HJC helmets

[pdedse]

The Torc T-1 "Iso-bars" arrived today... I was fully expecting it to be too large for me based on a number of reviews that said to order a size down as the Torc helmets run big. The 2 Shoeis I've owned were medium and the sizes for medium are the same between Shoei and Torc, so I couldn't imagine going down to a small.

First, the color looks great in person: the white is paper white and the thin yellow and thicker bronze and brown bars combine well together. Kinda like carmel sauce on vanilla ice cream. Yum.



My first impression on pulling it on was, ay, too tight right smack in the forehead. Shoot...do I return it? But the rest of it actually felt pretty good. A grab of the helmet and pulling left-right, up-down and it seemed pleasantly snug, except that forehead spot. No way would going down a size have worked for me. And going up to a large may ease the forehead tightness, but I'm pretty sure I'd lose the overall desired snug-ness.



Took off, put on several times and then left it on for a good 15minutes. The tight spot lessened and I think I've had that before where the fit is nicer once it gets worn some. Besides, it just looks beautiful, and I'm a sucker for form over function. Yet, I've always had boring helmets--solid silver, darker grey, black, maroon--all solid colors, so this time I wanted something elegantly splashy.



Of course, the real test will be when I ride with it on. Reviews have said there's a bit of wind noise, particularly over 65mph, but we'll see. I usually wear ear plugs to mitigate that anyway.

One aesthetics that I really like is the lack of overwhelming brand name stamped on the front...just a simple brassy "T" right dab in the middle.



The chin bar is so narrow! I think I can eat/dring with helmet on. If it feels nice enough tomorrow, I'll have to order a slightly darkened face shield.