which helmet?

[Roadcaptain]

I am in the market for a new helmet and have narrowed it down to the Shoei xr1100 or the Arai tour x4 just wondered if anyone had either of these and what your thoughts are?

 

[Pablo1]

I am in the market for a new helmet and have narrowed it down to the Shoei xr1100 or the Arai tour x4 just wondered if anyone had either of these and what your thoughts are?

if you havent already i'd recommend you try these on , in my experience they are shaped differently, i had shoei lids for years but never found an arai that suited my head shape.

 

[Roadcaptain]

I have worn both shoei and Arai, I will be trying them both on and will go for the best fit but if the fit is similar just wanted some feedback.
I may take a trip to helmet city where you can try them for a ride first

 

[Freddie]

Hi there
I recently bought the xr1100 (posted a thread called
'first impressions of the XR1100' - have a read!).

Overall, I am well impressed with it. I've had both shoei and arai, and definitely agree they suit different head shapes - the shoei suits me perfectly. The XR is really really quiet, the visor fits brilliantly - even has a mechanism that pulls the visor tight into the rubber surround when closed to make a better fit. I have heard/ read some guys have 'noisy' shoei, I believe this is down to that mechanism being wrongly adjusted, which shoei will fix for you....

Great airflow through easy to open/ close vents. Great wide view and no misting, ever.

Anyhow - if it helps, my view would be shoei, its soooo comfy, quiet and has a great quality feel to it - but it is such a personal thing, you need to try the fit yourself - if you can get a test ride too, then that's brilliant - each rider is different, different aerodynamics, clothing, screen height blah, blah....

 

[Pricey]

Here's my tuppence worth...... I have an Arai Tour X3 (bout 2 yrs old) and recently bought a Shoei XR1100. I hadn't worn the Arai for a couple of months and thought I'd pop it on instead of the Shoei on one ride. After 5 miles, I turned back and swapped it for the Shoei. Couple of reasons.... Firstly, with the peak and vents sticking out like a stormtroopers helmet, it's noisy.... very noisy. Also, I'd forgotten my neck tube and a lot of air circulates around the chin, seeing as though the chin area sort of juts out more than a road lid. In comparison, the Shoei is very quiet, well ventillated and fits better than the Arai. Someone once told me you either have an Arai head or a Shoei head. Arai fits me fine, Shoei better. The only time i found the Arai bearable on a motorway run, was on my pal's GSA as the screen's nice and high. Another thing I found with the Arai was that after a long journey, I had a stiff neck. In the end, I had to see an osteopath and he put it down to the helmet whipping round when I was doing my life-saver. I was running a Triumph Sprint ST at the time. These days, I pick up the Shoei every time. An excellent lid. When I do get a GSA, I may well go back to the Ewan McGregor wannabee Arai

 

[Fluffmeister]

I'm selling a new xr1100 in the for sale section

 

[Roadcaptain]

Thanks for that Pricey very helpful