Total Motorcycle Community Forums

One of the poll Questions was would you spend 1 2 or 300 dollars on a helmet. I know should of answered it there! Anyway as safety minded as everyone is these days $3oo is a middle of the road helmet for a lot of brands. open or half lids are a bit less. I collect helmets like my wife collects purses. so let's here it, this topic is always quite debated in the magazines. Currently own Joe Rocket(carbon fibre) shark (real nice) HJC (CF) High end kbc CF and the holy grail ARAI TOMMY HAYDEN REPLICA none of wich are cheap but whats you head worth, I don't own a half or 3/4 helmet once ya get used to the full face there's nothing that offers more protection than a full face helmet. Even on the cruiser in florida if ya do some research and see what brands flow air well these days there's almost no exscuse. Unless you have real bad breath have a great day bike season is right around the corner for most (with out a full face) so would you or have you spent 5+ on a lid?

My current helmet is a HJC AC-12, I spent $225 on it three years ago when I was just starting to ride. In the next couple months I'm going to replace it with an Arai Profile, which is going to be about double that amount.

I think it's ironic that an el cheapo sub-$100 ZR1 helmet beat out several other brands costing 5 times as much in a safety test conducted by Motorcyclist a couple years ago. I buy helmets based on 1) fit and comfort 2) Looks 3) Snell rating 4) Price. Paid $129 for a Scorpion EXO helmet last year and I couldn't be happier with it.

Gun scorpion makes a good helmet and mat mladin wears one off the shelf says alot for them. I have this need for carbon fibre and high tech goodies. Thats why i said its always a hot topic iv'e seen alot of entry level helmets that meet most standards, they have too. I guess some exede more than others. And the options go up with price unfortunately. Have a great day

I just picked up this awesome Arai
http://www.compacc.com/p.cfm/c/9001000/p/16699

It fits great, lightweight and keeps my head cool. God forbid I actually wreck with it, but I know it would protect me. Totally worth the $400.

As it's already been pointed out - some of the less expensive helmets out-performed premium helmets in the Motorcyclist test. My experience has been that, the more you spend on a helmet, the more features you're buying: better venting/air flow, thicker/more comfortable padding, more aerodynamic design, etc.

That having been said, I regularly buy helmets that retail between $400 - $600 (AGV is my current favorite brand, but I'm also a fan of Shoei), buuuuut... tend to buy them on close-out so I tend to average about $300 a lid. (My most recent AGV cost $250, regular price ~$475; I'm looking at another for $300, regular price ~$520.)

When I returned to biking two years ago I bought an HJC modular helmet and was pretty satisfied with it, for the $200 that I paid. But previously I had always used Shoei, so this year I bought a Shoei Multitec for $410. It is not as quiet as I remember a Shoei to be, and frankly, does not seem that much of an improvement over the HJC to justify the extra cost. But for the next few years I guess I am going to use it and try to enjoy it.

I recently bought a new helmet (Shoei), but on closeout sale so it was priced quite nicely. My previous helmet was too small and it's amazing I put up with it for so long. This one fits much nicer and while I was testing the fit at home watching tv, I actually fell asleep on the sofa with it on (I was very tired from work though). It was about twice as expensive as my HJC, but so far I think it was well worth it.

Spend as much on the helmet as you think your head is worth. As my MSF instructor said: "If your brain is worth $50, get a $50 helmet."

Mine is worth $310, a Nolan modular. Haven't regretted the purchase price for a moment. When you come right down to the basics, all you really have is your brain and your hands.

So I've got a high-end brain bucket and armored gloves. (Plus armored jacket and Draggin' jeans for lagniappe.)

Started out with a SNELL-rated HJC fullface. After I read the Motorcyclist article, I decided to get a non-SNELL Caberg Trip (ECE-rated though). Once the Caberg gets old, I figure I'll partially base my next helmet decision on the SHARP rating scheme (although the Caberg Trip gets 5 stars there too). As is usual, fit and comfort are the most important factors of course. I tend to get helmets that are roughly in the $200 range; fancy paint jobs (I prefer a solid bright color anyway), exotic materials, and extra features don't really do it for me. You're gonna replace the thing in 4-5 years anyway.