shoei helmet evaluation.. surprise?

[Phil B]

In my FIRST accident, I had a long bump-n-slide by myself, which left a scratch on my shoei qwest, and also even took a chip out of the outer shell (about 1cm diameter, maybe smaller).

I told myself, "oh well", wore it for a little bit just because, but eventually saved up to buy a new helmet a few months back.  (A shoei RF1100)

Since I'm local to the testing center, I decided to take it down there and drop it off the other day.
Told them, "no big deal, i figure it's junk, keep it if its no good".

But durned if I didnt just get a notice from UPS to expect a package from shoei.

I havent officially heard anything from them, so they could have decided just to return my junk.
But otherwise... seriously? Did I buy a new helmet when I didnt have to??? :-/

Two pieces of.. if not "irony", then something interesting:
1. my newer one fits my head better. apparently, the RF1100 is a better shape for me. And better for laying low behind the fairing.

  BUT...
2. I dont have a fairing any more now. So, funnily enough, it would now be better for me to have a helmet that is made for more "touring" uses.

serendipity?
We shall see...

[Paulcet]

What are your thoughts on the Qwest vs the RF-1100?

[Phil B]

What are your thoughts on the Qwest vs the RF-1100?

thought that might come up
As mentioned, I think the rf1100 fits my head better. the qwest is a little more rounded. maybe too rounded.
But I also may have gotten one size too large. tough to say.I didnt get a proper fitting for that one. I DID get a proper fitting for my RF1100.  (dealer, southern california motorcycles, aka socaltriumph.com, was having a great "demo days" sale on gear)

I can say, that I initially bought the qwest because I thought it was going to be quieter, according to reviews.
But my use of the rf1100 has been very quiet. I'm very happy with it so far.
(and it doesnt hurt that it looks cooler, even in solid colors )

It's going to be interesting to compare the helmets back to back, hopefully.

With my new vertical riding position, and no fairing on my bike now, things are amazingly quiet... IF I dont turn my head. Then it gets more noisy, of course.
The interesting thing is that common wisdom says that the more knobby things on top, the louder a helmet will be.
But the RF1100 has *6* adjustable vents on top, yet still quiet for me.

I shall report back on how the qwest does for me in the same situation, if it's usable.

[redhawkdancing]

Shoei won't keep your helmet. They ship all of them back free of charge. It will contain a letter detailing the condition.   

[Phil B]

Huh! I'll be blowed. They cert'd it as good. 

Well, I dont get to ride for a few days, but come tuesday or wednesday, hopefully, I'll be able to give it a shot and compare noise levels.

as a side note: I got to do a little extra analysis of my rf1100 yesterday, as I rode it a short jaunt without earplugs. As such, I could hear minor noises that I dont usually get to hear.


I found that in my usual head position, with head tilted slightly down... it had a little more noise, than if I held my head so that the bottom of the helmet was parallel to the road.

This really surprised me.. I thought the RF1100 was designed for supposed more on-the-tank position.

(But keep in mind, that this was with my now completely "naked" GS500. I dont know any more, what the wind patterns would be like, on an F model)

I'm looking forward to my Qwest re-comparison when I get the chance!

[Phil B]

Finally took a few mins to compare. This was just on surface streets, going 40-50 ish.
First I wore the Qwest. then came back and put the RF1100 on, and rode the same streets.

you might say, "test inconclusive".

[reminder: I'm testing this on a "naked" gs500. E style headlight, no fairing, no cowl, NOTHING.]

The Qwest results were thrown off, because there was a slight whistle going on with it.
I dont think it always had that. but it did today.
Generally speaking, I never found the "perfectly quiet" spot. but it was quite low noise. And.... of a different pitch.

Then I put the rf1100 on. No whistle, yay!  but... not always as quiet as I remembered.
(probably because, "for science!", I was not wearing any earplugs)
I DID find the "perfectly quiet" head spot, when going around 40mph.  but could not manage to stay there all the time.
Still again, very low noise. but if you put a DB meter inside the helmet, it would probably register very very similar to the qwest. Just, as I said, different frequency.

The RF1100 noise was lower pitched, if I remember correctly. So, i found it more pleasant, personally.
But in my opinion, either helmet qualifies as a "low noise" helmet, for riding a naked GS500.
Freeway speeds might be different. I seem to recall that the Qwest definitely got a bit noisier. Whereas there was still a potential quiet spot with the RF1100.
If I ever take Qwest on the freeway, I'll update.

[Paulcet]

Thank you very much for the observations!

[Phil B]

More observations about the RF110 shoei helmet:

It has an odd little.. spoiler? on the back bottom lip of it, that the Qwest does not. I wondered how much of that was just for show.

Turns out, it definitely does something.
I had mentioned that I needed to keep my head up, for the quietest ride.

Occasionally, when I wear my vented jacket rather than my full leathers, I noticed that I felt a bit odd, when I looked "down".   Was wondering if my minor vertigo was kicking in.  But I finally figured it out.
When I look down, or a lot to the side.. the spoiler then is no longer directing the air smoothly behind me. It then makes some major drag turbulence.. which was spinning down my back and making me colder!   

So yah.. bottom spoiler thingie... definitely does stuff

[burning1]

I havent officially heard anything from them, so they could have decided just to return my junk.
But otherwise... seriously? Did I buy a new helmet when I didnt have to??? :-/

Yes, it's totally possible for a helmet to be fine after an accident, but you should always do as you did, and send it in for a qualified inspection. Shoei will inspect the helmet for free; you just have to provide them with pre-paid return shipping.

It really depends on the accident. I'm not going to offer any advise to the performance of a helmet after an impact. I will say that if you had a concussion or other head injury, your helmet is almost certainly toast.

I crashed a few years ago in a Shoei helmet. I rolled over my head in the crash, and had some neck/back pain. Sent it back for inspection, and it returned with an inspection letter stating that it was okay to use. Shoei was awesome - they even replaced a bunch of helmet parts that were damaged in the crash.

[Phil B]

Yes, it's totally possible for a helmet to be fine after an accident, but you should always do as you did, and send it in for a qualified inspection. Shoei will inspect the helmet for free; you just have to provide them with pre-paid return shipping.

actually, I didnt even have to pay shipping.
Although I did bring it down to them in the original shoei box, dunno if that helped.

I crashed a few years ago in a Shoei helmet. I rolled over my head in the crash, and had some neck/back pain. Sent it back for inspection, and it returned with an inspection letter stating that it was okay to use. Shoei was awesome - they even replaced a bunch of helmet parts that were damaged in the crash.

Nice!

reminds me of the alpinestar repair work on my "air" riding pants. They replaced the stupid mesh parts that ripped through, around my knee, with kevlar patches.
Mind you, IMO it was a design that never should have been sold in the first place (unsafe!!! But being a newb rider, I had no idea, buying my first riding pants)

I think their current iteration of that model, now has that area reinforced.

[Funderb]

now you have a helmet for a passenger too!

[Phil B]

Huh.

I may have to retract my statement about the thing on the back doing anything useful.
I just rode with my Qwest helmet, on the same fast stretch of highway. With the same gear on, this time.
Moved my head about. Same cold patch on my back happened.

ALTHOUGH... on the qwest, there is a slight bump/ridge at the back, Just no lip.
Potentially achieving the same thing as the rf1100 lip?
aerodynamics is weird.
(top=rf100, bottom=qwest)