Mad On Triumphs
1995 Thunderbird
Well the time had finally come to say goodbye to my AGV Full face helmet, I wanted to get another AGV as I have been more than happy with the fit and overall comfort of the AGV brand. Well it came as a bit of a shock to find out that AGV had changed the lining of their helmets, and the level of comfort for me had gone down the pan.
So plan B came into effect and I started to look at the Arai helmet range. Now I've for the last 6 years had an Arai freeway ( It was time to replace this lid too, why so long you ask, well I never wore it every day, and took care of it so I was happy to continue to have it that long before replacing it ) and to be honest I can't fault the fit and finish and quality of this helmet, everything about it oozes quality. I've had it on my head for all day ride outs, and in Austria and Italy last year thanks to the great weather, all week long. The fit is just perfect and the lining like everything else on this helmet is top notch. I can't say if it's a quiet helmet or not as I always wear ear plugs, the down side of this helmet is Arai will charge you extra for the peak, which when the helmet costs £199 is a bit of a cheek really ( I fortunately kept my old peak so I didn't have to fork out any extra ) I was particularly lucky with the purchase of this helmet, I went to a bike show and the bloke who openly said he didn't normally sell helmets, sold it to me for £160, I almost bit his hand off, I have never seen this helmet anywhere for less than £199. So I was well chuffed that I'd got almost £40 off a helmet that I already knew was comfortable, and that I liked. It was a no brainier really.
For those of you out there who might not know what the freeway looks like below are some pictures of my lid, complete with the go faster checkered tape that I put on. If your in the market for this style of helmet I can really highly recommend this lid, and hopefully like me you'll not be disappointed with it.
A very comfortable lid indeed.
This now brings me onto my latest full face helmet the Arai Axces 2 now this helmet in the UK at this moment in time sells for £249, and again like the Freeway despite extensive searches on the web, I can't find this lid any cheaper. So the other day I goes over to our local bike shop to try it on, they had one left in the colour I wanted. Whilst I was in the shop they had an Shoei which was very similar in price to the Arai so I decided to try the Shoei on, that fit was very nice indeed, but to cut a long story short the Arai won the day for me, I'd had my heart set on this Arai and it would have been foolish to change my mind and go for the Shoei.
So what's the Arai like then, well at the risk of sounding like a cracked record the fit and finish and the quality is again top notch. This helmet comes with nice features that should make your riding a bit easier.
It has a 3 stage ( Closed, half open and fully open ) vent on the top of the lid, the chin bar, also the rear vent is 3 stage too and is designed to draw hot air out of the lid, even if you don have the front vents open. The visor even has vents incorporated at the top of it, which go into the helmet, which again should help to keep you cool on hot days ( Like we need this in the UK
).
I'll be posting pictures of the helmet below, and hopefully you'll get a better understanding of what I'm waffling on about. The visor has a quick release system which works very well, well it did for the bloke in the shop, for me it'll take a bit of practice. The visor has a possitive click to close the visor thus ensuring that the visor stays down when your riding along. To get the visor up, you just have to get your glove under the protruding latch and give it a tug and up it comes ( No comments about that last description please, this is a clean forum
)
This latch has a double function where you can open the visor, but also you can raise the visor a little bit to help demisting when it rains ( Now that is a good idea for the UK ) you just have to slide this latch forward and the visor comes up a little bit at the front, whilst the visor remains in the closed position overall ( Hope that makes sense ). The lining is completely removable, so you can give it a good clean up when you feel that it needs it.
Below are some photos of the lid with a bit more information about it
Also it has a slight flake finish to the paint as well. You can see the visor vent open as well.
Below is the 3 stage rear vent. And the vent at the top of the lid.
Below, is the latch to raise the visor, or slide it forward to slightly raise the visor to aid demisting.
Below is the front vents in the open position. Again 3 Stage.
Below is the visor vent in the open position
Believe me this comfortable.
So plan B came into effect and I started to look at the Arai helmet range. Now I've for the last 6 years had an Arai freeway ( It was time to replace this lid too, why so long you ask, well I never wore it every day, and took care of it so I was happy to continue to have it that long before replacing it ) and to be honest I can't fault the fit and finish and quality of this helmet, everything about it oozes quality. I've had it on my head for all day ride outs, and in Austria and Italy last year thanks to the great weather, all week long. The fit is just perfect and the lining like everything else on this helmet is top notch. I can't say if it's a quiet helmet or not as I always wear ear plugs, the down side of this helmet is Arai will charge you extra for the peak, which when the helmet costs £199 is a bit of a cheek really ( I fortunately kept my old peak so I didn't have to fork out any extra ) I was particularly lucky with the purchase of this helmet, I went to a bike show and the bloke who openly said he didn't normally sell helmets, sold it to me for £160, I almost bit his hand off, I have never seen this helmet anywhere for less than £199. So I was well chuffed that I'd got almost £40 off a helmet that I already knew was comfortable, and that I liked. It was a no brainier really.
For those of you out there who might not know what the freeway looks like below are some pictures of my lid, complete with the go faster checkered tape that I put on. If your in the market for this style of helmet I can really highly recommend this lid, and hopefully like me you'll not be disappointed with it.
This now brings me onto my latest full face helmet the Arai Axces 2 now this helmet in the UK at this moment in time sells for £249, and again like the Freeway despite extensive searches on the web, I can't find this lid any cheaper. So the other day I goes over to our local bike shop to try it on, they had one left in the colour I wanted. Whilst I was in the shop they had an Shoei which was very similar in price to the Arai so I decided to try the Shoei on, that fit was very nice indeed, but to cut a long story short the Arai won the day for me, I'd had my heart set on this Arai and it would have been foolish to change my mind and go for the Shoei.
So what's the Arai like then, well at the risk of sounding like a cracked record the fit and finish and the quality is again top notch. This helmet comes with nice features that should make your riding a bit easier.
It has a 3 stage ( Closed, half open and fully open ) vent on the top of the lid, the chin bar, also the rear vent is 3 stage too and is designed to draw hot air out of the lid, even if you don have the front vents open. The visor even has vents incorporated at the top of it, which go into the helmet, which again should help to keep you cool on hot days ( Like we need this in the UK
).I'll be posting pictures of the helmet below, and hopefully you'll get a better understanding of what I'm waffling on about. The visor has a quick release system which works very well, well it did for the bloke in the shop, for me it'll take a bit of practice. The visor has a possitive click to close the visor thus ensuring that the visor stays down when your riding along. To get the visor up, you just have to get your glove under the protruding latch and give it a tug and up it comes ( No comments about that last description please, this is a clean forum
)This latch has a double function where you can open the visor, but also you can raise the visor a little bit to help demisting when it rains ( Now that is a good idea for the UK ) you just have to slide this latch forward and the visor comes up a little bit at the front, whilst the visor remains in the closed position overall ( Hope that makes sense ). The lining is completely removable, so you can give it a good clean up when you feel that it needs it.
Below are some photos of the lid with a bit more information about it
Also it has a slight flake finish to the paint as well. You can see the visor vent open as well.
