Riding in extremely cold/wet weather

mcoyote

Registered
I ordered an XL Ski-Doo (DOT, not Snell) modular from cyclecity1.com earlier this week. Apparently BRP only makes a certain number every year and certain sizes/colors are scarce, but they did have a yellow one.

I normally wear an Arai RX7-RR4. It's a comfortable helmet in all weather and it's very light, but noisy (always wear plugs, anyway). I definitely have an Arai head. In that helmet, I am an XXL, in the Quantum F an XL.

I wanted the modular because I've been caught in a few snowstorms at night lately and the fogging situation is out of hand when that happens. I've tried the fog city liners, soap and spit on the inside, cleaning obsessivlely, etc. Nothing helps -- when it gets that cold and humid I am out of luck.

Also, this time of year I am always riding in night and day (low, bright winter sun) every day and changing shields is taking its toll -- lots of scratched shields, cracked side-pods, etc. I didn't want or neeed a flip-face helmet, but I figured it was a nice-to-have.

As it turns out with the rubber face mask setup flipping up the front is the only way to get the helmet on and off.

The face mask is for real -- its stretcy/rubbery stuff and fits snugly and comfortably on your face, captures all of your breath, and routes it out of side ports with wind covers. It snaps in place over your face and has to be un-snapped on at least one side to get the helmet off.

It also has what looks like a fiber "nuisance dust" filter built into it.

The jaw bar thingy clearly doesn't have the degree of protection that a normal full-face with foam would, but I'm sure it would provide abrasion protection under some conditions and is secured to the main body of the helmet with stout metal catches. I can open it with one hand.

At first the helmet seemed small -- the metal around cheek pads tore up my head the first time I put the helmet on -- but the rest of the helmet felt exactly as it should (snug, no pressure).

I remembered the same thing from when I tried on a Shoei Syncrotech (also flip-face), however, and tried again from a different angle while pulling the straps apart a bit and it went on fine. After snapping off and looking at the cheek pads, I've ordered the cheek pads for a smaller size helmet.

In addition to the front of the helmet itself, the shield flips up with one finger. The integrated sun visor slides up and down with a brow-mounted tab, also using one finger, and fits into the face mask exactly. The helmet comes with a fleece mask that snaps over the mask and covers your neck.

I found this to a little stifling, but I imagine it does the trick. I will probably stick with my balaclava. The helmet has very little venting to speak of and I imagine it would be pretty uncomfortable in a DC summer. It also has a quick-disconnect strap and some built-in wind-blocking stuff around the neck.

A quick ride reveals that it's a bit noisy -- not as aerodynamic as some -- but not as bad as the RR4. It's also wind-tight and I'm pretty sure will never fog. The XL feels like the right size -- no parts that rub abnormally much, no pressure, etc., but the smaller cheek pads will be nice.

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ED: Brief clarification.

The weather along the front range of the rockies can vary drastically, especially if you travel north/south. My current employer is 10-15mi north of the Springs (Monument) in almost a completely different climate outside of the heat island around the Springs -- it can be pissing snow in one place and sunny and dry in the other.

I've also looked at Shuberth Concept helmets because they have integral sun visors, but having seen one they are a good deal bulkier, noisier, not as fog-resistant and a good deal more expensive (the Modular is about $275). DOT means DOT, BTW -- snowmobile helmets with this certification are just as tough as street helmets with same.



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