Comparison - Scorpion EXO-400 vs. Shoei RF-1000

[Alphamazing]

I've tried Shoei, Scorpion, Arai; hell, damn near any helmet in the motorcycle shops around here I've tried on. None of them fit me as well as the Shoei. It's all a personal comfort thing, Srinath, no need to get agressive over them not fitting you :lol:. The Shoei RF-1000 does have an exhaust vent in the back, though. It's in the spoiler thingy.

[Badger]

When I was picking out helmets, the gear guy actually recommended the Scorpion over the $400+ counterparts.  He said that it had essentially all the same features, performed better, and was 1/3 the price.  I just assumed that he got better margins on the Scorpions, but since then I've heard a lot of ++'s for the Scorpions.  In reality it seems like more like 'brand inflation'...the Scorpions just can't command the same $$ as Shoei or Arai, even with a comperable product.  I ended up with the Warhawk Blue EXO-400, and it's quite comfortable.

In case anyone is unaware:  the Scorpions come in 2 shell sizes, one for the Large, XL, and XXL models and another for the XS, S, and M models.  The difference is in the replacable pads (used to size the helmet down).  The shop I was at just bought a few of each shell size and a bunch of pads so that they had "all sizes" on hand.  Ironically, they didn't have the one I wanted....they gave me a loaner for a couple of days so I could get the bike home until my lid came in.

"Warhawk yellow" with mirror visor.

Another note:  I understand only the clear and smoke visors have the magic "anti-fogging" mojo...not the mirrored visors...you mention that yours only fogs up when you're not moving (mine does too with the clear visor)...has this continued to be your experience?

[The Buddha]

I've tried Shoei, Scorpion, Arai; hell, damn near any helmet in the motorcycle shops around here I've tried on. None of them fit me as well as the Shoei. It's all a personal comfort thing, Srinath, no need to get agressive over them not fitting you :lol:. The Shoei RF-1000 does have an exhaust vent in the back, though. It's in the spoiler thingy.

Yea even I'd say that its 1/2 true ... cos arai and scorpion crushed my cheeks even more  :x ... as well as the arai as I was putting it on, the plasticky cheek thing came loose and gouged me below my right eye ...  :x  ...
OK great I need to buy the latest and greatest from shoei to get the exhaust venting that is standard on every one's $150 lid.
Anyway ... The shoei and the Bieffe GPR as well as my old BR16 are nearly the same material and I will bet react very similarly under impact etc ... and the GPR was clearanced at $80, my BR 16 cost me $100 in 2000 and my next helmet will be a polycarbonate item, not fiber glass/composite. PC is better (also called Lexan under some makes). I just gots me the helmet of me dreams ... Bieffe GPR in some super ghey ass paint scheme ... yea baby ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[Alphamazing]

Ahh, it's true that Shoei's are expensive, but I've never paid retail for one. Hell, I got my RF-1000 (Blue Storm) for $240.

[The Buddha]

I've never paid retail for a helmet either, and I do not buy a cheap crap helmet either, I have only bought helmets that are as good as or better than Shoei's and the priciest one has been the $100 BR16. $240 might as well be retail, since you can buy a near identical (in spite of what the shoei shills may say) Scorpion for $200. If you went with polycarbonates whihc motorcyclist says are better    ... the retail of the good ones drops to $100 or less ... their Z1R that basically won the comparison was $89.99. So shoei may claim the retail is $450 and may sell it for $240 in a 50% off sale ... but we dont believe that crap ... anyway How dumb am I gonna look riding down the street with a $500 lid and a $400 bike  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  ... Sorta like $4000 spinner wheels I seen some brotha's put on a 1973 Ford granada.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Roadstergal]

Another note:  I understand only the clear and smoke visors have the magic "anti-fogging" mojo...not the mirrored visors...you mention that yours only fogs up when you're not moving (mine does too with the clear visor)...has this continued to be your experience?

Yep, indeedy.  The difference between the mirror and the standard only becomes noticeable on humid days (i.e. when it's raining) - the mirrored will fog up unless I'm going at a decent pace, and the clear one just won't.

