How To Clean & Maintain Your Motorcycle Helmet at RevZilla.com
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00:00Spurgeon here with RevZilla and today we're gonna take a look at how to clean
00:02and maintain your motorcycle helmet to make sure it continues to look nice and
00:06new. So if you're anything like myself you spent the entire riding season just
00:15pouring miles onto your bike while the outside of your helmet looks like a bug
00:18graveyard and the interior of your helmet has been capturing all the sweat
00:21that you've been pouring into it on all of those long rides. So in this video
00:26what we're gonna do is we're gonna break down how to properly clean not just the
00:29exterior of your lid but we're gonna get into how to clean the interior as well
00:32because a lot of times that's collected all that grease as well and you need to
00:35get those cheek pads and liner clean to make sure your helmet operates properly.
00:39Now as far as our BSD, our beard scale of difficulty, this is gonna be a one out
00:44of three. This is something that anyone out there can tackle using simple
00:47materials found around your home. So before we go any further there's a quick
00:51note here. Make sure to consult your owner's manual before doing any cleaning
00:55or maintenance to your helmet. A lot of times certain manufacturers are gonna
00:58have different UV coatings or anti-fog coatings on the face shield and there's
01:01a wide variety of different manufacturers out there and you want to
01:04make sure that you're not doing anything to void your specific warranty. So always
01:07just take a look at that owner's manual and keep it handy when you're doing this
01:10for the first time. So let's break down what you're gonna see on the table and
01:15what you'll need to do this job. Starting on my left hand side I have got
01:18microfiber rags and these are gonna be great to clean the exterior of your
01:22helmet because you're not gonna worry about
01:24scratching the helmet itself or the face shield. Now they don't have to be
01:28brand new but make sure they're clean. So if you have some laying around the house
01:32just make sure you launder those before you go and you start washing off your
01:35helmet. Next you'll see a toothbrush. It does not have to be Oral-B but it does
01:41have to be something with soft bristles to it. We're gonna use this in hard to
01:44reach places that those microfiber rags won't allow you to easily clean. Next up
01:49you're gonna see Johnson's and Johnson's baby shampoo. The same stuff you use to
01:53clean your hair we're gonna use to clean the interior of your helmet. You
01:57just want to make sure you're never using a petroleum-based soap with this.
02:00So it's the reason we went with Johnson's and Johnson's. Very simple and most people
02:04have it laying around the house. On my right hand side this is just going to be
02:07a giant tub of warm water. Like we mentioned with the owner's manual in the
02:11beginning you never want to use anything on your helmet that it could possibly
02:14damage it. So we're gonna use warm water to clean the exterior of the helmet.
02:18You're not gonna need any fancy cleaners and we'll show you how. Now lastly we're
02:23gonna use a little bit of compressed air and we're gonna use this to clean
02:26the vent system out. Now you never want to use canned compressed air and the
02:30reason why is you never want to go at your helmet with any type of an aerosol.
02:35An aerosol will eat away at your EPS liner and you'll end up damaging it to
02:38the point where it's not going to keep you safe in the event of a crash. So
02:41always just steer clear of aerosols when you're cleaning your helmet. So with all
02:47of our materials wrapped up let's dive into the actual process of cleaning it.
02:51Now you'll note this is a dual sport helmet and the first thing I did was I
02:55removed the peak visor. So for any of you out there already rocking a peak or
02:59rocking a dual sport visor that's the first step you just want to pull it off.
03:02I've already removed mine and set it aside and the rest of you if you're
03:05rocking a full face helmet this is pretty much what it's going to look like.
