Shoei RF-1000

[Toogoofy317]

I did this write-up in the wiki but decided to throw a copy over here! Enjoy

The Shoei RF-1000 Helmet

I bought this helmet at Central Florida Power Sports in Kissimmee Florida. I got it 08-21-2007 so as of this writing I will have had it two years.

First impressions it is very light it weighs 3.32lbs or 1510grams. I have a very small head and the size small Shoei fits me comfortably. There are two perks of fitting that the Shoei has over a lot of helmets. First, it has adjustable cheek pads and a 3-D comfort liner that stays in place very well.


Second, it has four different shell sizes and 5 different liners. Why is this a big deal one may ask? Think about this analogy imagine a basketball and a cantaloupe. Then imagine using a helmet made for the size of the basketball on the cantaloupe. Way too big! Most manufacturers to save money don't use different size shells they just stuff in more padding. In my experience that has resulted in neck fatigue and the "bobble" head affect. Also, I always wear a pair of Oakley Half Jackets while on the bike and they fit inside the helmet with no pinching or pressure points. There is ample space for you ears in this helmet as well. So much in fact that I have two small Nike speakers glued in for listening to my IPOD

The helmet is secured to your head by "D" ring hook and loop closure. This can be a bit finicky to attach with gloved hands.  

The shell itself is made out of Shoei's proprietary AIM + (Advanced Integrated Matrix Plus Multi-fiber Technology), which embeds ultra strong organic fibers into fiberglass. This allows the helmet upon impact to absorb and disperse the energy from impact. The helmet does comply with Snell, FMVSS218 (Dot), ECE22.05 and ACU Gold European standards. From the looks and feel of this helmet it seems as if it will take a good hit and protect your brain. Although, I have not crash tested this helmet and pray I never have to!

The visor for this helmet is known as CX-1V that also fits other models of Shoei. I currently have the clear visor that came with the helmet but Shoei does offer a wide variety of different colors from colored to mirror. All, visors have UV protection incorporated. The visor also has three preset lever selectors so the visor can be barely open halfway open or all the way open. There are a total of seven adjustments you can have for the visor too
.

On the left of the visor there is a small lip that allows you to pop open the visor with a gloved hand. I find this very useful when coming to red lights to get some extra air flow.  I have noticed that the visors do fog up when at a stop. I always have to crack the visor to keep this from occurring. There is a breath guard that comes with the helmet that is supposed to eliminate this from occurring but for some reason it makes breathing a bit difficult for me and cracking the visor is the logical alternative. The visor is held together with Shoei's quick release base plate mechanism that allows you to change out a visor in less than a minute! This is really nice when going from tinted to clear for varied riding! As I stated I have had this visor for two years it has a few scratches on it from normal wear and tear. One larger scratch came from a massive bug that knocked my head to the side when it came into contact. The other came from an antenna we were moving and the helmet got in the way. I only clean the visor with Oakley lens cleaner and that has done well for the visor.

The vents on this helmet are superb! You have one on the chin to help with fogging of the visor. There are two on the front that slide up and down.
 

These are a little hard to maneuver when going at increased speeds. My gloves seem to slide over the top of them keeping me from opening them. Shutting them is not a problem. They do allow quite a bit of air in because the location forces air in and behind the visor. Then there is the rear vent known as the Aero Wing Spoiler that helps with interior cooling. It also increases negative air pressure and allows the air to flow out of the back easier. It has a slide under the wing to adjust how much air you want in or out. Even with this multitude of vents the helmet is relatively quite. If I am riding with the visor in the "up" position I will get some whistling that comes in from the top vents. But, when the visor is closed it is very quite. Another cool feature is the chin curtain it really buffets the wind and makes for a much better ride. One does not get that pulling sensation that occurs when a breeze catches the helmet just right forcing the head to the side.


This helmet looks fast just sitting on the counter. It has very sleek lines and curves that don't look like something out of RoboCop. There is a choice of 35 different combinations so it would be impossible to not be able to find one to match the bike which is important right? I bought the gloss black helmet. Although, I liked the Dragon one and it was very nicely painted on but I could not justify the extra $150 for vanity's sake. What I did do was add two blue dragon decals from Fatal Threat and I get a lot of compliments on them!

In essence this is a magnificent helmet and I would gladly pay $350 for a quality helmet as this. Honestly, there is only two down sides the fogging and the price. Other than that an awesome helmet!

Mary

[bassmechanicsz]

Wow people should just buy you gear to write reviews on it.  Very in depth review.

[JB848]

She's turning into a plethora of information and a posting (wiki) guru in one day OMG what's next?

Robert

[erbilabuc]

We had a member named scott last year sell shoei rf1000's to us for 150$ but they said suzuki hayabusa. Regardless I ended up buying 4, and I sold them to friends for 200$ a piece and mine came out for free. Best helmet I have ever owned!

