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Shoei Neotec - Rider Review

We've got several months worth of experience with the Shoei Neotec modular helmet under our belt now so the plan is to tell you what our experience has been so far and add some periodic updates.

So let's get started...

The Shoei Neotec - modular is a well crafted helmet. It exudes quality in EVERY detail. Ours is solid white and the colour is beautiful and shiny, the Shoei logo's are prominent on the front. If you couldn't tell from the shape of the helmet alone, you'll know, and so will everybody else - that you're wearing a Shoei helmet. Note the curve at the rear top of the helmet - that's a shell integrated spoiler to reduce lift and drag at speed. Pretty cool!

- The flip up mechanism works wonderfully and once you put it on you'd never know you weren't wearing a solid full face helmet. Except when it comes time to put your glasses on, pump gas, talk to somebody, get some fresh air at a long stop light, etc. You've now got the luxury of flipping up the front of the helmet and voila - everything is suddenly a little easier!

- VENTILATION: This helmet vents better than any helmet I've ever worn. You can feel the air flowing through this helmet even at low speeds. The vents are very simple to operate - there's a chin intake and another just front top of the helmet which you just slide back to open and forward to close and a third vent, which is an exhaust vent towards the back. They're VERY simple to operate with gloves on which is nice. It's very easy to become familiar with their location and operation which makes using and adjusting them quick and safe while riding.

On cold days the ventilation might be a little too good. You can actually feel a bit of air leaking into the helmet via the vent and it seems to hit you just above the centre of your eyebrows where the inner liner touches your forehead. Apparently Shoei is aware of this and that some people have expressed some dissatisfaction with it. They indicate the helmet is designed to flow a little bit of air through the intake even when closed to keep things fog free. You can get special piece, which according to Shoei fixes the issue, if it bothers you.

This season so far has been a good test of cool weather riding with this helmet. It's typically been in the 2-6 degree celsius range for my rides to work in the morning and I can definitely feel the air leaking in a bit at the top/front of my head. It's not so bad but I may see about getting that fix just to see how it works and if it makes the ride more comfortable. The area under my chin gets the most cold air on the ride in to work and that's not really a helmet issue - I'd need a balaclava or neck warmer to cut the draft coming over the top of my jacket and under the helmet.

FACESHIELD/OPENING: The shield is great quality and vision through it is fine. No complaints there. The opening allows for excellent peripheral vision and I haven't had any issues seeing while tucked down. Upwards and downwards vision is excellent.

The shield has lots on indentations so you can open your helmet just a crack if needed and seals very solidly against gaskets. There's one spot on the visor to flip it up and it's on the left side of your head so when you're riding and want to adjust it I tend to use my throttle hand so as to avoid any jerky one handed throttle inputs while doing that adjustment. This means that you're crossing your hand over the opposite side of your head to open the visor. It becomes second nature after a bit but some helmets have the tab on both sides. Aerodynamically I suppose having it on just one should minimize noise.

FOGGING: The shield seals really firmly and in cool weather (used without the included pinlock system) I've had some fogging issues. Whenever I'm stopped I get fog and have to crack the shield open to clear it. It clears very quickly but it's more than a little fog - it's a lot. I've been cleaning the shield with Plexus but probably not enough admittedly. I'll have to find a product small enough to fit in my tail bag so I won't have any excuses. I really need to get that Pinlock shield in place as that may rectify the fogging I've been experiencing. (I'll update the article once I'd tried it out).

UPDATE: Tested out the pinlock system - SUCCESS! The pinlock system works wonderfully. No fogging at all. I do wonder why the pinlock system is so necessary with this helmet though. Even just putting the helmet on inside it'll fog up without the pinlock.

INNER VISOR: The inner visor has no indents - it operates smoothly through its entire range via a lever on the left side of the helmet. If you've ever had a dark inner visor on a helmet I'm sure you enjoy this feature. Honestly, I didn't use it much on previous helmets I've owned but this one is fantastic. The optical clarity is superb and I find it actually improves my vision on sunny days. I use the inner sun visor a lot on this helmet. Its fantastic when you're riding into the sun. As opposed to wearing a tinted visor this one is there when you need it and gone when you don't.

The optics quality is excellent and it has sufficient range so the bottom edge doesn't provide a visual distraction.

From the Manufacturer:



For more information and details specs for the Shoei Neotec be sure to visit their website HERE.

Canadian MSRP pricing is $759.99 -$779.99 but you can pick one up online in the $683.99 - CA$701.99 range for a solid colour.