a shop and also try them all on mainly for comfort i think as iv bought off the web the right size but they were just too tight or felt wrong, trying them all on is best.
I would never skimp on bike clothing, remember you only get 1 body and its easily busted up in cheap gear ! iv worn AGV lids for a good few years now and they are good, atm iv a X-R2 fits good and nice and quiet.
There are loads of reviews of various lids in MCN atm so thats worth a look.

[tahrey]

Thanks guys ... unfortunately

- Nothing on my shortlist, or even their manufacturers (except Viper, which is only in with an outside shot anyway) are in that thread. Got a feeling they're all full face anyway, and I am very firmly in the flip front camp right now.

- I'm not rich. There's a reason I got the bike in the first place, made it a CG, and will be sticking with it a while (unless I decamp to e.g. a CBF or other rival that offers an even better mix of economy, reliability and usable power) - petrol and high-milage car insurance premiums were crippling. This year's car insurance, bike kit (and any repairs), holiday, petrol, token rent (living with mum FTW at the moment, til I can get a clear bit of spare cash) and other entertainments (oh and mod2 retakes should I cock up the first one) all need to come out of my current bank balance, next paycheque, and whatever my credit card can stand.

If I had money to buy guaranteed nice kit with then I wouldn't have got my jacket, troos and first pair of boots (and the bike) 2nd hand off ebay, would be looking to go straight onto a Ducati 999 after passing the test, and wouldn't even be making this post because I'd have walked straight into the nearest dealer and picked up a £580 Arai or whatever... which is like 3 weeks pay after all tax and regular direct debits etc are considered .... or hell anything with Pinlock and that fancy new Safeskin stuff.

Plus when I first wrote this/went looking, I'd actually forgotten all about the insurance so it's like £600 or so tighter than previously thought anyway - the card's going to get a workout. I've had a lot of outgoings recently including much car repair work, some work on the bike (+ multiple inner tubes) & the DAS course fee... which is why I had to get the Lidl lid after all. I figure a reasonably well put-together 4 or 5* can at £130 (which is above what the linked thread seemed to say anyway ... particularly when a pricey Shoei appears to be noisy!) beats the pants off not being able to stretch to a £400 one and having to plump for some noisy poorly put-together weak as anything £40 POS instead

Soooooooooooooooo anyone got personal experience or recommendations of caberg vs nolan vs shark and all that, or are they all actually shit?

(As for trying them on... i hear ya... but i may not have a great deal of free time in the coming weeks to do that with. But hopefully I can try and take advantage of the places which have certain models - like the nolan at HG - offered with "try before you buy" schemes... and maybe, with the offer of a returnable deposit, can arm twist one or two others into doing similar?)

Still the tip to have a look in MCN is a good'un, for some reason I keep forgetting they (and their rivals) exist, and always start with surprise when reminded of it :p ......

[Bloke]

"Being kept upright by the aero above 25mph"

You do realise that budget flipfronts like the caberg trip rely upon the chinbar being in a down and locked position for much of its structural integrity?

There is a reason why they have "Do not ride with the chinbar raised" stickers stuck rather appropriately on the chinbar.

You come off at any speed and the helmet will distort more dramatically in an impact possibly not proving to be as useful.

I use a HJC IS-Max, good budget flipfront, silvercool removable lining, chin curtain, internal sun visor, anti-fog coated visor, metal chinbar locking mechanism (pins and moving parts), sharp 3*.

