Best Motorcycle Helmets 2019
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00:00Hi, this is Lemmy with RevZilla.
00:12And I'm Spurge, and we are here today to discuss the best motorcycle helmets of 2019.
00:17That's entirely true.
00:18We're showing you what is best for this year, the upcoming riding season.
00:22Now in some segments, there was a clear winner, others, man, it was a really dogged fight
00:27out there.
00:28So instead of chattering on about it, let's get right into stuff.
00:30Spurge, what do you got?
00:31So this is going to be the best motorcycle helmet sub $200, and that award is going to
00:36go to the AGV K1.
00:38And the reason this helmet is going to get our best sub $200 award is the styling mixed
00:42with the safety on this.
00:43But really, it's the styling that takes this home and sets it apart from other helmets
00:47out there in this range.
00:48You've got this really aggressive hawksbill.
00:50You've got the spoiler on the back.
00:51You get all this MotoGP style, but for a helmet that's coming in at a very affordable price
00:56point.
00:57And the other big thing is that AGV has changed the fit for their helmets with this.
01:01It's now more of an intermediate oval, which is going to be more comfortable and usable
01:04for the majority of the American riders out there.
01:06Absolutely.
01:07They really nailed the styling on this thing.
01:08I mean, this looks exactly like the piece to GB, which is not 1,600 bucks.
01:12Exactly.
01:13Now I'll be 100% honest.
01:14If I was shopping for a helmet myself and I was down in this price range, I would probably
01:18be minimizing, I guess, how much I was looking for style.
01:22I think you could probably pick up another helmet that maybe offers the exact same features
01:26as this, if not maybe even a little bit better, but forgoes some of the styling, but still
01:30keep a couple bucks in your pocket.
01:31Probably important for people shopping for helmets in this price range.
01:34Yeah, man.
01:35And I agree with you.
01:36I think for anyone out there looking to buy a sub-$200 helmet, there's a ton of great
01:39options.
01:40But really, what sets the K1 apart is that style.
01:43For people that do find style important, they want that really racy look, they now have
01:47an option to select from.
01:48And the other thing is, too, if you want to go a little bit above that $200 mark, you
01:51can get into some of the really cool AGV race graphics that are normally reserved for those
01:55$1,600 pistas.
01:57Yeah, and style is definitely important, which actually carries us nicely into our next helmet
02:01that's going to be the best bang for the buck helmet.
02:03And this year, that's going to Icon with the Air Flight.
02:08This thing is actually a really neat helmet.
02:09So obviously, we've got some pretty in-your-face styling here, much like that helmet.
02:13But instead of appealing to the track set, this is looking real bad on your bike, sort
02:17of trying to scare the hell out of the neighborhood sort of thing.
02:20Right, exactly.
02:21So really in-your-face styling here.
02:23This is actually a remarkably usable helmet, which I feel like Icon has done a really good
02:26job with in all their gear lately.
02:28When I say usable, I mean, OK, so you've got obviously this drop-down shield that comes
02:32right over the chin.
02:33But that shield looks awesome, too, if you get it in that mirror, you can't see anything.
02:37It looks crazy.
02:38It looks ridiculous.
02:39Some of the color combos you can set up are really, really nuts.
02:41But if you have a gloved hand, opening this thing up is absolutely cake.
02:44You can see these huge chimney vents up here.
02:46These are really easy to open with a gloved hand.
02:49This thing, for as wild as it looks, is actually a very pragmatic helmet.
02:53I think it's interesting because for me, I would have never considered Icon personally.
02:57But they introduced the Airframe Pro, and with that, they really stepped up, in my mind,
03:02their quality level.
03:03I mean, I've used the Airframe Pro on the track.
03:05It's really my go-to street track helmet.
03:07And I think for folks looking for that same quality, but for a street-only helmet, the
03:10Airflight really carries on that tradition.
03:12That being said, I am not about to give up my Airframe Pro and that cool Warbird graphic
03:17that I got from the Ninja 400 review.
03:19I think that makes a bunch of sense.
03:21And Spurgeon also, too.
03:22He likes the crazy graphics as well.
03:24I think, don't you have a pleasure dome sitting on your desk?
03:26I do have a pleasure dome sitting on my desk.
03:28And with that, we're going to move right along to the next category, which is actually going
03:32to be the best adventure helmet for 2019.
03:35And that's going to go to the AGV AX9.
03:38Now the reason this is going to get our top pick for adventure lid for 2019 is you've
03:42got a lot of improvements on a helmet that's been a perennial favorite since 2011.
03:48So really what you're going to see here is an adventure helmet has to do well on-road
03:53and off-road.
03:54And what AGV did is they made it better for both.
