• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

DS Helmet

PaulC

PaulC

F class
Hi Gents, I know it's not the norm here but I have approval to buy a new helmet in the next week or so. (courtesy of fathers day:))
I'm looking at just a standard dual sport type with peak and visor and maybe an internal sun visor.

Can yous recommend what you are using? say under $500

Currently using a rjays dakar (el cheapo), noisy and falling apart.

Any suggestions appreciated
Thanks PC
 
If you can go somewhere and try on different high quality helmets it's a big plus. The protection of the high dollar helmets is similar but depending on the shape of your head (oval vs round) you might not like some brands at any price. Problem for me is that local dealer only stocks cheap helmets and I'm not about to drop $500 on a helmet I've never tried on. I'm currently running a AGV that I got on clearance and really like it.
 
Icon has some very nice helmets for dual sport, I believe were running the variant? Looks similar to a mx helmet but has a full visor so no goggles needed. If I remember correctly is ran about $350ish, quiet and comfy too.
 
I've had a Fly Trekker since they came out, and I'm quite happy with it.

It was very reasonably priced, and I think it's also sold under a few other names.
 
Arai XD-4 with Snell certification from the USA cost me about $AU550 delivered. It's hi viz green though! Great helmet
 
I'm a huge Arai XD fan and still using the first edition that was inspected and chin straps replaced at 5 years and it is still my go to lid. I picked up a Shoei flip up a couple of years ago that I hardly ever use. I just like the XD best.
 
I have a Fly Trekka, happy enough with it for the price. Looking at an O'Neal Sierra next, which is similarly priced and also has a built in tinted visor. Anyone have one already?
 
I have a few helmets. My favorite is a 3/4 el cheapo no name brand, I wear goggles to keep my eyes from drying out.

My dual sport/off road is an HJC, which is OK. My Icon is a great helmet. That one is quiet and full face street. Fits my head nice. I sold my Arai and that was a noisy helmet compared to the Icon.
 
I tried on a number of DS helmets at MCAS today. Two favourites were the AGV AX-8 and the Arai XD4. Of those two, the AGV fit me better. I've seen the AGV on sale at moto heaven in Vic for $360 but only available in med or small. The large fit me nice. Both were significantly lighter than the Rays dakar and the O Neill Sierra and also more comfortable. I've not tried any on the road yet.
 
Heads and lids...eh? Have used Shoei full faced and was happy. Now, after either the helmet or my head has deformed I need a new helmet...looking at the Shark Explorer... Not sure if to trust the reviews ...hell I can hardly trust myself!
 
I've got the Oneal Sierra Muddler. It's a cheap helmet & looking at it closely you can tell. I have a problem with my external visor not sealing properly so I use duct tape to keep it closed tight on long road sections. This might be an aberration as a mate checked some out & found no sign of bad sealing. The internal sunvisor doesn't quite extend low enough in my opinion. That being said, it's a good fit for me & feels great all day. I can wear glasses or goggles, as is my want. Much better for me than the Fly, not as good overall quality as the XD but then its way cheaper and once it's on, you forget how cheaply it's put together. I haven't attached my Sena to it, so I don't know how it goes intercom wise.
 
Bought the Shoei Neotec for $584. Money well spent, good vents, low noise, no fogging, speaker adaptable, good visibility. A guy in a car locked it up in front of me on a questionable section of road (tire residue, oil, or fish juice) I did a low speed (25mph) high side get off, no ABS, rear tire went to the left I went to the right, broke my right collar bone. Shoulder and helmet hit the pavement first. Just a scratch on the helmet, bent front brake lever, scratch on the right foot peg and crash bars. It saved my life.
 
I don't think you need an expensive helmet to save your life. This Bell helmet was cheap but looked after me.
5fe5dec1a3efac3b4b454f58642d4509_zps5e04fcaa.jpg
 
Chuffa said:
I don't think you need an expensive helmet to save your life. This Bell helmet was cheap but looked after me.
Click to expand...


Yes I recall. Pretty major. Those roos and wallabies are hard critters:D many years ago, whilst travelling at 50kph on a bush track. I had one sitting on my tank, briefly. When he left I got clawed and had go to the hospital to get my leg stitched up:censored:
The guys couldnt stop laughing, so I threw blood on them, anyway you had to be there
 
Chuffa said:
I don't think you need an expensive helmet to save your life. This Bell helmet was cheap but looked after me.
5fe5dec1a3efac3b4b454f58642d4509_zps5e04fcaa.jpg
Click to expand...

How is the rest of you? I bought the Shoei for the lack of wind noise, no goggle, anti fog, speaker. I also have an HJC, and a Bell, just prefer the Shoei
 
A few broken bones was all. Wind noise versus air flow seems to be the trade-off doesn't it. I'm forced to use ear plugs because I need the a heap of airflow due to being a scrubby rider & working hard taking the bike to places beyond my comfort zone. The fact that kangaroos seem to be attracted to me means I also don't want to put a lot of $ into a helmet. On the up side, it looks like more manufacturers are getting into the dual-sport helmet market. Hopefully we will get access to cheaper helmets with more features.
 
My X-Lite X551 served me very well during our trip, in all conditions. From temperatures close to 40C in Iran and Southern Russia to close to freezing while crossing Germany in April. Sun, Rain or Snow, it didn't really matter. Comfortable and not too noisy with flexible ventilation. And still a good bit cheaper than the Shoei/Arai/Touratech offerings.
Imho pretty much any helmet available in reputable shops is decent enough to protect your head. The main difference lies in comfort, noise and the brand name.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top