[CentralCoaster]

My only criticism of the RF1000 is the plastic mechanism for cracking the visor open is very fragile.  I've broken this on two RFs after only a few weeks of usage.

Otherwise it vents great, and there's many pad sizes that are relatively easy to find online.

There are ear pockets, but they're a bit too shallow to put speakers in without your ears folding over when you put the helmet on.

They've got some of the best designs also.  Here's mine:  

[Alphamazing]

Just some suggestions regarding your review (keep in mind these are personal opinions about how I feel it should be done):

1. Don't place pictures in line with your text. Make them a separate paragraph by having at least two line breaks between them and the text. This makes the text easier to read, as well as the pictures far more defined.

2. Organize the review into separate chunks. Title these chunks, and make the titles stand out from the normal text.

3. At the beginning, make a simple list of the brand, model, MSRP, and price you paid/location you got it from.

4. Start with the technical details, then expand on these details with your opinions. Quantitative, then qualitative. (For example, you can say the weight is a certain weight, then talk about how light that is compared to other helmets, provide data to back this up if possible, i.e. weight of same size Arai helmet, KBC helmet, HJC helmet, etc)


The biggest suggestion I can make is not to put the images in line with your text. It's bad form, and really makes it quite difficult to read through.

An example of a review I have done, so you can see what I'm trying to get at:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=31525.0

Again, these are just my personal opinions on how a review/report should be written and formatted. I write a lot of reports. 

[JStrube]

You know, when I hear about different shell sizes & different liners, I wonder if the shops ever know this.  I have never had a shop say, hey, what's wrong with the fit, let's try this liner.  I basically put it on my head, it was too round, so I took it off... 

John.

[Alphamazing]

You know, when I hear about different shell sizes & different liners, I wonder if the shops ever know this.  I have never had a shop say, hey, what's wrong with the fit, let's try this liner.  I basically put it on my head, it was too round, so I took it off... 

They do. The liners are also glued into the shells. Secondly, the liners are typically all the same shape, just different sizes. Certain brands or models are designed for certain head shapes.

[CentralCoaster]

For the RF, if you've got a wierd shape head, yes you can try a larger helmet but with thicker cheek pads, or the other way around.  It does favor people with big foreheads though, as does Scorpion EXO-400/700.  I can't say the same for the Arai Astro or KBC VR.

They have something like 5 different sizes, but only 2 or 3 different shells.  The in between sizes are simply using different pads.

This helmet does generate quite a bit of aero lift at 160 mph, so keep that strap tight!  Although I guess that won't be an issue on the GS.   

Another criticism I have is the discontinuous skirt around the bottom rear of the helmet.  The gaps in the pads allow more wind noise in than other helmets I've tried.  Obviously this depends on how big your mullet is and the shape of your head and bike aero.

[Toogoofy317]

Hmm. Those Nike speakers in the pic don't touch my ears at all!
Thanks all for the positive comments! Stuck in the hospital yet again
Mary

[scottpA_GS]

We had a member named scott last year sell shoei rf1000's to us for 150$ but they said suzuki hayabusa. Regardless I ended up buying 4, and I sold them to friends for 200$ a piece and mine came out for free. Best helmet I have ever owned!

 

I still have some size smalls left fro $99. 

[bucks1605]

Nice review Mary.

What kind of speakers are those? Are they headphones that you took apart?

[gsJack]

I remember buying my RF1000 in a local shop almost five years ago and trying it on for a while in the store and thinking it was a good fit.  My HJC Symax which I had just received insurance reimbursement for after totalling my 97 GS was an XL so I was trying a XL RF1000 and it felt good and I almost bought the XL RF1000 when I remembered the two were about a size apart in the charts so I removed the cheek pads and the RF was actually too loose on my head w/o the cheek pads.  I ended up buying a L size RF1000 that fit my head and reducing the thickness of the foam in the cheek pads until they were a good fit too, different size cheek pads are available from Shoei.  Just suggesting if you are buying an expensive helmet try it on without the removable cheek pads first to make sure it's a proper tight fit on your head w/o the pads then get the right size pads for your cheeks.

I have lost 35 pounds since January and my RF1000 is getting loose w/o the chubby cheeks so I need some thicker pads again now but I wear my newer flipface CL-Max most of the time locally for it's convenience just running about.

[Toogoofy317]

Alpha thanks 4 the tips when I get home I will fix the pics.
The speakers I got from the Nike skull cap s. The speakers are d esigned to come out! Got them for $10Will get more info when I get home.
Mary

[Toogoofy317]

Bucks, here is the hat I harvested the speaker from http://www.holabirdsports.com/m/Running/Headwear/All/p3/051504.htm

Alpha I changed the pics on your recommendation when I feel better I may re-do this but am too tired right now!

Mar

[Alphamazing]

Alpha I changed the pics on your recommendation when I feel better I may re-do this but am too tired right now!

Much easier to read!