Message from my neighbour:
Installed the battery last night, engine turned over just fine. Once the tank is here it should fire right up!
The tank may be here tomorrow.
That was much faster than I’d expected for a long-stored bike. Yaay for neighbor. And for you getting to (probably) use it before local riding season is over.
What to do about a helmet? A bit of a rant, but advice or recommendations are fine.
I bought my current helmet almost exactly 7 years ago. Standard wisdom is a helmet should only last 5 years, but it’s the people selling helmets saying that, so… A bit of reading suggests it isn’t quite a hard and fast rule, and really depends on how the helmet has aged, and how it’s been treated.
So, 7 year old helmet, but it’s always been stored inside, and only has 10,000 miles on it.
The choices are keep riding on the current helmet, even though the impact absorbing foam is now probably peanut butter; buy a new one; or quit riding completely.
Buying a new helmet is the obvious choice. My current helmet is a Bell Qualifier DLX MIPS, and I don’t like it, but it was cheap. It has features I like, such as the MIPS anti-concussion tech, and a self-darkening visor, but to hit the price point Bell used lower quality materials and made it extra loud to punish value buyers. It just feels worse than my previous helmet, a Bell R1, which wasn’t much more expensive, but had far better materials, and was much quieter. Bell discontinued the R1, because it was about 95% of a Bell Star for half the price.
I want a helmet that meets ECE 22.06 rules, because that is probably the safest (debatable forever). There are many ECE 22.06 helmets, but many are exclusively sold in Europe. To be even more frustrating, some manufacturers only sell ECE 22.06 versions of their helmets in Europe, and sell a non-22.06 model with the same name in the US.
Are the US and Europe ones really the same, but they don’t advertise ECE 22.06 in the US? Maybe, or maybe the US versions are previous generation.
I could just buy the European version, but then it won’t have DOT approval, which means I could get a ticket for wearing it, if I ever go to a helmet state. I’ll also have problems getting the warranty serviced if anything does break.
Anybody wearing a full face helmet you like, that is in the $400 price range?
I know I can get a great helmet for $700+, but I’d much rather spend half that (see 10,000 miles in 7 years).
I been out of the business for a very long time, but when I sold bikes and gear, HJC made high-quality lids at very affordable prices. As far as fit and finish, just about as good as Arai and Shoei, at half the cost. Anything more helpful than that, and I’m decades out of date. Good Luck!
I’m old enough to remember Bell’s ads for
Got a $20 head? Get a $20 helmet.
My last Shoei was IIRC $150 in ~1977 and didn’t get a scratch the one time I offloaded on the freeway.
It appears the price of helmets has gone up a bit. :eek:
I still have the Shoei I bought when I got the CX500. I covered it 100% with reflective tape. Then I put a ‘The Who’ style roundel on the back using blue reflective tape; but instead of a red circle, I put on a silhouette of a Robinson R22 in red reflective tape. The reflective R22 went on each side as well. In yellow reflective tape, on the back, I have HELI BOY. Looks pretty good, if I say so myself. Sadly, the interior has become compressed, so it’s loose. The replacement is a white Arai I bought 20 years ago. It’s still wearable and safe.
One thing I noticed is that I could clear rain by turning my head with the Shoei. That doesn’t work as well with the Arai. But I still like the Arai better.
Well, with my ancient gear, its the way the shield mounts. Shoei is clean, Aria has that plastic piece to make noise. I don’t ride in the rain (I ain’t got none!) but I can see how the two things interface.
I retrofitted an Aria shield to fit an old model (edit: cant find the correct picture or model) Simpson. Do I still use it? I’ll never admit it.
I wear my helmets for a long time as well.
My last two full face helmets have been HJC. They fit my “long oval” head better than anything else I have tried. My first one was super cheap but I got 15’ish years out of it (it had a ton of miles on it and it just eventually got kindof gross with sweat, bugs, and debris and couldn’t be cleaned). I splurged on my last HJC and I still have a number of years on it.
Thanks for the helmet tips. Good to know I’m not the only one with something past the 5 year “expiration date.”
I don’t know what shape my head is. I had one Shoei, and then Bell helmets. Maybe they fit terribly? I’m sure I can find some online thing to figure out which oval I am. Hopefully it involves making a crown out of some kind of rigid material.
The problem I’m having is that curse of choice issue. Above $700 or so there are tons of great helmets. Below $200, expect something safe, but probably without much in the way of features or comfort. I’m looking for the sweet spot of $300-400 for a helmet that plays above its price range, and has the latest safety features.
Companies like HJC make stuff that are in all of those categories.
I’ve been out of the game a long time … a very long time.
I can certainly expect any soft spongy foam to deteriorate in a few years. We’ve all seen examples of that in sponges, cushions & such.
AFAIK, the safety-significant innards of helmets are a rigid but crushable plastic product more like styrofoam. I’m surprised people (other than helmet companies wanting to increase sales) are serious that that sort of foam suffers from structural deterioration over time.
For sure if you have a hard fall where the helmet takes an impact, buy a new helmet. Otherwise I don’t see it. What am I missing?
It’s my understanding there can be chemical damage from gasoline and sweat. Particularly if you have the habit of resting it on your bike so tank vapors vent into it. UV light can be bad for the outer shell, but hopefully advances in material science have made this less of an issue than it used to be.
The soft foam compresses, so the helmet won’t fit as well. If that is a problem it can be fixed by getting new cheek pads for $30.
From what I can tell, if the helmet looks to be in good shape, it probably is. If it was used daily for years, it probably needs to be replaced. If it was stored in a shed full of gas fumes and 120F temperatures all summer, then it probably is bad. If you’re some sort of alien that sweats acid, then it won’t last too long, either.
Here’s my very old Shoei. It’s discoloured from a couple of decades on a shelf. I sprayed it with clear spray paint.) Everything except the Ron Jon sticker and the skull & bones sticker is reflective. Did everything myself. (Three pics.)
The R1 is now insured. I didn’t get to talk to Flo.
I love it when a plan comes together.
Actually, price and comfort don’t really intersect, in my experience. Features, yes, but if you got an Aria head and stick it in something else, that $700 helmet ain’t gonna be comfortable. If the $200 helmet feels good, Buy It!
Fit is really key.
Back in USAF in the mid 1980s we started getting these then-newfangled cosmic lightweight helmets:
It consisted of a hard outer shell that basically came in small, medium, and large.
Then they’d put a disposable plastic shower cap on your head, a corresponding S / M / L mold over your head and clamp it in place, then pour liquid expanding foam in the space between.
Once the foam solidified they took this contraption off your head and with some cutting and filing they had a foam blob whose outer shape fit the helmet shell interior perfectly, and whose inner shape fit your head perfectly. They covered the interior in a thin layer of leather, glued all the parts together and viola, your helmet fit your head and only your head. Just don’t let your hair get much longer than it was on the day of your fitting; there wasn’t room for it.
Of course those helmets were little more than bump caps or hard hats in terms of collision energy absorption. Better than nothing, but I would not have used mine as a replacement for a motorcycle helmet back then. Much less now.
I doubt that same fit mechanism could be used for a safety-certifiable road helmet today. But if it could, and you had the money to spend, it’d be awesome.
After years of sitting, the R1 lives! [EDIT: Can’t get the video to load on imgur.]
The neighbour replaced the rusted-out tank with the one that arrived today, put in a new battery, and rebuilt the front master cylinder. He’s asking about the oil. I received half the order, and the other half is (supposedly) on its way.
The dent in the used gas tank is evident in the video. The neighbour said it’s not as bad as he thought. I hope he can hammer it out.
Congrats!!!
Question
You all know I’m planning to repaint the XJ600 (the one that was stolen, and recovered trashed). After painting, do I need to clearcoat it?