True Confessions of a Helmet Hypocrite

Helmets are funny. A polarizing issue for many riders.  Forgive the length of what I’m about to write, but here is my complete history with helmets, starting with the first.  Right from Day One I was always a helmet wearer:

1. Bell 500TX Int’l orange. Worn from about 1970-1980. The padding around the ears was an amazingly soft black leather. The last couple of years often worn with a Jofa snap-on chin and mouth guard intended for hockey player use. Compact and light. Made in America.
2. Bell Star, first generation full-face, black, used for maybe six to ten (?) years. Painted the bottom third silver. Rock solid, bomb-proof. Made in America.
3. Shoei ’something’, full face, red, fiberglass, used for about 3-5 years. Made in Japan.
4. Shuberth modular.  First or second gen. Fiberglass. Gray. Used '96-'98.  Made in Germany.
5. Nolan N-100 modular. 1999-2006. White. A favorite. Simple. Polycarbonate. Wore for many years. Modified several ways. (Chinbar latch system, internal speakers.) Was stolen in the middle of a ride when I stupidly left it on the bike’s rear-view mirror for ten minutes. Rode 70 miles on a freeway bareheaded to the nearest place to buy another helmet. Made in Italy.
   5A.  Rapha modular. Low end polycarbonate. White. Light. Inexpensive. Kept in Arizona where I had a bike for winter riding for many years. Thus, infrequently used so now in storage here at my home in MN. Made in Korea.
6. Nolan Xlite 1002 modular. 2006-current. Still wearing this one today. Early fiberglass model. Now maybe 17-ish years old and on its second full lining (they were designed to be replaceable, and washable, and I’ve done both). My day-to-day ‘beater’ helmet and looks it. White, covered with scratches, held together in a few internal places with glue, etc. Made in Italy.
7. Xlite 1004 (by Nolan) modular. 2017-current. A modern modular. A newer version of #6, also white, but made using carbon fiber for lightness. Only used when traveling on road trips.  Maybe now has 30,000 miles of use. Still looks like new, fits well, quiet. Has internal sun shield, the first one I’ve experienced. Never use that feature. Made in Italy.

I also have a very old Shoei ‘jet’ style (open face) helmet which is sort of a replica of that original Bell 500TX. It is white. Comfort lining and strap padding now semi-deteriorated. Seldom wear but is available. Sometimes use in winter over a balaclava and with ski goggles.

These days for 100% of my surface street riding -- which is commuting, grocery shopping and small errands -- I wear the beat up #6 Nolan Xlite modular with the chin bar up. (I wear Rx eyeglasses.) I like to be able to grin close-mouthed at pedestrians and dogs and those sealed into nearby cars. Like I’m having a terrifically wonderful time, because I am. If I go onto a local freeway for a few miles at 60-75, I’ll always tip the modular part down. No windshield or fairing on my bike. Only use clear face shields with the uppermost 1” of the shield covered from side to side with some 3M Solas reflective tape.

All of this makes me a fairly solid helmet hypocrite. I like DOT helmets better than Snell because I suspect* they’re a bit softer in a lower G force impact. I think the insurance industry got helmet companies to recommend replacing helmets ever 3-4 years or something because this probably represents a worst-case consumer use scenario:  A helmet which is continuously left out in direct sun and high temperature weather, except when being worn by a sweat-prone rider who puts a lot of greasy products on their hair. My helmet is only out in the sun when I’m actually riding, and I’m nearly bald and don’t use hair products and where I live do not frequently encounter the high ambient temperatures where I’m sweating profusely. But still, it’s a little embarrassing to be wearing the most beat-up looking and oldest helmet in any group of riders. That the #6 Nolan Xlite remains my daily ‘go to’ after 17 years and despite industry recommendations, is what makes me, a helmet dealer, an (again) huge helmet hypocrite.

Just today I received a reply from Nolan (the company’s HQ in Italy, since they lost their long-time USA distributor here after he died of old age a few years ago – RIP Harry McPherson) about options for replacing the old #6 Xlite, or at least re-lining it a second time. The one I’d like to buy today is their top end carbon fiber modular which is almost half a pound lighter than the current Shoei modular, and is about $750, but it’s not available in plain white. Only clear coat over the carbon fiber, flat black, or several garish paint designs most suitable for young sport bike riders.

Below is that emailed correspondence. Maybe you will find it moderately amusing? At least they replied.

Another example of another small motorcycle part of the old world disappearing. How can Nolan not make a plain white version of that helmet? (Yeah, I know. It is because they’d only sell one of them, one time. To me.)

- Mr. Subjective, 9-24

PS – We’ve always offered a fairly nice selection of white helmets here.  This week, we're offering free shipping with the purchase of any helmet, too.

PPS – There is something important about how frequency leads to fluency which is worth being aware of when it comes to rider’s gear, helmets and motorcycles-in-general. Whenever you do something a lot, over and over and over, you become able to do it almost unconsciously because of something brain scientists call neuroplasticity. The connections between our brain cells are called dendrites. The more you do something, the more dendrites grow both in number and density around the brain area controlling whatever it is you are doing repeatedly. For me this means when it comes to putting on my old #6 Nolan Xlite, clipping its chin strap latch, and later removing it, I now have thicker bundle of dendrites somewhere because I can do these things practically in my sleep, and so quicky I’m hardly aware of doing it. In darkness or light, wind or calm, rain or shine, hot or cold. Over the years the helmets anodized aluminum chin strap latch has become visibly polished by the skin on my thumb and fingertips. My muscle-memory knows this helmet’s feel, weight, heft and the slight shell flexing of the part covering my ears so when I arrive at home, at work, at a drug or grocery or hardware store, or anywhere else, I am barely aware of taking it off and attaching the strap to a loop of webbing near the left side of the saddle. And I’m noticeably less fluent handing the much newer far better and far more advanced #7 Exlite 1004 whenever I’m on a road trip. Not a problem, just a difference. You should choose a new helmet which fits your head correctly, and also one that you can keep long enough to develop real use-fluency with.

PPPS – This link is to a scan of a one-page postal letter I mailed to the president of Nolan only yesterday. It’s about my helmet biases, and what I think the perfect modern helmet for them to make and for me wear might be.

*Based on a little online reading and independent research.