03:57So the peak that you're going to have on this now has reduced lift.
04:00So if you're riding on the street to your favorite Starbucks, you're not going to have
04:03to worry about the helmet pulling up on you as much.
04:05And you're going to have increased ventilation and functionality in this little face shield
04:09down the front.
04:10I've got to grab that tab right there.
04:11So yeah, if you're riding off-road, you can pull the little blocker out, get a mass amount
04:15of airflow here, and really turn it more into a true dirt helmet.
04:18So it speaks more to that duality, which is an adventure lid.
04:22Oh, the duality.
04:23The duality.
04:24So existential, Spurge.
04:25So walk me through this a little bit, because I'm a little bit out of my depth here with
04:28ADV.
04:29That's obviously your home.
04:30You know, I generally consider two helmets.
04:31I have my street lid, and I have my dirt lid, and never the two shall meet.
04:35So why an adventure lid?
04:37Yeah, so I'm with you.
04:39The majority of the time, I would pick either dirt or street.
04:42But about two years ago, I took a trip down to Baja, and I only took a dirt helmet with
04:46me.
04:47And I really thought, well, this is going to be fine.
04:48And I ended up spending about 600 miles flying down the highway at 85 miles an hour, and
04:53it killed me.
04:54I mean, I was getting all the wind burn on my face, and the buffeting was a kill on my
04:57neck.
04:58So I really kind of revisited what helmet I was going to use for those style trips.
05:02And with an adventure helmet, what I found is that I still get all the functionality
05:06of a dirt lid.
05:07I can still use goggles with this, maximize ventilation.
05:09But when I'm riding along on the highway, the heat doesn't just fall off of my head.
05:13So I think for folks out there that do want to split the difference a little bit, these
05:17helmets really work well.
05:18And I think for 2019, if you're looking at adventure helmets, the AGV is going to be
05:22one that you have to consider.
05:23Fair enough.
05:24In that context, I guess I can really appreciate an adventure lid.
05:29That having been said, I'm probably just going to stick with two helmets, street and dirt.
05:32And I'm with you 90% of the time, too.
05:33And if you like dirt helmets, you'll actually really appreciate the next one, which is our
05:36best newcomer for 2019.
05:40And the newcomer award is going to go to Alpine Stars because not only has Alpine Stars introduced
05:45a really great helmet to the market, they've never had a helmet before.
05:49So this is the first time they brought a helmet to market.
05:51And with the new SM10, this is going to be a premium dirt lid that's really going to
05:56go toe-to-toe with some of the premium competition that we already see out there on the market.
06:00They killed it on this thing.
06:01I mean, full carbon shell.
06:02The interior gets a MIPS 2 liner.
06:05And if you remember, the MIPS is that low-speed rotational impact protection.
06:09But now it's got the newest level of MIPS.
06:11And that liner has these little adjustable points on the inside, so you can actually
06:15move the helmet forward or back on your head, depending on how you like the helmet to sit.
06:20The whole package comes in at like three pounds.
06:23I mean, it's just a killer helmet in general.
06:24I mean, feel it.
06:25Crazy light.
06:26Yeah, crazy light.
06:27Alpine Stars really came out swinging here.
06:29For a first attempt, you really couldn't ask for them to do any better.
06:33The one thing I'm kind of wondering, to be 100% honest with you, is we're going to see
06:36this helmet or another Alpine Stars helmet in the 2020 Gear Guides, simply because competition
06:41in the dirt helmet segment is so fierce right now.
06:43I mean, you've got Bell.
06:44There are people.
06:45I mean, there's just some incredible helmets on the market right now.
06:47This technology has advanced really, really quickly as of late, I feel like.
06:50So speaking anecdotally, I just got back from using this helmet on the Scrambler 1200 launch
06:54out in Portugal.
06:56And this year, my two main helmets have been the new F5 Corvoid from Klim and the Shoei
07:01VFX Evo.
07:02So two top-line, brand-new, premium helmets, 2019.
07:06And I think this one goes toe-to-toe with both of those lids.
07:11So it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out and what other riders,
07:15like yourself out there, think of this going into the new year.
07:17Yeah, things killer.
07:18OK.
07:19It's time.
07:20Numero uno.
07:22Best in show, baby.
07:23Oh, man.
07:24What do we got?
07:252019 is going to Shoei for the Neotec 2.
07:29The 2.
07:30This is their flagship modular helmet.
07:31And this helmet's Cadillac.
07:33It's killer.
07:34Just looking at the outside of this thing, we got a pinlock-ready shield on here.
07:37You can see, obviously, we've got a drop-down visor inside this lid.
07:41Flip it over.
07:42We've got a ratcheting stainless chin strap on here.