[roguegeek]

When I did my helmet shopping 9 months ago, those Scorpion helmets weren't around or weren't in stock at the time. I must have been there for an hour with the sales guy. Tried on at least 15 different helmets. When the time came to pick one, I went with the Shoei Rf-1000. It just fit right and had all the features I was looking for.

That Scorpion is a damn nice helmet for the price. I was looking into getting a second one anyways for friends, girls, and whatnot. I'm definitely looking the Scorpion way now.

[BLITZMW77]

Not surre if anyone is interested, but here are some things I did when I raced Go-Karts to battle a foggy visor. One thing I did was rub some shaving cream on the inside of the visor. When I finished rubbing it in good I would get a clean rag and rub/buff it off. Kinda like waxing a car or bike. It worked pretty good. There were 2 drawbacks. It smelled like shaving cream and I had to do this every race night. Another thing I did was add more ventilation. I drilled about 10 holes evenly spaced along the bottom edge of the visor. About 1/4"or so from the bottom. Being that low they were not distracting to my vision in a race. The holes were only 1/16" so they did not let so much air in that it bothered the eyes. When I first heard of this trick I was not sure I wanted to try it. I raced on dirt tracks and figured I would just get a face full of dirt. It didn't seem to happen though. I only did it to my clear visor. I left my my mirrored lens alone because I only used it in the day and it never fogged on me.

There was my input.

[The Buddha]

If you ahve a broken visor or something identical to the visor on the helmet, you can cut a piece and glue it on the outside of the thing with 2 sided tape along the edge ... for good measure put some rain x type thing on both the surfaces in the middle ... that will never let it fog ... the same trick snomobile helmets use ... In fact some bike helmets are available as sno helmets with this as an option ... HJC has some I believe.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Roadstergal]

My trick in cars was dish soap.  Take dish soap, apply with a dry cloth to the inside of a clean visor (or windshield).  Then buff it out with another clean, dry cloth. The surfactant left behind will prevent droplets from forming, so no fog.

Even that wouldn't keep my Shoei fog-free, though.  I got a Fog City shield, and for $13, no fog, period.

[Badger]

One thing I did was rub some shaving cream on the inside of the visor.

I suspect this works because it cleans off the minute layer of greasy film that forms on almost everything, yielding a very smooth surface that moisture vapor finds it difficult to condense on.  Shaving cream has somewhat bizzare properties as a cleaning agent...I recall a lot of people I knew when I was in the military used to use it to get old polish of their combat boots (although I never tried the technique).  Make sure it's an aerosol/non-gel shaving cream, though...I understand that it makes a difference.

[fat_sac]

I just ordered the HJC cs12 http://www.hjchelmets.com/cs12_look.htm# I wanted another Soumy, but it didn't make sense to spend as much on a helmet as I did on the bike. Any good or bad things about the HJC?

[Badger]

The 'loaner' that the shop gave me to get my bike home while I waited for my helmet to come in was an HJC.  The first thing that I noticed when I rode around with the new helmet was that the wind wasn't nearly as disruptive when I turned my head.  It seemed that whenever I'd head check wearing the HJC, my head would get pushed hard to the side...I figured it was to be expected until I got the Scorpion, which seems to flow much better in the wind.  YMMV.

[fat_sac]

Damn, I'm kinda hoping that for 80$ I won't be too disappointed. After all, my last helmet was 600.

[The Buddha]

I just ordered the HJC cs12 http://www.hjchelmets.com/cs12_look.htm# I wanted another Soumy, but it didn't make sense to spend as much on a helmet as I did on the bike. Any good or bad things about the HJC?

Poly carbonate is the best for a helmet ... not only do they transmit less energy to your head, they also can be used after casual drops and or light crashes. Refer to this aritcle ...

