New helmet!

[Duckmang]

The time had come and a new helmet was no longer a want but a need.  I popped by a local gear showroom and proceeded to try on the lot of them.  An Arai had the best fit but was double my budget.  The second best fit was an XL Sedici Strada II.  The salesman touted its nested flip down tinted visor.  Honestly, I thought the 2nd tinted visor a bit gimick-y and a little cheesy but it was the 2nd best fitting and about 1/2 the price of the Arai.  I plunked down the dough and bought the Sedici.


Despite having the tinted visor available, I rode off with my sunglasses (tinted safety glasses) on.  It wasn't until I was riding due west around 7 PM with the sun blaring, almost painfully bright even through the glasses, that I flipped down the tinted visor.  Immediately I regretted even a second of doubt about the visor.  While you still couldn't stare directly into the sun, the level of relief was significant.  The LCD's in the gauges were difficult to see with doubled up tint but situational awareness was not really affected.   In fact I'd say likely improved due to not having to squint to keep the sun from burning my retinas. 


Its been quite a while since I've bought a new helmet, and I was quite surprised with how light the current helmets are.  Additionally I'm really impressed with air control.  I had been using a scarf on cool morning to keep the air off of my neck.  This Sedici is better on its own than the old HJC was with the scarf. 


So with only a day or so of riding with it, I love this helmet.  It has a wide field of view, is comfy, light, and quieter than the old HJC.  There are a few nits to pick though.  The clear outer face shield has a very positive click on the closing detent.  It takes a deliberate action to close it fully.  The old HJC would flick all the way open or closed pretty easy.  I liked that. Maybe this one will wear in a bit. Second, the chin strap has a small button to secure the end from flapping in the wind.  The button prevents the strap from flowing freely though the D rings upon releasing requiring a fiddle to get it free.  I do like having the strap secured from flapping but the mating button's location also makes it VERY fiddly to get it snapped in place.  May just end up cutting the strap shorter to delete the button all together.  Not sure yet.

[beuleux]

Ah new helmet woes, I know the feeling well, glad you're getting on well with it, just had a newun myself, what a pain in the arse breaking in a new helmet ⛑ 🪖

[darrsi]

I was long overdue a new crash helmet, so spent a while trying on half the shop, but found that Arai was the only brand that fitted my bonce without issues. Some of the others were just terrible in comparison.
After finally finding one i liked it turned out the shop only had it in grey, which wasn't for me, so i left a bit deflated. So then i looked online and there were loads of really cool colours for the same model and chose one of them instead in the same size i had tried on in the shop.
But when it arrived and i tried it on i found it quite tight on the face compared to the one in the shop, but put that down to being new and would need a while to give a bit.
It didn't.
So i ended up spending another £40 on thinner cheek pads, which did the trick and now i'm really happy with it.
Older helmets tended to rely on the strap holding the helmet in place on your head, but this new one has padding that grabs your cheek bones for a more snug fit so the strap doesn't need yanking up tight at all. Has great venting a a wide vision visor with anti fog insert, and i removed a 2 inch sun visor add on i had in my old helmet and put it in this one to help with extreme sun in the eyes. So all good now. 

[darrsi]

The time had come and a new helmet was no longer a want but a need.  I popped by a local gear showroom and proceeded to try on the lot of them.  An Arai had the best fit but was double my budget.  The second best fit was an XL Sedici Strada II.  The salesman touted its nested flip down tinted visor.  Honestly, I thought the 2nd tinted visor a bit gimick-y and a little cheesy but it was the 2nd best fitting and about 1/2 the price of the Arai.  I plunked down the dough and bought the Sedici.


Despite having the tinted visor available, I rode off with my sunglasses (tinted safety glasses) on.  It wasn't until I was riding due west around 7 PM with the sun blaring, almost painfully bright even through the glasses, that I flipped down the tinted visor.  Immediately I regretted even a second of doubt about the visor.  While you still couldn't stare directly into the sun, the level of relief was significant.  The LCD's in the gauges were difficult to see with doubled up tint but situational awareness was not really affected.   In fact I'd say likely improved due to not having to squint to keep the sun from burning my retinas. 


Its been quite a while since I've bought a new helmet, and I was quite surprised with how light the current helmets are.  Additionally I'm really impressed with air control.  I had been using a scarf on cool morning to keep the air off of my neck.  This Sedici is better on its own than the old HJC was with the scarf. 


So with only a day or so of riding with it, I love this helmet.  It has a wide field of view, is comfy, light, and quieter than the old HJC.  There are a few nits to pick though.  The clear outer face shield has a very positive click on the closing detent.  It takes a deliberate action to close it fully.  The old HJC would flick all the way open or closed pretty easy.  I liked that. Maybe this one will wear in a bit. Second, the chin strap has a small button to secure the end from flapping in the wind.  The button prevents the strap from flowing freely though the D rings upon releasing requiring a fiddle to get it free.  I do like having the strap secured from flapping but the mating button's location also makes it VERY fiddly to get it snapped in place.  May just end up cutting the strap shorter to delete the button all together.  Not sure yet.

Rather than cutting the strap, which i would personally avoid doing, can you not just tuck it under the strap again as that's what i used to do with my old crash helmet?

[Duckmang]

The consideration I'm giving to cutting the strap is due to it not sliding freely through the D rings.  Every other helmet I've ever owned I could release the chin strap in just a few seconds, this one takes 20-30 seconds of fiddling to get the button back through the D rings.  Aggravating as fuck.  Just rolled up on the FZ1 like a boss, looking cool as ice, and the hot neighbor chick gets to watch me fiddle with my helmet like a 5 year old learning how to tie their shoe

[beuleux]

The consideration I'm giving to cutting the strap is due to it not sliding freely through the D rings.  Every other helmet I've ever owned I could release the chin strap in just a few seconds, this one takes 20-30 seconds of fiddling to get the button back through the D rings.  Aggravating as fuck.  Just rolled up on the FZ1 like a boss, looking cool as ice, and the hot neighbor chick gets to watch me fiddle with my helmet like a 5 year old learning how to tie their shoe

Have you considered this option www.helmetclip.com I got one for my new helmet but unfortunately the d rings are too flat and wide for it to fit properly, and makes it awkward to fasten quickly, it fits my old helmet perfectly but that kinda defeats the object lol.


The d rings on the helmet that fits are a little under 5mm wide, the one it doesn't fit are 8mm wide