Arai vs Shoei

[nokiakeys]

Hey People,

I'm looking to get a new helmet soon as I've passed my DAS almost a month now and looking to upgrade my gear, as I've already upgraded to a CB600FS

Everyone I speak to either say get an arai or shoei. I've googled and search BCF, but there doesn't seem to be a real debate about it (Well not a not bias one)... so here it is, let the battle begin

Oh, how can the spell check not know about Arai or Shoei
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CBT: 04/2010 -> Theory: 09/2010 -> MOD1 & 2: 10/2010 (That's right baby, both on same day)
Honda CBF125 -> Honda CB600FS

[Nai]

From what I understand they both fit different head shapes. So.... Use what fits you best?....

A £30 V-Can that fits perfect could be better than a £300 Arai that doesn't fit at all.

[MinhDinh]

I'm a Shoei XR1000 guy born and breed.

Need to upgrade to the new 1100 soon though.

I am oriental with a round-ish head and the Shoei fits me pretty well.

Arai seems more expensive slightly on some products.
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Hit the G spot.

[MarJay]

Well, the usual thing is that you either have an 'Arai' head, or a 'Shoei' head.

Yes, they both are generally considered to be the 'best' makes, but if none of them fit your head they are no good to you.

Personally, I found the Shoei to be the best quality, fit and comfort, followed closely by the bottom of the range Arai I had. However, I recently bought an AGV for 60% of the price I paid for the Arai, and i'd even go as far as to say it is a better lid.

Really, if you try on a load of lids and a £60 BOX lid fits you the best, then it is probably the best one for you. That probably won't happen in practice, but it is a valid point.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Nai]

[Ariel Badger]

The head thing is a bit of a myth.....
Arai make hats in three head types, American, Japanese and European. A lot of Japanese and Yankee head fittings make it over here and do not fit well.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[bacon]

arai helmets fit me well, shoei don't, you cant really argue which is best when one doesnt fit

a clue for you there is that a helmet that fits is more important than anything

[Ariel Badger]

The name on a hat is just that, a name. A sixty quid hat that fits well is far better than a £350 one that does not.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Polarbear]

I would say people I know are more brand loyal to helmets than just about anything else.

Its very difficult to get an unbiased opinion other than 'get what fits best'. I like HJC helmets. Helps that they can be got for a third of the price of an Arai as well
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Victory Cross Country American tractor.

[G]

Shoei helmets fit me very well, so I tend to go for them.
I was unimpressed with the way various plastic vents etc fell off the top of the range Arai I had.

Definitely go for what fits best and don't limit yourself to too expensive brands - if you're lucky a cheaper brand will fit you well.

[nokiakeys]

I've got a HJC at the moment, which did fit very good when I got it in April. But it feels loose these days... might have something to do with losing too much weight.
Been spending more time and money on the bike than eating
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CBT: 04/2010 -> Theory: 09/2010 -> MOD1 & 2: 10/2010 (That's right baby, both on same day)
Honda CBF125 -> Honda CB600FS

[evoboy]

Both Arai and Shoei fit me equally well.


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Suzuki GT250 x7------- Fazer 600------CB250RS------Aprilia Rally 70----- Bandit 600

APT Motorcycles

[Tonka]

I did lots of research prior to buying my first helmet and after taking advice from various places decided that I would go for "the fit is most important" technique and try and ignore the price tag! After visiting three stores and trying on loads my cleanly washed hair was totally frizzed up and static and I ended up with the Shoei XR1000. I could have cried when I found out the price

I did end up having the slightly larger cheek pads in mine and two and a half years on they could maybe do with replacing as I wash them fairly regularly, but other than that it's still very comfortable. Only time I have a problem is if my neck tube creates a gap and I get a high pitched whistle at speed, but that's easily solved at the next stop with some re-dressing!

Fit is most important, as there is nothing worse than your helmet being uncomfortable, having an irritating whistle or God forbid it should fail in an accident. Also top tip from a complete twit is to remember to do the strap up - make a point of putting your lid on and doing the strap up immediately, don't get distracted and forget!!
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[Mark65]

HJC , helmets are pretty much the same apart from shapes and other minor bits, i can have 3 of my fg15 for one of the shoei and arai, i had a shoei multitec and i had big issues with it, shitty(shoei) never even replied to my emails and the importers were wankers they just fobbed me off, so i wont touch them again, the pinlock was the only good thing about my shoei.
Mark
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07 Yamaha YBR125, 07 Honda CG125 , 15 CBR300R (Chocolate Crank, Deaded), 16 CB500FA, 19 Honda Forza 300, 70 Suzuki SV650

[Xdwardo500]

As a pillion and whilst I've been learning I've been using a "hand me down" Arai Quantum, and it's amazingly comfortable and light ont he head. But like the general consensus says, it's whatever fits your nogin best

I'm getting an Arai Chaser for Crimbo so I'll be sure to stick a review up if it's of any help...
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Lincoln, England
2011 Vespa GTS 300 Super
Riding Since 2011

[james1988]

I've got a Shoei XR1000 and I love it. I've got a nakard neck so anything heavy on my head plays hell with me, it's light, quiet and comfortable so I deffinately think I'll be investing in Shoei again.

James

[JAMSXR]

I've bee using Aria for the past few years a they seem to fit best. I had a couple of Suomy helmets a few years back, the build quality was shocking!
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Honda SFX50 > Aprilia SR125 > Aprilia RS125 > Honda RFV400 > K4 GSXR600 > KTM Duke > C1H 636 > K3 GSXR1000 > Aprilia RSV-R > Triumph Street Triple R > Ducati 899 Panigale > Aprilia Tuono 1100 > Triumph Daytona 675R > KTM SuperDuke 1290 2.0

[t121anf]

i'm on my second Shoei Raid 2, crashed test the first one so bought a second.

very happy with it, with the Whisper Strip fitted it's very quiet.

my wife has an Arai Condor, she is happy with it too.

i hear Arai are nosier due to the style of visor fitted and vents.

not a lot else to say, both are the £250 ish price mark so entry level lids.

[Rogerborg]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[G]

[t121anf]

[Teflon-Mike]

