To cool for school
SOME open-faced helmets are terrible ill-fitting bowls that try to wrestle their way off your head in winds over 10mph.
This Shoei JO is I think the best one I’ve tried, head-shaped enough to make a snug fit but not so tight you have to peel it off with pliers.
It’s got an integral visor which can be swapped in seconds for a tinted one (as shown in the pic of me wearing it on the recent Triumph Bobber launch).
There are little plastic stops that the visor rests on when fully down, and they’re adjustable, so the effective height of the visor can be altered to suit your face. If you’ve got a big hooter like mine, that’s useful.
It’s big enough to cover most of your face.
At speed, wind inevitably gets under it and makes your eyes stream, and there is a bit of helmet lift north of 70mph, though not as bad I’ve experienced with some other open-faced lids.
With the visor up, you’d barely know it was there and the helmet functions as visor-less one, so you can use goggles. There’s a leather loop at the back for the strap to go through – and that’s the eye-streaming issue resolved.
It’s got a nice retro look. Apparently that’s fashionable these days.
If I wasn’t so fond of my chin, I’d make it my default every-day helmet. As things stand it’s on standby for scramblers, bobbers and other hipster-mobiles, where riding in a full-face race-rep makes you look like you've nicked the bike.
I plan to wear it on the launch ride of the Yamaha SCR950 this weekend, for example.
There’s a range of colours. A single-colour variant, like my matt-back one, is a penny shy of £300, while a multi-coloured scheme costs £50 more.
Product tested: Shoei JO helmet
Price: £299.99