Best part is the ear cavity has room for a headset and as a contacts/glasses wearer it's a comfortable helmet to wear for extended periods.
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2008 VFR800 VTEC

[tahrey]

Yeah, I know you're not supposed to ride with it up. The attraction actually was that some of the newer ones - like the Caberg Sintesi or Shark Evoline - are actually designed to be safe and aerodynamically sound (close to, if not exactly as good as a purpose-built open-face) when the flipper is up and locked. Just for mooching on hot days and the like. Wouldn't do it very often but handy. Including for all the times I get punctures and have to keep an eye on how flat the rear tyre's getting

Have tried out the IS-Max, it was a moderately attractive prospect (though I was mostly limiting myself to 4 & 5* ones, or those likely to get them in the next round of tests based on previous models). unfortunately it feels like there's a couple of sharp plastic skewers trying to drill their way into my temples even before I've got the chin strap done up. Just the wrong shape

Similarly the Nolan D103 tries to cut my ears off, and the Evoline unfortunately seems to be a mix of "surprisingly tacky" and "sunvisor that doesn't even come down to the horizon". It's pretty much a flat race between the Duchinni 619 and the Caberg Konda, now. One is a bit more expensive but still affordable and has built-in bluetooth - but I've yet to find one I can try on in my size - and the other is a pretty good fit but would mean I'd have to use a 3rd party earpiece. Hmmm.

[tahrey]

Right, for better or worse, after all that farting around, it stil ended up being the Konda... we'll see how it does. That, and a cheap replacement universal bluetooth widget from hmv (my old one seems to have died) for £140 all in.

Found a Duchinni D619 in my size, and it was a decent fit with a usable sunvisor, but it proved to have internal fabric like sandpaper (ears burning after just putting it on and off twice) and a double-D fastener. I know they're allegedly supposed to be the most secure and all that, but it's completely incompatible with my stodgy fingers (when I first tried it, I had gloves on and assumed that was the problem) - took about two minutes to get it done up, seriously don't have the time for that. The Caberg micrometric thing just snaps in and toggles off, whilst being secure in use.

[tahrey]

Week-and-a-bit first impressions: Not bad!

Doesn't insulate as well in terms of warmth or noise as the Trip*, but that's probably to be expected what with the ear cut-outs for comfort and bluetooth fitting. Still miles ahead of the Crivit stopgap and keeps the wind out brilliantly; it's not super loud by any means, just not as quiet as it could be (with a £10 bluetooth dongle in-ear, I set my phone playing some music, and could still just about hear it and make out the lyric flat out at 65-70mph). I may experiment with retrofitting the Trip's padding for journeys where I'm not bothered about instant notification of phone calls... but then again I'm already well used to putting in a couple of Earfits for any journey longer or faster than my daily commute, so it's not a pressing need. Other than around the ears the padding seems to be just the same as before, i.e. generous and a good balance of soft yet supportive.

Also,
* Pinches very slightly at the temples when it's been on a while, but nothing like that experienced immediately with some of the others I tried; hopefully it will bed in a little more with use.
Nose-area ventilation could be slightly better, but I'll take having to - occasionally - crack the main visor open vs. the continual hand-dryer blast of the cheapie.
* Sunvisor still seems engineered for people without noses, but offers an improvement over the Trip in that it can be infinitely adjusted, on a smooth but firm-holding track. Therefore I can leave it a few mm short of full extension and arrive after a long high-glare trek without look like I've been in a fight. The only real criticism I've have with it is that it never seems to retract fully - there's always a sliver of it visible at the top of your field of view which is a bit distracting. Maybe this is related to the apparent over-extension and can be adjusted? Oddly, from the outside, it DOES seem to go fully back into the shell... so I'm not sure how it can be visible from within?
* General build quality seems just as good, maybe even slightly better than before. It's not super impressive, but it's perfectly solid and works well, affording a good level of confidence in its ability to hang together over several years or in a crash, which I didn't get with the Lidl-lid or some of the (more expensive!) also-rans. Flip front, main visor, chinstrap, all move or connect in a positive and smooth fashion.

At £130 it's no longer the height of value, but I'd say it's still a good deal.

* I was going to put a claw hammer through the old one this weekend, but ended up wearing it for a couple of brief spells on the pushbike (had my reasons) when my usual turtleshell-like helmet went walkies. Very quiet, and by god it was hot, even with the chinbar raised... but it will still die as soon as I find the bunch o'bananas