Shoei RF1000 Review

[MR Felt]

It was 2 months ago, I walked into the stealer and saw
an awesome Icon Airframe. That got me into the helmet hunt.
My HJC - CL was 3 years old I knew it was on one
of the lower rungs of the quality ladder.
The loudest voice among you with opinions on a great helmet
was JD (thanks). Although I was lacking the dollers
to get the Shoei X-11 , there were plenty of RT1000's out there.
I have to shudder at the thought of buying a helmet off
of Ebay but I figured as long as it was new the chance of
buying a bad helmet was not much greater than one making
it's way to the stealers shelf and being handled buy the public while on display.

Upon opening the box I was blown away by the graphics.
The pics ( cartoon) on the Shoei site doesn't come close
to doing it justice. I had the HJC right there so the first
test is just picking them up to see which one feels lighter.
You could tell the Shoei felt lighter , but by feel how
much difference is there really??
Besides being lighter the Shoei shell has a smaller
footprint as well.

RF 1000 features include a chin vent, two intake vents
above the eyebrow, exhaust vent/ Aero wing Spoiler,
removable cheek pads and chin strap covers.

The safety aspects of the helmet are huge. Shoei uses
a Dual EPS liner and The RF-1000 shell ( and X-11) is of Shoei’s proprietary
AIM + (Advanced Integrated Matrix Plus Multi-fiber Technology)
, which embeds ultra strong organic fibers into fiberglass.
The result is a lightweight, yet strong, outer shell that is
better able to absorb and disperse the force of an impact.

Upon trying it on you can feel the difference in quality
and for my shape head a much better fit.
The shield has more detents for more opening positions
and it has a built in lever to just crack the shield open
or to lock the shield.

It took about a block to feel the weight ( feel ) difference
between the two helmets. It was unreal. It truly
feels like no weigh at all.

I read it in a different review that "the upper intake vents
feel like a breeze blowing through Your hair". Well
that is exactly what it feels like, it's great.
I could also feel no buffeting up to 120 mph. After feeling
this I had to see what it looked like in the HJC because
it has two vents in the same position. It was like two
little holes, while the RF1000 has air channel tracs in the
liner to to move the air over the top of your head as
well as gaps in the fabric running parallel with the tracs.


Now the bad news, the helmet is a fog machine. It fogs
real easy. This is the only area where the HJC out performs
the RF1000. Even with the breath guard installed it is fog city.
I knew this before purchasing the RF1000 and while
I'm not going to spend the money this year Shoei has a
Pinlock lens system where different colored removable
outer lenses will attach to the "Pinlock shield". The
replaceable lenses have a silicone like gasket around the
perimeter of the lens causing an insulating barrier of
air that eliminates the fog issue.
Since I have the fog issue, the lever that either locks the
shield in place or prys the shield open just a crack does
an ok job of dissipating the fog. I didn't think the lever would work as well as it did.

The chin guard on the helmet does a good job of keeping
the wind noise down while I am sitting upright but when
I duck behind the Puig Touring Windscreen it is louder
than the HJC.
Also only the cheek pads are removeable, the rest of the
helmet liner stays attached. You have to buy the
X-11 to get that feaure.

What does this mean...Shoei just came out with the RF1100
and there a ton of the RF1000's out there to be sold.
I got lucky and no one bid against me on this helmet
so I bought it for $202.50 plus 24.00 shipping. I think
the fact that the pic of the helmet on ebay was the illustration and not an actual pic helped, otherwise
it seems the ones I was watching were going for
$230.00- $250.00
and New RF1000 are on certain web sites for $300.00
shipped.






AIM technology




Aero wing with rear vents. Slide the lever side to side
to close vents.


There are different thickness' of removable cheek pads
to custom fit the helmet.

[Djxtrodinaire]

I love my RF1000!
maybe becuz its the only one that fits my 3xlarge head great!

[TruWrecks]

Congrats. Now you know why a better helmet is worth the higher price. Sure a $130 helmet can meet the minimum standards, but it won't be as comfortable or the same quality.

[killaessien]

true about the fogging but i would rather wear my rf1000 than my cheap hjc anyday!

[dadofthree]

You guys are offending me

[Laylas_Mom]

I agree! Plus they are pretty...hehe

[blownws6]

Shoei is my fav. helmet ever made. I've alot thru the years, and love them. congratz...

[05BUSABLU]

holding out and savin for the rf1100 it was dreamy when i tried it on and it has the speaker pods too, i swear it was as if they made for my melon and mine alone, glad you like the lid, the x11 and x12 have great features but were not nearly as comfy as the rf1100, i think ill save the bucks and get a plain blk then have it painted. they get nutz on prices with their graffics

[blusmbl]

I love my RF1000. Although I agree it is a fog factory. I bought a pinlock insert for mine, I need a new shield though as mine is a year and a half old and doesn't have the pins.

[MR Felt]

Here is the RF1100 review.
I just ran across it.
After reading it ,if I didn't want a RF1000 I think I would
buy the X Eleven. They will have lots of them coming
around on close outs as well with the release of the
X Twelve.

Shoei RF-1100 - webBikeworld