Helmets and Visibility?

Martin Secrest · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2001 11:32 am Post subject: Helmets and Visibility?

This subject was broached at the Muller forum (but of course I wasn't paying attention then.) But now I need a new helmet, and I was wondering which one might provide the best view of the road. Seems I have to pull mine down a lot to see over the mouth guard.

Racer Wholesale is having a sale on Simpson helmets. Any of these have better visibility than the others?

Paul Harraka · Joined: 28 Aug 2001 Posts: 1345

The Simpson Voyager has by far the best vision. The opening give you great up and down vision and huge prerifreal vision. My son tried them all and the Voyager was the best for vision. Get the Voyager 8 as it has better fresh air ventilation than the Voyager 7. They are also very resonably priced in the $250-350 range.

Mike Weaver · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2001 12:43 pm Post subject: Helmets and Visibility?

I agree with Paul. The Voyager has a HUGE eyeport. I tried to get one as I sometimes wear glasses when racing vs contacts (when my late night activities dehydrate my eyes

). However, I have a weird sized head and the Voyager would not fit in any size. Not Simpon's fault. So I had to go to the Bell line. There I found the EC Sport (II?) was perfect. It's eyeport isn't quite as large as the Voyagers, but still it was quite big.

There you go! 2 excellent choices.

Charlie Tackett · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2001 3:15 am Post subject: Helmets and Visibility?

Often it has nothing to do with the size of the eyeport, but instead the depth of the helmet. If you happen to have taller than average cranium, many helmets will just sit too high up, even though the "fit" otherwise is fine. This results in the eyeport being a little too high and even your chin sticking out the bottom a little too far. Seems more common in the European helmets. Most Bell helmets will fit better and I also have a SHoie that also has more than average depth that fits well.

Kenny Bolen · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2001 3:42 am Post subject: Helmets and Visibility?

I just recently went from a Simpson RX-8 to a Kart Shark. I was having huge issues with the RX on high speed tracks of 'rising' on my head. Since I have purchased the Shark, not only can I see well out of it, but it fits great.

Mike Weaver · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2001 6:56 am Post subject: Helmets and Visibility?

Kenny brings up a great point. What application the helmet will be used? Many helmets with the lips on the bottom may not be the best choice for enduro racing as the wind will pull them up. That happened with my Simpson SX (mainly because I didn't fit it properly).