It's not your eyes you need to worry about, it's your ears. More and more helmet manufacturers are making helmets to comply with a style rather than a need. Racers need the type of helmets built by Arai, where noise is a secondary issue, but most buyers are road riders who's needs are different. What we need are quieter lids. Countless test have been done that prove road noise, wind noise and machine noise are a big problem on motorcycles, yet the manufacturers continue to pander to track users rather than road users, even though the former is very much in the minority. By all means stick your earplugs in and be happy, but a lot of people like myself cannot abide earplugs, so just end up buying noisy lid after noisy lid, cos that's all there is available. Putting earplugs in is merely masking the fact that lids are not designed for the people who end up buying them. Road users.
I bought supposedly the quietest flip front lid on the market the Schuberth C3 Pro, on the Multistrada it is far from quiet, when stood up on the pegs it's really quiet, after shelling out the best part of £500 I was then faced with 3 options; 1. Buy another lid (probably spend god knows how much more trying to find a quiet one) 2. Sell my bike for another in a hope for noise reduction. (far too expensive a solution) 3. Get some custom moulded plugs with filters that reduce the noise to under what it was when stood up on the pegs but still lets me keep my situational awareness at half the cost of a new lid, no brainer really. If you don't like them fair enough but it was my best option, the quest for a quiet lid could be a very expensive one and as soon as you change bikes the issue could raise it's ugly head again. what is quiet for one person on one bike is very rarely the same for another.
So I need to spend £500 on a helmet only to find it's too noisy for general use. Then I have to spend a further couple of hundred on solutions to curb the noise. Is that right? And that's not masking the problem..?
My problem = noise in the helmet. My solution = custom plugs. Worked at the most effective cost, what is your solution?
Moan, obviously... But also to try to convince the makers to produce a product that is fit for purpose. It shouldn't be mandatory to go deaf while riding a bike, helmets never used to be as noisy as they are now.
Good luck with that quest, by the time you convince them it will be too late and you will be deaf anyway (if you aren't already). :biggrin: I work with Tanks and ride a noisy Multistrada yet my hearing is still H1, H1 so I must be doing something right.
That's another gripe of mine. I don't know if it's just me getting old, but I find lids far too draughty these days. Fine in the summer, obviously, but in the winter my head freezes, and I'm not a bloke who feels the cold too much. Again, I think it is down to helmet design, and again the only lid of mine that is comfortable to wear in the winter is my Schuberth. Trouble with the Schuberth is it's very heavy and looks gopping. There must be another firm that makes quiet, comfortable lids that don't make you look like an extra from Doctor Who...
You've just not got an aerodynamic bonce. I suspect there is a limit to how quiet a lid can be and still provide protection, light weight, functionality for a bounce that moves about in all directions. Its weight and comfort I like. Noise is dealt with by plugs. helmets have always been as noisy. Its just you've got more moany and your riding quicker. :tongue: Plus your bike rattles less these days. So you are noticing the wind more maybe. You can only deal with the noise issue with ear defenders. The lid is to protect your head. To compromise it by adding attenuation properties is pointless when a 50p set of earplugs will do the job. To expect otherwise is to be perpetually disappointed. Why re-invent the wheel? Besides it should be dealt with at source. Your ears. With ear plugs. To add attenuation properties to a crash helmet would be nigh on impossible. Whilst retaining a lid of adequate proportions and usability. Noise will flank all protection in the lid and will resonate on its contact patch. Your skull. There is more than one route to your tympanic membrane for noise vibrations to travel. The reason no-one provides this in a lid is because a 50p set of earplugs will provide more attenuation than could be applied to a crash helmet. If there is a free path to your eardrum for air to travel, how do you suggest you mitigate against this? Enclose your ears in acoustic wadding? Good luck with that. You've just made the lid larger and thus the contact area larger and thus noise generation worse. Its a law of diminishing returns. Have a word with an acoustician. Or slow down. Noise is a logarithmic scale. Go slower, produce less noise. Or walk. :tongue:
Nonsense. Schuberth make very quiet kids, they're just too bloody expensive. Shoei made the Qwest, which was apparently a quiet lid (never tried one, Shoeis don't fit me very well). So it's perfectly possible to build a quiet lid, it's just that the manufacturers ain't interested in doing so.
Schuberth by your own admission are large, heavy and ugly. Shoei is quiet but nowhere near as quiet as wearing earplugs. They're not interested because there is a 50p solution. You're just being stubborn and intransigent because you are getting old. Admit it. You're just a grumpy old grouch looking for something to moan about.
I know it's a very personal thing...helmets that is. I've had a few in my time mostly high end and the quietest I found by far was the BMW System 6 helmet. It is a flip front touring one but it is very quiet and comfortable. I was so impressed with the fit and noise or lack of I purchased the BMW Race version for the sports bike which is also quiet and comfortable but not as quiet as the system 6.RegardsDavy
That is so unfair Helmets were definitely quieter back in the day. And wagon wheels were bigger. Made by Schuberth...
They were quieter because we didn't get to +90mph as quick as we do nowadays. Plus when you look at the clocks you're cruising a 120mph smoothly and with less hassle than you used to. Thats my theory. I agree about the wagon wheels though. I concede your point. Once you pass 90mph the wind pressure increases dramatically. Short of wearing a sharks fin shaped lid, i'm not sure what you can do about it. You'd need a liner with both good impact protection and acoustic properties. The acoustic part requires a more dense product but that would add weight. I'd sooner they concentrate on impact resistance only. Ie I want their focus sorely on making sure my bonce is protected. Compromises always end up badly.
Undoubtedly my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, that'll be as much the fault of working with machinery and going to gigs as riding a bike. Personally I'm less worried about going deaf than some people. But there's no doubt the lids were quieter and less draughty twenty years ago. It's foolish to suggest that I ride quicker than I used to, that's simply not the case. Personally, I'm happy with the level of protection on offer, now I want the helmet makers to concentrate on making the lids nicer to use.
Happy with my GT Air, Not quiet enough to wear without earplugs IMHO, but really cuts down on the buffeting I used to get with my old Multitec, Earplugs are the way forward once you get used to them
What is the problem with Arais visor mech ? i can change my Arai visor in under 10 seconds. i have tried many helmets and return to Arai. anyone that wont wear earplugs deserves to go deaf. no helmet shuts out enough noise. no way would i ever ride and listen to music ! I need 120% of my concentration when riding. thats me done.
My Schuberth SR1 weighs 1.6 kg My Arai Quantum 1.5 kg Yes the SR1 feels lighter , more well balanced and much quieter I have tinnitus and partly deaf so horse has already bolted (misspent youth and working in heavy industry) - I listen to music on the bike , just like I do in the car
