Yet another new lid thread

[Guth_imp]

I too purchased a new lid this month.

For whatever reason, I'm the kind of guy that only owns/uses one helmet. It had been almost 5 years since I bought my last one (an Arai) and I recently received a pay bonus from work so the timing felt right to buy a new one. After trying on a bunch of different helmets and comparing fit, features, price, etc. the lid that won me over was the Shoei GT-Air.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks now and have only used it for commuting duties but thus far my impressions of this helmet are very favorable. The included Pinlock shield works amazingly well. It seems that it is impossible to get it to fog. I really dig the built in sun visor as well, great feature. The venting seems good but I'll reserve judgement until this summer when things begin to heat up. Most importantly, the helmet fits my head perfectly. Very snug, yet very comfortable with no pressure points, hot spots or anything of that sort. If it wasn't for the fit, the other features wouldn't matter nearly as much to me. As a nice bonus the helmet is extremely quiet (perhaps somewhat due to it fitting my head shape so well) even with the venting fully open.

The one thing that I'll miss about the Arai is the micro-adjustable visor. Sometimes I liked having the visor cracked open "just a little bit". That's not an option with the ratcheted system on the Shoei. All in all I think that I'll be quite pleased with the GT-Air.

 

[Cormanus]

Good looking helmet, Guth.

 

[ride4now_imp]

Guth, and others who use white helmets... Do you notice that the
white helmets are cooler to wear in the summer? I've only worn
black ones in recent memory and living in the south, it seems that
white might make more sense. By the way... nice looking lid!

 

[Rocky_imp]

I've never worn any colour other than white simply for the visibility factor.
It seems logical that white would be cooler.
I wear a white helmet, red jacket, and sometime a hi-vis vest, and hope for the best
So far, so good.

 

[the Ferret]

Nice looking lid Guth! I like it and it sounds like a great list of features.

I normally wear black helmets (I do have an open face in white) and to tell the truth I hadn't even considered that a white full face might be cooler than a black full face but that does make sense. I bought my newest white full face for the reason Rocky stated, visibility. As I get older I think I am becoming more cautious and realizing more my vulnerability.

 

[Lord Popgun]

I have a Shoei Quest that has a little lever that allows you to "crack" the shield. I like that and usually leave it like that all the time. But I would like to have that built in drop down sun screen.

Does that little lever looking thing on the front part of your helmet allow you to crack the shield?

I always wear light colored helmets due to the Summer sun in the South. Mine is silver now. My old one was white.

 

[HikerToo_imp]

I have the same helmet in silver in medium, certainly snugger fit than my other Shoei mediums.
I too like the pinlock, internal sun shade and Shoe quality and feel.
Was thinking of getting my wife one but not sure she rides with me enough to justify a $500 helmet, last year she only went out twice on the motorcycle.....

 

[Henrik_imp]

I tried out the GT-Air as well, but preferred the NXR/RF-1200/Z-7 for it being so light and small. I also really like how extremely easy it is to change the visor on these Shoeis. After decades of Arais, even though I became very quick at changing the visor on those, I have to say the Shoei system is just perfect. However, I do agree that I preferred the Arai's micro-adjustable visors.

 

[gossman_imp]

Nice helmet. I really like my new Shoei and the pinlock system. Been having some health issues over the past month or so and I haven't been able to enjoy either the helmet or the beautiful weather to ride. Hopefully I'll have better luck in May.

 

[CB4ME_imp]

Wow - that's a beauty!

 

[Guth_imp]

I have the same helmet in silver in medium, certainly snugger fit than my other Shoei mediums.
I too like the pinlock, internal sun shade and Shoe quality and feel.
Was thinking of getting my wife one but not sure she rides with me enough to justify a $500 helmet, last year she only went out twice on the motorcycle.....

The thing about the GT-Air is how much the shape "closes in" towards the bottom. It does make it more difficult to get the helmet on. But once you do, it's really nice having it fit more snug on the bottom half.

As far as the question regarding the ability of the white helmets to fend off heat, I couldn't say. I've only ever worn white helmets.

 

[Cormanus]

Nice helmet. I really like my new Shoei and the pinlock system. Been having some health issues over the past month or so and I haven't been able to enjoy either the helmet or the beautiful weather to ride. Hopefully I'll have better luck in May.

Hope you're OK gossman and will soon be back in the saddle.

 

[HikerToo_imp]

As far as the question regarding the ability of the white helmets to fend off heat, I couldn't say. I've only ever worn white helmets.
[/QUOTE]

And you live in Portland...so better question is how it fends off clouds/rain
But that's fine, if the Northwest had 20% more sunny days, everyone would live there!

 

[gossman_imp]

Nice helmet. I really like my new Shoei and the pinlock system. Been having some health issues over the past month or so and I haven't been able to enjoy either the helmet or the beautiful weather to ride. Hopefully I'll have better luck in May.

Hope you're OK gossman and will soon be back in the saddle.

Hope you're OK gossman and will soon be back in the saddle.
Kidney stones are a real pain. Ended getting them laser blasted to remove them, should be riding by next week

 

[metallyguitarded_imp]

Better than passing them, right? Glad to hear you'll be back in the saddle soon!

 

[the Ferret]

Laser blasted huh? Star Wars medicine! Hope you are able to get back on the road soon

 

[DAC]

Gossman - glad you're on the mend but I don't want to hear how they got that laser in there.

As for the helmet, what Arai did you come from? I know they come in various "head shapes" and wonder how the Shoei compares. I have an Aria Quantum II for round oval but intermediate oval could probably be closer to right. I'm due for a new brain bucket here soon - the Quantum is 5 years old.

 

[Guth_imp]

gossman, did you at least wear the Shoei during the surgery, you know just to be extra safe? Sorry, just trying to bring this one back full circle. :rofl:

(In all seriousness, glad it went well — enjoy the return back to riding!)

In the past I've owned the Arai Astral X and the RX-Q. If I were to buy another Arai I probably would have gone with the Signet-Q this time around though as it fit my head shape better than the RX-Q (at the time I bought it I probably could have gone with the Profile).

The more time I spend riding in the Air-GT, the more I like it. I've tested the visor seal sufficiently since the purchase and now I'm finally able to start using the internal sun visor for a change (awesome).

 

[emptysea]

Please explain "tested the seal sufficiently". Is there some sort of break-in period?

 

[Guth_imp]

Please explain "tested the seal sufficiently". Is there some sort of break-in period?

As HikerToo alluded to, we get our fair share of grey/damp/rainy/wet weather here in the Pacific Northwest. Since I commute daily by motorcycle I've had a number of opportuntities to make sure that the helmet doesn't leak.