A Cheap Second Helmet

April 13, 2013Tomas Perez

The final two helmets I considered

I went with full face helmets about 35 years ago. For one thing I figured they were safer than an open face helmet. In addition, my motorcycle insurance company was running a promotion on a generic full face help for about $20. I couldn't go wrong with that price but at first I felt all boxed in. It took me a few months to get used to the full face helmet.

So why did I purchase an open face helmet this past week after so many years of using full face helmets? In addition, I recently got a new expensive full face helmet so why buy a cheap second helmet? The reason for the new helmet is my new second motorcycle. It's a bit of a sport bike with that forward lean created by low, narrow bars. I found that when I used my Schuberth C3 I had to really cocked my head back more than normal because the helmet rides rather low over my brow. It's never a problem on my touring bike but doesn't work too well on my sport bike. I found that I really enjoyed riding the Super Hawk without a helmet but that's a no-no. Thus my justification for buying a new helmet.

I intended to purchase a helmet with minimal features and extras. The first ones I looked at were half helmets. The price of a half helmet and a regular open face helmet was about the same so I decided that I might as well get a better grade helmet. We all know the saying... "what value do you place on your head..." The two I settle on are shown in the picture above. I really liked the pilot type helmet shown on the left in the picture above but when I closed the face shield the bottom edge of the shield was about 1/8 of an inch from the tip of my nose. I figured wind blast would push it again my nose. No returns on helmets at the store I was at so I didn't want to risk it. I decided on the Fulmer 75B helmet. In the store it looked very nice and the cost was ok at $109 (plus tax).

I put the helmet on and rode home on the Super Hawk. Once I got home I switched bikes and went out for a ride on my R1200RT. The helmet is very nice. Here are the pros and cons as I see it after a short week of using the Fulmer 75B.
Pro: