Top 5 Motorcycle Helmets for 2009

[GreatWhiteHunter]

Report just released by J.D. Power finds the top 5 helmets in the 2009 Motorcycle Helmet Satisfaction Study to be, in order:

• Arai
• Shoei
• Icon
• Harley Davidson
• Scorpion

If you are interested, you might want to read their press release.

Personally, I'm on my second Shoei and I'm getting ready to buy another. I've had an RF-800 and now wear an RF-1000. I'm very interested in a Multitec and found that I can actually fit one! Score another one for the vendors at Americade!

[Rather-B-Riding]

personally, i am surprised Harley Davidson is on there.... any of the harley helmets i have seen are half-helmets and those ones that are a little more than a plastic yarmulke.

Arai is a nice helmet, but you could get a couple of the other helmets for the price tag on the Arai. I have had Icon in the past and am pretty happy with the ones I had. My current lid is an Akuma and although the graphics are some of the most awesome graphics i have seen on a helmet, save for a custom painted lid, bar none. But its also one of the loudest helmets I have ridden with. As nice as the helmet is, I don't think I would buy another one again, and probably either return to Icon or get one of the new Scorpion EXO-1000 with the integrated sunshield.

[Phantom]

personally, i am surprised Harley Davidson is on there.... any of the harley helmets i have seen are half-helmets and those ones that are a little more than a plastic yarmulke.

Remember this is a JD Power owner/user survey. Most HD riders don't know the difference between a good helmet and no helmet and really don't care. "If it says HD on it it must be good"

If I were in the market for a helmet I would ask myself which of those "Consumer Approved" helmets were DOT/SNELL/CE approved also.

[dirtdame]

waaaaaay out of my price range.  Yes my head is pricless, but the mid price helmets with a DOT and Snell rating suffice for the type of riding I do. 

[JoeR]

waaaaaay out of my price range.  Yes my head is pricless, but the mid price helmets with a DOT and Snell rating suffice for the type of riding I do. 

I've never subscribed to that way of thinking.  I don't believe that a $700.00 helmet offers 10X the protection that a $70.00 helmet does. It may offer other features like better wind protection, quieter, better fit, and better crash technology.....but not 10x better. 

On Thumpertalk a short while ago there was a similar discussion.  A guy on there told how an expenseive helmet saved his head, and he'll never buy a cheap one again.  How does he know that a cheap one wouldn't have performed equally as well? 

I've broken about 10 helmets in crashes.  I had a $90.00 Bell Sport on when I high sided my Honda into a telephone pole at about 90 MPH.  I broke most everthing on my left side, but not my head.  That Bell shattered pretty good, like it's supposed to.  Should I not be ever-faithful to that cheap-ass helmet?  I don't think so.  They are noisy and fit poorly. They wobble on your head in the cross wind. 
I've got a $150.00 HJC for the street right now, and I love it better than any helmet I've owned.  Very quiet and comfortable. I've got a $150.00 Polaris brand helmet for off-road.  It's my second one.  I broke the first one on another get-off.  I really slammed the ground on that one.  I can't believe it broke like it did, but I would have had to replace it anyway. 

Now, that's not to say I wouldn't love to own a $700.00 helmet.  I would.  It's just way beyone my pain tolerance on pricing...and at the rate I go through them it woulkd make riding cost prohibitive.  Who can afford that, along with medical bills?  Not me!   


Joe

[GreatWhiteHunter]

My feeling on helmets is just that. If it feels good then it is good. I can't justify the $700 helmets but I have no issue spending the $300-$400 on  Shoei with the fit, feel and features that I've come to expect from a helmet. I tend to spend quite a bit of time in mine during the riding season so the helmet had better be something that I can stand to have on for 12 to 14 hours a day.

Off-road helmets are a little different, I have a lower price ceiling that I will stay under but it is a bit difficult to find a helmet that I like when I go looking. I don't spend nearly as much time with my off-road helmet on so I can stand a different feel when I have to wear it.

What's this "feel" that I'm referring to? I prefer a helmet that I don't know that I have on. Open, clear vision, light weight shell, soft but firm interior and excellent, variable, ventilation. A shield that changes fast is another must have for me now that I've gotten used to the way the Shoei changes and now that I've seen how difficult it is to change the shield on many, many other helmets.

Just my $.02.

[mud baron]

Remember this is a JD Power owner/user survey. Most HD riders don't know the difference between a good helmet and no helmet and really don't care. "If it says HD on it it must be good"
If I were in the market for a helmet I would ask myself which of those "Consumer Approved" helmets were DOT/SNELL/CE approved also.

Sometimes ignorance shows through TOO much......

Harley Davidson does not make their own helmets.......they are outsourced.....
My 1/2 helmet is the VCS1 (believe thats the model #) made by Simpson.....

[Phantom]

Sometimes ignorance shows through TOO much......

Harley Davidson does not make their own helmets.......they are outsourced.....
My 1/2 helmet is the VCS1 (believe thats the model #) made by Simpson.....

Most if not all bike, sled, whatever manufacturers outsource their clothing and accessories usually built to their specs... sometimes just a standard piece with just a color or graphics change exclusive to the manufacturer of the vehicle. Most people are so brand blind/loyal that they will pay a premium for a piece that they can get elsewhere for a better price just because it has their vehicle manufacturers logo on it.
 Look at Screaming Eagle for example... way overpriced for so so average performance parts (there are loads of performance Harley parts out there that do a better job) but people will pay for the fact that it is "Screaming Eagle"

Back to helmets...

Wear what you think your head is worth. I personally would not ride without a full face helmet.
I speak from personal experience... in 1981 I was run off the road by an old geezer with coke bottle glasses. I rode out the bike without making contact with the car but hit a concrete parking barrier that was hidden in tall grass at the perimeter of the parking lot.
I did a superman imitation over the bars and landed in the lot. The right side of my helmet in the jaw area was severely gouged. If it hadn't been for a full face helmet that would have been a shattered jaw or worse.
At the time of the start of the car avoidance manuver I was doing less than 25 MPH and was probably at around 30MPH when I launched over the bars as I had to accelerate to get out of the cars path. Don't think that because you are on a cruiser or heavy bike you are safe because you don't go fast... it's the cages you have to watch for and they can do a lot of damage at very little speed.

[FULLAUTO]

He's right you know.

[FULLAUTO]

Dr. Jim Newman, an actual rocket scientist and highly respected head-impact expert—he was once a Snell Foundation director—puts it this way: "If you want to create a realistic helmet standard, you don't go bashing helmets onto hemispherical steel balls. And you certainly don't do it twice.

"Over the last 30 years," continues Newman, "we've come to the realization that people falling off motorcycles hardly ever, ever hit their head in the same place twice. So we have helmets that are designed to withstand two hits at the same site. But in doing so, we have severely, severely compromised their ability to take one hit and absorb energy properly.


How many people were saved because their helmet was designed to a  "higher" or "higher energy" standard than the DOT standard? As far as the Hurt researchers could ascertain, none.

Read the whole thing: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/index.html