 it comes in at 3 pounds 8 ounces, where
something like the Shoei RF1100 is going to be in that 3 pounds 9 and a
half ounces range, which is you know it's a nice weight savings there, and
this guy's actually going to be lighter than the Star, and they did that,
they actually used less carbon fiber on this guy. It's the tri-weave
matrix for the shell design, so it's going to be Kevlar, carbon fiber, and
fiber glass.
They use less carbon fiber on this guy, but through little things, minor
changes to the R and D, now the Star has been around for five years so
they've really learned what worked and what didn't, and something like
this to where on the Star it's going to be an aluminum piece, and here it's
going to be thermo-plastic. Just incremental weight savings throughout
this guy on a lot of the components don't... they don't give way to
anything on the safety side, but they give you better weight.
You're going to be... and remember if you're on the track, if you're doing
track days, if you're riding long distances you have to think about the
focus. If a helmet's too heavy, or if it's out of balance, or if you're
carrying... If it's whistling, these are things that take your attention
off the road and when you do that that's when accidents happen. You want
to forget you're wearing a helmet, whether you're wearing it for 15
minutes, or you're wearing it for 3 hours.
Now, if we start here and we look at the shape of this guy, and you can see
how this vortex on the left and I have the Star on the right, the shape is
going to be an intermediate oval head shape. So, front to back this is
going to fit very similar to something like a, like a Shoei RF1100. I will
note though, it's more of a race fit. This is going to be more snug than
the Star. It's more snug than the Vortex. It's an intermediate oval
they've actually redesigned the fit. The Bell RS-1 has the same fit as the Moto-
9 of the two brand new helmets from Bell for this year, and the fit is
totally different.
It a... My only gripe, I'm wearing... This is not my Star, but I do, this
is the Rally color scheme, I wear one myself. My only gripe was at 130
plus on the track I would start to get buffeting. I would start to feel
like the helmet was moving around on me, only because the fit with my long
oval left me a little extra room. I don't have the ideal head shape. What
they've done with the... or with the RS-1 rather they've changed the
internal fit, it's more ergonomic, and it's going to be more snug for
different types of rider's heads. So, it's definitely an improvement.
Other noteworthy features, it uses the same shell, or the same shield as
the Star, as the Vortex, so big thing. Everybody loves Bell for the last
couple years. They came out with a photochromic shield that's sol flex
technology, meaning when you hit the sunlight the UV rays tell the shield
to change from clear to dark tint. It's the same transition lens
technology you see on high-end eye glasses. This shell will take the same
shield shape.
So, if you've already bought it it's not a cheap investment you can
interchange your shields, so if you're going up from a Vortex, and you have
an iridium shield, and a tint shield, you can swap them right over, and
vice versa with the Star on the way down.
If we look at it, let's get into some of the nuances of this guy. So,
here's your shield, some strong detents, three positioning, we have locked,
we have open, and we have cracked for extra defogging to get some air flow.
You can see there's this crack down here. On the front you're going to
have a two position open and close here on the chin. It vents the face,
and to the inside of the face shield.
Moving up to the top, this is a new vent configuration on the Bell RS-1. This
will ventilate better than any of the entire Bell line-up. They... Bell in
the states here, in North America, has not only a wind tunnel, but they
have a water tunnel. So, what they do is they test this not only air, but
fluid. It's easier to see where you're losing efficiency. This vent
configuration out performs Star, and out performs Vortex. It's open and
close, and vents directly to the head.
Moving back around. Four passive vents, venturi effect here. So, high
speed air coming over a sphere creates a vacuum behind the head, not only
is it going to want to pull your head up, but it's going to be actively
sucking air out through these vents. Two on the back here, and you the
fuser along the bottom, and then at the back exhaust as well. So it pulls
that warm moist air off of your head.
I do want to notice, I want you to come in here tight, I'm going to put
these guys kind of back-to-back. The thing, you know I talked about some
of the differences here, with the Start this is a slightly, slightly less
aggressive shape. So, it's slightly more truncated in the back. You still
have a full wing that does have an angular bend to it just like this guy,
but this is going to be more... this helmet actually going to be more
comfortable and aerodynamic in a three-quarter riding position, as well as
a tuck. Whereas this guys really, really built for track day racing tuck-
type riding.
Let's go back to the shield, I want to tell you, show you how easily if
you've never owned a Bell before this is one of my favorite things they
have one of the easiest shield change mechanisms in the business. You pull
it up, you pop it there, and you pop it on the back, two triggers, the
shield comes right off. To reinstall it, you align it with the top, and
you snap it in. It's really that simple.
There is definitely some brands of helmets where changing the shield during
video that's one continuous take is rolling the dice, not with Bell, super
easy. I've changed that shield at what? It was under five seconds; it's
that quick, that easy.
Other features, let's start walking through the guts on the Bell RS-1 Helmet. You
know we talked about the antifog coating; we talked about some of the other
things. Shape of this guy, it's going to be that intermediate oval I said.
Notice the guts on it, it's got a new anti-microbial, it's their CoolMax,
or their HydraDry 2 type lining. It's their proprietary wicking
microfleece antimicrobial. It's a step up from Star, and everything's
removable here.
So, I'm going to show you here, we have the magna fusion, which is a magnet
on the end of here goes through the double D-ring, it's going to go, and it
would come right back we connect to this, so it's not going to move around
while you're riding. So, moving on further on to the inside of this guy,
you have a chin curtain that it comes with. A lot of high-end race style
helmets com with chin curtains. What I like about this is there's no
Velcro, its three snaps. I don't like Velcro near my face, personal
preference. Call me a snob. I ride in a lot of different helmets, I find
when there's no Velcro it... it's just I don't like feeling like my face is
going to catch on anything, whether the pieces are in or out. So, again
microfiber towards the inside, three snaps chin curtain comes right out.
Moving on to the cheek pads, everything's removable, everything's washable,
it goes with their new system here. So, moving on to the cheek pads, pull
a cheek pad out for you really quickly, and actually in this one we pulled
a shatter because we wanted to show it, but I left the tags on it. So,
notice here's your cheek pad. One of the things that's unique about Bell is
notice this webbing. Say, well there's webbing there, why do I need
webbing other cheek pads just have a space? The reason is, is that this
Bell Helmet has a cutout for a third party speaker for a Bluetooth
Communicator. So, whether it's Accardo, Asena, ChatterBox, you're going to
have an ample cutout so that when you put that speaker in it's not going to
press any further on your ear, you have room to put it in.
I do also want to show that both the sleeves that go around the neck strap
are removable as well. They have a strap on them, they come out, again
microf