AX Helmet, What brand and where to buy? Options

[jesiv]

My 17 year old son and I are going to start AX this summer! What brand helmet should we get and where to buy?

Regards

James

[DBCooper]

I go through a lot of helmets with motorcycles and strongly suggest that you NEVER buy a helmet you haven't tried on. There are a couple of different head "types", from long watermelon shaped to round canteloupe. For example Arai's are typically more round shaped, Shoei enlongated. If you buy the wrong shape you'll have pressure points on your head as you wear it, you won't want to have it on very long and will have a lower level of protection. I use Shoei, my head can't stand Arai, but even in one manufacturer's line the fit and sizes will vary slightly from model to model, so you really have to try them on. Don't be afraid of lower-priced helmets, in real world testing the motorcycle people have found little or no correlation of price and level of protection. And from what I've seen Bell is a pretty good balance of quality/value.

Oh, and generally motorcycle helmets have evolved into shapes that aren't necessarily helpful for automotive use. They use aerodynamic shapes, vents, etc. that make perfect sense when you're turning to look over your shoulder on a motorcycle at faster than freeway speeds and don't want that helmet trying to turn on your head, but are pretty worthless inside a car. The simpler (and cheaper) models are probably better for automotive use than the fancy (expensive) ones.