You're a gentleman. Thank you for your kind comments.

Yes indeed I appreciate I'm taking a (calculated) risk but isn't this something we ALL do every time we mount our steeds?

Neil

Thank you all for your valued opinions and recommendations.

These days I try and stay well away from so called "top shelf" makes of helmet. That instantly discounts Shoei and Arai etc....

It's because I like to buy a bargain and that's hardly ever possible with those makes.

Same goes for the other love of my life - shotguns. I always steer well clear of expensive Italian makes (Beretta etc) as they are silly money. I use an almost identical Italian make of gun for less than half their price. The build quality of my gun is almost the same as the Beretta.

Although NOT an open faced helmet I have just been given one of these things by a good friend -

Spada Helmet Sting White | Dual Sport Spada Helmets | FREE UK Delivery

It appears an excellent BUDGET RTW helmet?

I rather like the Nolan range of open faced helmets too....

It would seem that some of us love our brains and good looks (!) just a little bit more and like to give them 'top shelf' protection ;)

What about the Shark Evoline 3?

Gives good protection when needed but also gives open face in stuffy situations. Also a good price/quality compromise.

With respect, there are many many helmets out there which provide (and sometimes surpass) expensive (top-shelf) helmets like those sold by Shoei/Arai etc. It's a FACT that some helmets costing a third of these helmets prices provide same or better protection. Just have a good look at the SHARP UK government test website.

I remember seeing that a helmet costing only £70 (5 star) or so, beat Shoie's top of the range X-Spirit helmet (4 star)!

Another aspect is comfort. I have found cheaper helmets sometimes offer the same comfort as top-shelf helmets.

You will always get riders who believe their heads are being better protected because they spend more. This isn't always true. Then you will get riders who brag they have spent ridiculous sums on helmets without much protective gain.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a bargain and not wanting to pay for expensive advertising and sport sponsorship.

I only pay £8 for a pair of jeans from Primark instead of paying £30 for Levi's as I used to when younger. They look and perform exactly the same.

I buy T shirts for £2.50 yet my son pays up to £15 for exactly the same thing. doh

I regularly beat other game shooters with my £400 shotgun who use guns worth £10,000 plus! :eek3:

I guess if you have the money to waste, it's perfectly okay to spend it as you wish.

I am lucky enough to be able to buy expensive items but I prefer to get the same level of protection for a bargain price. :clap:

I AM an ugly git though.....beer

That's an interesting comparison , shotguns and helmets . Both are of interest to me having bought a few over the years .
I think that fit,finish and longevity are important things to consider when you buy either of the above . Sometimes if you are going to use an item extremely hard then it pays to spend the extra money. But for lighter use , then a cheaper item will do the job just as well .
More expensive shotguns tend to last and have a better resale value [ if that's important to you ] helmets don't have quite the same appeal on the second hand market [ "beautiful condition sir - just the one ding and you can put a sticker over that - good as new !"]. I also admire the handiwork that goes into quality shotguns .
However , like yourself, I am always on the lookout for a bargain.
[ One day , I may even buy a Purdey for 200 quid :confused1: ]

:offtopic:

I use an old AYA Yeoman shotgun. My father bought it new in 1973 and used it until he was 70 or so. It's probably only worth a couple of hundred pounds sterling although it's still in excellent working order. I look after it.

To be perfectly honest I would love another over&under modern gun but simply can't justify taking another place in an already crowded gun cabinet.

My 2 firearms (.22LR rimfires) are all in MINT condition too - old BRNO's. I prefer older BRNO's instead of more modern (inferior) CZ's. I have a really lovely BRNO Model 5 made in 1966.

I can't justify buying another because my beloved dads gun does everything well. I sometimes find myself embarassed using such a gun in front of others using Purdey's etc...

I can afford whatever I wanted.

I did see a lovely Italian O/U a while back and was tempted. It was MINT and only £400.

I guess I'm stuck with my Dads gun. :thumbup1:

The Yeomans are excellent guns , so too are the BRNOs .
Funnily enough the Yeoman is now available in Canada under a different name and at a hugely inflated price, hang onto yours .
I have 2 BSAs one is a Majestic rifle from the late 1950's and the other is d/b shotgun from the early 1920's , not worth much but I like 'em and they'll be passed on to my son when I pop my clogs .
But if the weather is extremely foul both guns stay at home and something more modern and therefore expendable is used . [I would cry if I dropped either out of a boat and it was lost :crying:.]
Stay on target .

I agree with this ... its worth bearing in mind there has never (to the best of my knowledge) been a single study anywhere in the world that has shown expensive helmets like Arai or Shoei protect in real life accidents any better than any other approved helmet. There have been plenty of studies all right, but in not a single one has there been any conclusive evidence whatsoever that a motorcycle rider is better off with an expensive helmet. I have never heard of a single coroners report anywhere that implied 'had the lad worn a more expensive brand of helmet he would be still alive today'.

Its a marvel of marketing that expensive helmet manufacturers have been able to imply that this is the case - that there is a correlation between price and protection, when every helmet study done shows it to be false.

A very good point and I heartily agree .
However , you have to look at build quality as well . Some of the cheaper helmets may not hold up so well over time because of inferior stitching , cheaper materials or aerodynamics that make them uncomfortable or noisy after a few hours of riding .
I usually end up buying mid priced helmets because the big names don't impress me [or even fit me] and some of the cheaper ones make me cringe as regards build quality .
But it usually comes down to having a comfortable fit and a colour I can live with .:thumbup1:

Been using open face helmets for over 30 years - out of the many i have used over the years I rate the top ones as follows
Most comfortable and quiet, no drag or lift not affected by wind etc - without any comparison - Davida jet (but lack of flip up visor etc is a pain).
Most practical all rounder (but very expensive) Schuberth J1
Arai with visor is pretty practical, light but cold in winter and a bit noisy.
I also bought last year a Nolan air - its a bit noisy and there are two many moving parts (vents visors etc so it rattles quite a bit at times and feels a bit budget for a fairly expensive helmet) it had been worn four times and stayed in its bag for a year or so;
I currently use a caberg freeride carbon - open face - comes with a visor if you want to fit it, very very light (750grms), very comfy and quite. cost about £120.00


I have seen old stock Arai's and the like in sales over the winter for almost budget money (well £120) as open face lids dont sell well.

My next lid is the Caberg Tourmax, supposedly the first ever flip-up Enduro/Adventure helmet, cos it's got a peak!

Caberg Helmets - Tourmax

http://www.caberg.it/img/catalogo_caschi/T/MW/TMW_1.jpg
http://www.caberg.it/img/catalogo_ca...MaB/TMaB_3.jpg

Due out in Feb for approx 240 euros

I think it was either ADAC or Motorrad which did something like this, and the conclusion was that price is not equal quality...



Casper

http://www.jmcorp.com/media/helmets/..._n44_group.jpg

cutomize as you like. nolan n44

Cheaper helmets may not have the longivity of the racer fashion brands but if i drop a cheap helmet I will replace it and the replacement will protect my head far better than a top line helmet thats past its best!

If you wear a helmet everyday for over a year it may as well be binned so get something cheap.

I just payed £30 for a full face hi vis helmet, its light airy and better still it stands out a hell of a lot more than a black arai/shoei etc so hopefully I wont need to test how good it is in an crash, because I might stand a chance of the idiots actually spotting me!:scooter: