bmw skills 2 - airoh s4 or HJC or off road lid

[Dennis van Dijk]

After taking part in skills 1 in september last year I learned a few lessons, road helmets are pretty restricitve for the breathing part and a road jacket is bloody warm.

I am looking into buying a off road lid or one of the enduro type lids. THe Arai Tour-X is a little outside the scope moneywise (couldn't stretch to a GS this year either so am riding a FZ6s which is great bike, but that is another story), so I am looking into buying either an off road lid with goggles or one of the enduro type lids either Airoh S4 or HJC equivalent. They all fit me, I've tried them. Just want to know what people used on the skill course and green laning in general. I want to do some more trail riding and wondered what the better buy is. Which is the better helmet Airoh or HJC, purely on build not on fit.

What have people been wearing jacket wise. I was thinking of looking into buying body armour but that looks very cumbersome and warm.

cheers

 

[Underwatergoat]

Hi mate. I have an HJC with goggles for off road.
I'd go it'with an HJC again because it was very cheap considering how good it is.
A set of body armour under a MX jersey is really comfy so long as it's not raining. You don't get so much abrasion protection either that way, but it's better than overheating.

 

[Colban]

Cant comment on the HJC,but i have just bought an Airoh S4.
We'll have to see how the build quality works out over the next year or so but what attracted me was its light weight and the fact you can transform it into 3 styles of helmet with the bits supplied.Road (remove peak),dual pupose (visor and peak) and off-road (remove visor).

 

[snoopy]

I bought an S4 a month ago and still love it. The bits BMW charge as extras come out the box. It's brilliant.

 

[Robbo1200ADV]

The Arai is worth it and they sometimes come up on E bay cheaper than list.get some Motorcross armour/knee pads and MX shirt trousers,you will cook in normal riding gear especially with all tht lifting you'll be doing!

 

[VAL. H.]

The Arai is worth it and they sometimes come up on E bay cheaper than list.get some Motorcross armour/knee pads and MX shirt trousers,you will cook in normal riding gear especially with all tht lifting you'll be doing!

I agree with robbo. But it all depands on how much you intend to pick yourself up off the floor (and with an FZ6 it might be quite a lot )

I have two off road helmets a cheepy for when I did the BW off road course because I thought I'd be spending most of the time on the deck and didn't want to wreck my Arai tour X.

Having looked quite closely at the other enduro helmets (like the ones you mention plus a few others) on offer in the UK, I have to say that with the exception of the BMW enduro lid (which sadly dosn't fit me) I wouldn't wast my money 'or anyone else's for that matter' on them.

My cheep mx helmet is of as good quality (which to be frank aint particularly good) as the cheeper enduro helmets, but cost only £40.00 and when you consider a decent pair of goggles cost about £20.00 you have a saving of £40.00 already.
£60.00 for a visor seems rather a lot to pay to me

If you'll take the advice of them that have 'been there and done that' Do yourself a favour, buy good goggles and the best helmet you can afford (Don't wast you hard earned on an over priced gimmic). If that turns out to be £50.00 then get the best quality you can find for your £50.00 Look on the net and the sales etc.
However make sure your buying EU aproved 'ECER-2205' (DOT, Snell' JPI, ANSI are NOT road leagle within the EU & UK) I paid £125.00 for my new still in the box Tour X, £26.00 more than your thinking of spending & £110.00 for my Arai Quantom F.

As for body armour go for the armoured shirt type. You get close protection, air circulation and you can put a cheep wind/waterproof jacket over the top if you need to
Check out ebay you can find them for about £35.00 new, and for trail riding you won't need any more than that.

Hope this helps.

Val.

 

[Dennis van Dijk]

Thanks for all the info...Val where did you pick up your Tour X? I am sticking to the budget and found a nice Airoh Off road helmet with some goggles. Still interested in the tour-X for that kind of many. They just fit my head well.