So I decided to get my first dual sport helmet. I'll start off by saying my other helmets have been Arai Quantums, a Profile, and recently an AGV Horizon. My Quantums and Profile are way past the 5 year lifespan and I wanted to try something different this time around. I have to admit, switching from Arai to AGV was a pleasant surprise in itself. Plus I was getting tired of carrying 2 visors all the time and breaking the flimsy tabs on the Arai side pods when changing them out. The Horizon's inner visor solved that.
But moving on the the AFX-FX41:
So yeah I looked at all the DS helmets out there and found the AFX-FX41 (that was just released just this month). It can be found online (right now), for around $130ish shipped. Basic colors: black, white, silver, flat black, frost grey, hi-vis orange, and hi-vis yellow. Trust me for $130, I wasn't trying to get my hopes up.
I'll start with the [thumbsdown]
- Took it out of the helmet bag for the first time and the top vent popped off.
- After only 3 days of use, the helmet release pull tab rips apart. (see pics)
- The peak needs to be adjusted all the way back to open the visor to FULL open position.
- Visor does not seal completely with face shield gasket. (more wind noise?)
- Paint finish on Flat Black looks like it may scratch easily.
Now on to the [thumbsup]
- Snapped the top vent in place and in the open position, feels pretty solid.
- Pulled out the thread and needle to fix the pull tab, and the ratcheting helmet straps are a nice change from double D-rings!
- Helmet has tons of airflow, too much for me actually.
- Dark smoke inner visor means no more carrying extra visors!
- Reflector thingys on the sides of the chin vent.
- Definitely makes cagers look twice=more attention on the road.
The pics:
(http://i62.tinypic.com/156wm8h.jpg) (http://i59.tinypic.com/anfmvc.jpg)
(http://i59.tinypic.com/2dr77zl.jpg) (http://i59.tinypic.com/2pzfomq.jpg)
And with the peak removed:
(http://i59.tinypic.com/s5gyvr.jpg) (http://i59.tinypic.com/anlnax.jpg)
So far:
For me it has too much ventilation. I wear contact lenses so all that turbulent air in front of my face can kick up dust. The helmet does come with a chin curtain but even with that installed there's still about a 1 inch gap. At highway speed, air is deflecting off my chest and straight up into the chin area. I had an old chin curtain from another brand that I modified and wedged in place and it cut down the turbulent air significantly. Obviously with more airflow you get get more wind noise. Now I just wear earplugs when using this helmet.
For $130, I figured why not? Takes some getting used to but so far, so good. I haven't been caught in the rain yet so we'll see how that goes.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Just wanted to put this out there since I couldn't find anything on the AFX-FX41 yet.