03:08So you want to start by removing any kind of electronic system you've
03:12installed first and foremost. The last thing you want to do while you're
03:15cleaning your helmet is run the risk of damaging any kind of electronics that
03:19would be in your lid. Now to do so chances are you're going to have to
03:22remove the internals from your helmet. So for those of you that aren't using
03:26electronic system this is where we're going to pick up. So we're going to take
03:29all the cheek pads out. We're going to start with the with the chin curtain. We're
03:33going to pull that out. We're going to set all this stuff aside because we're going to
03:35actually take a field trip over to the RevZilla kitchen. We're going to show you
03:38exactly how to wash your internals. Now for those of you out there that have
03:42never taken the internals of your helmet out before go ahead and consult that
03:45owner's manual. Every manufacturer is going to be a little bit different for
03:49removing but in most cases you can simply pull out your cheek pads the way
03:53that I'm doing right now. Pull out the liner. Pull out the chin curtain. It
03:56should be a fairly straightforward process for removing all this stuff. I
04:00got that little cord in the way but once you pull this stuff out you're simply
04:04going to take it set it aside and we're going to deal with that in just one
04:08moment but before we do that we want to prep the actual shell of the helmet
04:12itself and all we're going to do is we're going to drape a warm micro or a
04:16microfiber rag over top of this with warm water on it and we're just going to
04:19let that set for about 15 minutes or so while we're cleaning the interior. So
04:24you're going to take your microfiber rag and you're simply going to dunk it into
04:28the warm water. Make sure it's you know not completely soaked but you want to
04:33just wring it out a little bit so it's got a nice amount of water in there and
04:36all you're going to do is you're going to take this and you're just going to
04:40drape it over your helmet and really what we're doing here is we're allowing
04:44the rag to kind of dislodge any hard-pressed bugs dirt or grime that
04:47might be stuck to the helmet. The last thing you want to do is just start
04:50wiping away at a helmet if some of those items are really stuck on there you run
04:54the risk of scratching either the shell or the face shield and nobody wants that.
04:57So while this is sitting here to soak let's head over to the kitchen and we
05:01can take a stab at cleaning that interior. So welcome to the RevZilla
05:05kitchen. I really feel like I should be showing you how to slice and dice your
05:09way through Sunday supper but we are here to show you how to clean the
05:12internals of your helmet and this is because oftentimes it's the internals
05:15that are most neglected piece of your helmet. So really what we're going to do
05:19here is we're going to use a little bit of shampoo. I have the Johnson & Johnson's
05:21baby shampoo. I've filled up my sink with some warm water. I've mixed some shampoo
05:25in here and the reason we're using shampoo it's going to remove all the
05:29oils from your hair so this is the same stuff you would use when you're in the
05:31shower washing your hair. It does a great job of removing all the oils from the
05:35cheek pads in the liner as well. So you want to start by just grabbing one of
05:38the cheek pads and simply submerging in the water and you're just going to
05:42massage it back and forth. Pretend you're washing your hair. You're just going to
05:45rub this back and forth get all the oils all the grime out of here and don't be
05:49afraid to you know get aggressive with this. Rub it against itself. Now some of
05:53you out there you'll have removable covers for your cheek pads. I recommend
05:57just washing them with the covers on. If you've ever removed those cheek pads
06:01they're kind of a pain in the butt to get back on and usually you can do the
06:04entire process with the actual liners in place. So with this one I've got it
06:10nice and washed out here. You just want to take the water a little bit of warm
06:14water and you want to do the same process. You just want to rinse all that
06:18soap out. You don't want any soapy residue left in the cheek pad. Don't be
06:23afraid to use too much and then once you feel like you've massaged out all the
06:26water you can give it a nice squeeze and just push that water out of there and
06:31set it aside to dry. Now once you have one cheek pad clean you're simply going
06:35to repeat the process. You move on to the next cheek pad. You can get it down in
06:38the water and just give it a nice massage back and forth and then just run
06:42it under some warm water make sure it's rinsed out and then set it to the side.
06:45Once you have this complete it's just time to let these air dry. The one thing
06:50you don't want to use is you don't use any external heat. You're not gonna use a
06:53hair dryer. You're not gonna use a clothing dryer and you're certainly not going to
06:57stick these into the microwave. You can damage any of the plastic parts on here.
07:00So put them onto a nice clean towel let them air dry and come back to them next
07:05morning. This is going to be a pro tip for you. I recommend completing this
07:08process the night before you plan on actually using your helmet. That way you
07:11have a solid eight hours of letting your internals dry before you reinstall them
07:15into your helmet. Now speaking of reinstallation we've got the rest of the
07:19helmet to clean and reassemble. So let's head back over to the studio.
07:23Alright so we are now back in the studio after cleaning the interior of the
07:28helmet and it's now time to clean the exterior of this shell. It's been here
07:32for about 15-20 minutes with just this warm wet cloth dislodging any dirt and
07:36grime. And we're now ready to take this off and we're going to start with the
07:40actual cleaning process. As you can see as we just set this back in our warm
07:43water it's done a nice job of just kind of dissolving some of that locked on
07:46dust dirt and debris. And the first step here is we're going to remove our face
07:50shield. Now every manufacturer is a little bit different so make sure to
07:54consult your owner's manual if you're not sure how to pull the face shield off
07:57or you can watch our detailed breakdown videos where we show you how to do so.
08:00With the Nex it's easy it snaps right off and we're just going to set that to
08:03the side for the time being. And what we're left with is our external shell
08:08and now it's time to clean this. So we're going to take our microfiber rag and
08:12remember we're just using warm water. You want to stay away from aerosols, you
08:16want to stay away from any solvents and just a little bit of warm water will
08:20allow us to clean this nicely. And we're just going to go ahead and we're just
08:23going to simply give it a nice liberal wipe down using a generous amount of
08:27water. Don't be afraid to get too much water on here and you're going to see
08:30all that dirt coming off. And just make sure to work in all those little nooks
08:34and crannies and we'll get to using that toothbrush in just a second. And just
08:38work your way around the helmet. Work your way down make sure you're just kind
08:41of getting any of the spots that might be trapping dirt clean and then just
08:45rinse out your microfiber rag as you're going along. Working away around the back
08:49here you can see just by letting that sit for that 15 or 20 minutes did most
08:53of the work for me so there's really not much left to do except for just wipe off
08:58any of the excess little stuck pieces that you have lodged in there. So if you
09:03do have anything that's stuck in the vents itself you know or maybe around
09:07the gaskets this is where that toothbrush comes into play. Just get a
09:11little bit of warm water on there and just work your way around the gaskets.
09:14Like I said for most of you street riders out there your biggest contention
09:18here is going to be bugs. For you dual sport or dirt riders that's where the
09:21dirt and the mud does have a tendency to get caked in. The other place where I
09:25noticed the dirt tends to stick is any of your vent systems especially your
09:29chin vents. Now some of you out there will have chin vents that are removable
09:32from the inside with a little screen that you can clean. This would also be a
09:35perfect time to clean those out as well. Now as I've worked through here most of
09:39this is looking pretty good at this point in time but there is always the
09:43possibility that you get a big fat June bug stuck up underneath your vent or
09:48for you dirt riders out there maybe these are clogged up with dirt. So one of
09:51the tricks to get those vents clean is to use a little bit of compressed air.
09:55And like I said you never want to use any aerosol so make sure you've got an
09:59air compressor out in the garage and you want to set this to a low setting. You
10:02want to blow through here so hard you actually push those vent covers off. We
10:06just want to dislodge anything with a quick little blast that might be
10:11lodged in there and that's usually all it takes is just a little quick
10:15blast of air and that's going to clean the vent out for you and it just helps
10:19to push any bugs or debris back out. And like I said earlier make sure when
10:22you're doing that you do have the vents open that way it allows anything that's
10:26lodged in to push right out. So once we have this shell cleaned you want to take
10:31a dry microfiber rag and just give it a nice little wipe down. At any point if
10:36you see any extra little pieces of dirt or debris this is the time to wipe them
10:40off but this helmet is starting to look pretty good nice and shiny as we have it
10:43dried off. So now it's time to move on to the face shield. So the face shield we've
10:48got sitting over here we've already had this you know kind of soaking with that
10:51draped over cloth in front of it and this is really the tricky process as far
10:55as you don't want to damage your face shield because these get a little bit
10:57pricey to replace. Now like we talked about in the beginning a lot of times
11:01your face shields will have special coatings either a UV coating or a fog
11:04coat or an anti-fog coating so if you have any doubts about your particular
11:08face shield just make sure to go and refer back to that owner's manual. This
11:11would also be a great time for you pin lock customers to refresh your pin lock
11:15insert. Pull the pin lock out and just make sure to have a new fresh one handy.
11:19So what we're gonna do is the same way we were cleaning the exterior of the
11:22helmet just a little bit of warm water and a microfiber rag and you should have
11:26no problems with this you just only use any solvents or anything that could
11:29damage any of those coatings that you might have on your face shield. Looks
11:33like I got a little piece of dirt kind of stuck down right here and just a
11:37little bit of elbow grease nothing too crazy and like I said most of the
11:41debris should have been loosened very nicely when we had this this rag draped
11:46over top and by removing that pin lock insert it allows you to clean the inside
11:50of this as well any fingerprints or watermarks you might have you can wash
11:54these out because you are going to be replacing that pin lock insert on a nice
11:59clean visor. So once we have this cleaned again we're just going to take our dry
12:05microfiber rag and we're just going to wipe this down and this is really where
12:10you'll see if there's any fingerprints or anything lingering behind don't be
12:13afraid to hold it up to the light. This is starting to look pretty darn good
12:17considering how dirty this helmet was when we started this process. Again like
12:21I said with these dual sport helmets they have a tendency to get pretty muddy
12:23pretty dirty and we don't really have any scratches on here this is a great
12:27time too if you see any scrapes or scratches you know it might be time to
12:30go ahead and replace a face shield but usually you can get a pretty decent life
12:33out of a face shield by just maintaining it on a regular basis. So the
12:38face shield is looking nice and clean we're going to set that to the side for
12:41the time being and the last piece here before we get to reassembly is going to be
12:45for any of you folks out there that are using an internal sunshield. Now the next
12:50helmet the XD-1 does have an internal sunshield and you'll note there's a
12:53little bit of dust on this particular one. Most of you out there you'll have
12:56that face shield closed so you shouldn't really have too much going on with your
13:00internal sun visor but if you just get a little water bottle and spray some
13:04warm water on there and then just wipe it off with that microfiber rag. Quick
13:08note one of the things you probably don't want to do is disassemble your
13:11internal sun visor. Now you can pull it out if you want to but 99% of the
13:16manufacturers out there make this a very difficult process and because most of
13:20you are going to be using that internal sun visor with that exterior face shield
13:23down chances are you're not going to have to worry about doing that. So just
13:27cleaning it with it in the actual helmet itself is nine times out of ten
13:31going to be just enough to get it nice and clean for you. So once you've got the
13:35face shield clean, the internal sun visor is clean, this shell is clean, it is now
13:39time for reassembly. So we're going to grab those internals that we had sitting
13:43over at the sink and keep in mind for you folks out there that are utilizing a
13:47comm system now would be the time to go ahead and reinstall that. The interior is
13:52going to go back in with your main comfort liner first and then we're going
13:57to go through we're going to reinstall the cheek pads. Make sure that comfort
14:00liner is nice and secure in there and then make sure the cheek pads fit in
14:03nice and secure around that. They should snap into place nice and firm. If you did
14:07remove a chin curtain you can go ahead and reinstall that last. Once you have
14:11the internals all inside there you have one final piece of the puzzle to
14:14complete your helmet here. It is now time to reinstall your face shield. Now keep
14:20in mind this is going to be nice and clean so hold it from the edges you
14:23don't want to get your grubby fingerprints all over it. For those of
14:26you out there that are utilizing a pinlock system this would be the perfect
14:29time to reinstall a new pinlock insert. For those of you out there that do not
14:34have a pinlock insert let's get this back onto our helmet and every helmet
14:39manufacturer is going to be a little bit different. Some will make it easier, some
14:42will make it more difficult. Next does a nice job of just once I line these tabs
14:46up it usually snaps right back into place for me without too much
14:50difficulty. There we go. Close it up. We have a nice clean helmet. It looks brand
14:55new and it is perfectly ready for us to go out and get dirty all over again.
15:00That's the most fun part of this process getting it clean so you can get right
15:03back out there to ride. Now keep in mind you can click the info button which will
15:07allow you to keep up with all the different resources we have rolling out
15:10for you here at RevZilla.com and if you have specific questions about the
15:14helmet that you're using on your motorcycle reach out to one of our gear
15:17geeks at 877-792-9455 or simply shoot us over an email
15:23at CS at RevZilla.com. Thank you for joining us for this look at how to clean and
15:26maintain your motorcycle helmet. I'm Spurge, enjoy the ride.