07:44And, of course, an intermediate oval shape, which means it's going to fit a bunch of heads
07:48here in North America.
07:49I mean, just the fit and finish, too, is absolutely impeccable on the helmet.
07:52Killer on this thing.
07:53My only problem with this, and I'll be completely honest, is the fact that Shoei was really
07:57touting this new integrated comm system from Sena.
08:00And I didn't like it.
08:01I had a hard time getting it to install.
08:03It was just a pain in the butt.
08:04And I ended up just going back to using my 20S.
08:07So let me give you a little bit of information here.
08:10Drop it on me, boy.
08:11OK.
08:12So the reason Shoei worked with Sena on that comm system was not for ease of installation.
08:14I thought the same thing.
08:15I thought, oh, they're trying to make something that's integrated, it's easy to install.
08:17No, it's not.
08:18You're right.
08:19It is a little bit finicky to install that thing.
08:21But there's a reason for it.
08:22Their scenario is actually exactly indicative of what they were trying to avoid.
08:25When you put a comm system on the outside of your helmet, boop, you've got this big
08:27bubble hanging off there now.
08:29If you'll notice here, this thing's more or less smooth.
08:32So the reason they worked with them is to make sure that they keep the exterior of this
08:35helmet nice and smooth, because they're trying to make it quiet.
08:37We've heard people complain about modular helmets being noisy, of course.
08:40And it's not just there that they kind of put the research in.
08:42If you look at the face shield itself here, you'll notice all these cool contours.
08:46And it sort of eases the transition that the air has to actually follow as it comes off
08:49the face shield into the helmet itself.
08:51They even went so far, flipped this thing over, they made extra wide chin straps on
08:55here specifically to help seal out some of the air and wind noise that can come into
08:59a modular helmet especially.
09:00And they're super comfortable.
09:01Yeah.
09:02I mean, those are the extra chin straps.
09:03They feel nice.
09:04Very nice.
09:05They feel nice on the skin.
09:06No, I will say this.
09:07So when you look at a modular helmet in general, like, a lot of times you do get that complaint
09:09of, you know, it's very noisy.
09:10And I think Shoei really set out to make a helmet that's not just quiet for modular,
09:14but just quiet in general.
09:17The other thing you really failed to mention was that the best part of using a modular
09:20helmet is that with this open up, you can put it on your head and it doesn't mess up
09:24your hair.
09:25So whenever you're getting to where you're going, your hair still looks nice and suave.
09:28You would be interested in that.
09:30So I'm not going to contest you on this, but I do want to throw a runner up out there for
09:34our audience to consider.
09:36And that is going to be the F5 Coroid Helmet from Klim.
09:39If you remember, I wrote an article for Common Tread.
09:41It is a new dirt helmet that we saw Klim kind of bring to market.
09:44And they introduced two new technologies with this helmet that Bear mentioned.
09:48That's the Coroid system, which look like tiny little green straws.
09:52Yeah, it's a series of tubes.
09:54That's all it is.
09:55But it maximizes ventilation to a point where it's probably one of the best venting helmets
09:58I've ever used.
09:59And the other thing was they put a little Fidlock system on the closure for the chin
10:03strap.
10:04Dude, Fidlock systems are like showing up everywhere in motorcycle gear and apparel
10:07and stuff.
10:08It's killer.
10:09It's so easy to use.
10:10But it works well here because picture your hand caked in mud.
10:13You're out there in the dirt.
10:14And all you have to do is reach up and pull this down and it recloses.
10:17It works phenomenally.
10:18So if Klim can introduce that technology to a street helmet, I think we're going to see
10:23a Klim helmet sitting up here for 2020.
10:25That'd be killer.
10:26In fairness, though, that's a fairly specific scenario.
10:29I think for most people, the Neotec 2 is just going to serve so many more riders.
10:33And that is why it is our top pick for 2019 for the best helmet.
10:37And that is going to wrap out our video, giving you the best helmets that you should be looking
10:41at this coming year.
10:43That's true.
10:44Make sure you cruise over to RevZilla.com.
10:45We've got plenty of videos, articles on these.
10:47Lots of resources.
10:48Check out some expert opinions so you can figure out the very best of a couple of different
10:51product categories.
10:52And you always want to make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube, especially because we're
10:55going to have our new rider type guides rolling out.
10:58And it's going to walk you through the best gear for your style of riding, regardless
11:02of what you ride.
11:03Yeah, the rider type guides are kind of nice simply because it'll kind of get you educated
11:07on what's out there and sort of what breadth of products exist for you.
11:10We do want to thank you for joining us for this best look at the helmets of 2019.
11:15I'm Spurge.
11:16I'm Lem.
11:17And we're out of here.
11:18Enjoy the ride.