Twenty five, thirty years ago, helmets were pretty dire. People still resented actually HAVING to wear one at all, and few deemed them worth spending much money on.
There were two types of construction, poly-carbonate or fibreglass.
Polycarb is plastic washing up bowl plastic, and in them days wasn't as well refined as it is now. It was cheap, easily moulded into more complex shapes, but you couldn't paint it, as solvents atacked the plastcic, and it age hardened and enviromentally degraded giving it about a three year 'life'. GRP was more durable, less easily moulded, hence more expensive, and heavier.
Open face helmets were still popular, becouse they were cheaper, they were lighter, and often a lot more practical. In the days of wampy visors, te visability and lack of misted screen far outweighed the benefits of the extra bit of face protection. (An argument that still has some validity now, TBH)
AGV and Bell were the old premier brands, and I think Bell boasted the add capaign that they had seven different shell sizes to give you the 'best-fit' where every-one else had three shell sizes and got in-between measures with more or less padding.
Visors were flat perspex screwed on the side, and of you were lucky, they had a bit of cork on the hinge to keep them open or closed, a ratchet was like really advanced!
In the wet or the cold, helmets misted up, the visors wouldn't stay just that crack open to keep them de-misted, and in the hot, your head cooked.
Shoei, in the early 80's were an unknown, but they were significantly trying to reduce the weight of a glass-fibre shell, and improve visor operation.
Arai came along with the original 'Super-Vent' in I think 1983, with some perforations in the chin-peace, and some nifty dicting in the lining to direct aur up the inside of the visor, which had a really good ratchet mechanism to keep it open or closed to your preference!
Throughout the 80's and early 90's Bot Arai & Shoei pushed teh envelope of Helmet technology way ahead... they started using complex glass-fibre composites, incorporating kevlar and carbon-fibre to bring shell weight down, they improved hugely the operation of visors, and refined venting to keep visors clear and heads cool.
By the 90's they were streets ahead of anything any-one else was offering, and if you wanted a helmet that just 'worked' you bought an Arai or Shoei, depending on which fitted better. But, they were getting expensive.
In 1984 My uncle bought an original Freddie Spencer replica Ariai Super-Vent. It cost £140.
In 1986, I bought a Shoei X8R, I think it was, catalogue colours £165
In 1991, I replaced the X8R with a Shoei GRV, Wayne Gardner Rep, cost £300ish (Think I got it end of season, discounted)
Arai & Shoei had paved the way. They had shown that you need not suffer sub-standard lids, but they had also shown people were prepared to pay top dollar for hats that really worked.
In 1995, I bought an AGV. The top flite Shoei at the time was nudging £500 notes, and I paid £120 for the AGV, which had all of a sudden got with the game, and were offering hats that worked almost as good on fit and function as Arai's & Shoei's, and it was lighter. It was boom-time in the market, and there were a lot of new brands trying to make a name for themselves, and doing it, offering hats that worked like the big-boys, but cost less.
That REALLY was it, for the supremacy of Aria & Shoei. Yes, they are blodddy good helmets, and 'once-upon-a-time' there was good reason for paying the premium for one. But in the last ten of fifteen years, the 'difference' between an Aria or Shoe compared to the main-stream competition, doesn't justify the extra price, like it used to. There are alternatives, and they are damn nearly 'as good', often for an awful lot less money.
But as ever, THE most important thing in a helmet is fit; and an expensive hat so loose it falls off your head in a splill, aint worth jack. Then comfort. A good helmet that fits OK, but is awkward to put on or off, or difficult to open or close the visor or vents, or is just too heavy or ill balenced, can be a pain in the kneck, and if you are faffing with a vent, or not able to get a misted visor out your line of site, giving you reason to crash, rather defeats having it in the first place! Or just proves a pain in the kneck.
Ignore the name; go for a hat that has a decent quality of finish, fits snugly, and comfortable, doesn't weight your kneck, and which you can work visor and vents with gloved hands easily on.
You often cant road-test a hat, unfortunately, but a few tips; extraniouse plastic 'bits' like air-scoops, often make the helmet noisy at speed, and are easily knocked off or damaged, and they are often 'token' styling aids that do more to make the hat look cool than keep you cool!
Helmet 'lift', where wind at speed tries to tip the hat back, with or without your head, can be a problem. Most 'racer' helmets are optimised for a coruched riding position, and being tucked behind a wind deflecting fairing.
On an upright street-bike, the angle of incident to air-flow can make them 'lift' quite markedly, leading to riders 'nodding' into the air-flow, to correct the angle of incident to that where the helmet works best.... often unperceptible, but can give you acrick in the kneck, and often the cause of lots of aching neck complaints!
Look at the shape of the hat, and the frontal profile, and try and imagine if its got an forward inclinded bias, if you can imagine what I mean. Elsewhise, to the 'slap-head' test! Do a Homor Simpson on the top your forhead and try and tilt the hat backwards on your bonce, with the pressure of your palm!
Dont buy by mail-order unless you have tried the exact same model and size of helmet as you are ordering.... AND whether ordering by mail or in a shop, check the Date-Code in the hat you buy!
The 'stuff' that protects your head in a spill is the polystyrene lining inside the shell. Shell just hlds it together, its the polystyrene that absorbs the impact energy. Polystyrene degrades naturally with age, hence the five - ten year service life of a good helmet, the lesser life of cheaper ones.
BUT, lots of 'bargain' or clerance helmets are anything up to three or four years old before they leave the shop!
So, a half price hat, might NOT be such a bargain, if it only has half its service life left.
Most helmets have pretty clear manufacturers date codes in them. If not in the moulding of the shell, on a lable inside, often under a fold in the lining material. Check, see how old the hat is, before you buy.
and that means the one in the box you walk out the shop with.... not 'unknown' for helmet salesman to let you try on a hat in the shop, then say that they'll go get you a 'new one' out of stores, that hasn't been tried on by all and sundry..... and for the one in the box to have an older date code in it!
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Paxovasa]

A good fitting helmet is what counts, whether it be a £50 cheap one or a £600 limited edition one.

I have a cheap £50 lid as back up and use the AGV Stealth lid all the time.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Rogerborg]