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/hatz/

Poly carbonates are typically cooked up ina giant vat or sorta, and injection moulded into the helmet mould. Making it for a quick and dirty manufacturing cycle, giberglass or other composites are hand laid, then resined etc, then cooked in a vacuum oven. More than 5-10 times the labor. Its hence costs more. However just cos its harder to do doesn't make it better. I was partial to Poly or lexan helmets to about 2000, then I got swayed by the composite is better crap, bought a bieffe, then gave it away this year and started using the POS shoei I got from someone as part of a bike deal. Now back to Poly/lexan. Wooo hooo life is good when you know what you want ... makes it less distracting and less complicated doesn't it. HJC probably is much better than the POS shoei I am wearing, and to think I might have paid like $300 for it ... makes me sick ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[Gisser]

Poly carbonate is the best for a helmet ... not only do they transmit less energy to your head, they also can be used after casual drops and or light crashes.

I guarantee you that no one racing at a world class level is using a polycarbonate helmet.  Saturday, in MotoGP, Marcos Melandri crashed and had a footpeg go through his armored boot.  A plastic helmet lined with styrofoam wouldn't fare any better I wouldn't think.  

[rtcpenguin]

Cool. I've heard good things about the Exo.

I'm new to riding, but insofar my HJC AC-11 Zeek (paid $100) has been nothing short of amazing. Its got great ventilation, super high quality padding (some removable), superb graphics and finish, and it is fairly quiet. The only thing I don't like about it is the visor action. Its sorta hard to get the visor to come up, and it isnt smooth like a Scorpion.

All in all, I think you'd have to be crazy or ridiculously rich to waste the extra $200-400 for a Shoei or an Arai. That article "Blowing the Lid off Helmets" or whatever it was called also showed that there aren't any major differences between the brands in terms of protection either.

[Roadstergal]

I had big problems with the science in that article.  If I have some time in the next year, , I'll write them up.

[The Buddha]

Poly carbonate is the best for a helmet ... not only do they transmit less energy to your head, they also can be used after casual drops and or light crashes.

I guarantee you that no one racing at a world class level is using a polycarbonate helmet.  Saturday, in MotoGP, Marcos Melandri crashed and had a footpeg go through his armored boot.  A plastic helmet lined with styrofoam wouldn't fare any better I wouldn't think.  

Yea not plastic - polycarbonate will stop a .22 bullet. Just cos it can be heated and moulded like plastic doesn't mean it is plastic. Poly carbonate is also called Lexan and trademarked/patented by GE. It will in under an 1/8th thick sheet stop a .22. Oakley glasses are made from these. Marco Melandri's boot wasn't made from poly carbonate ... so its not an apt comparison. How would you know what each rider wears. they custom make the things for each rider. They could very well pack it with an extra inch of expanded Polystyrene and paint the helmet with their logo and sell replica's of those ... Bieffe claimed Biaggi wore the BR16, and I bought that helmet, guess what ... that helmet weighs a ton, and the same year shoei and arai and HJC and everythign else weighed 1/2 as much ... I am betting Biaggi has never seen the damn BR16 ... That article is only 1/2 the full story, november issue of Motorcyclist has the second 1/2. I have had poly carbonate sheets and various bits and pieces, its in destructible. if we made poly carbonate body work for the bikes ... we'll almost never need replacement panels ... if we covered the gas tank with a tight poly carbonate layer ~1/8 thick we'll never need replacement tanks except in the rarest of cases ... Custom fit helmets are going to be better no matter what, off the shelf we want one that is closest to the custom fit ones. I believe Poly carbonate has the right failure mode (elastic) to make it the perfect material for a helmet, face sheilds and sun glasses. BTW even Shoei uses a polycarbonate face sheild ...
Cool.
Srinath.

[RVertigo]

polycarbonate will stop a .22 bullet.

Sorta...

3 mm polycarb will most likely stop a standard .22 bullet fired from over 3 meters.

1.5 mm polycarb won't stop a knife.

Mythbusters covered it in Episode 16: : Ancient Death Ray, Skunk Cleaning, What Is Bulletproof?

Any thickness polycarb will crack when in contact with acetone.