The world's best motorcycle helmet. Spoiler alert. It's a Shoei!
Published on: 01 August 2024
We did a video review some years ago about the best motorcycle helmets that money can buy. And it wasn't, for various reasons, difficult to conclude that the two brands that stood head and shoulders above all the other makers were Shoei helmets and Arai. And we'll go over some of the reasons for coming to this conclusion in this article.
There are two helmet brands that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Ultimately, we couldn't come to a definitive resolution, and so we copped out a little. Our verdict was that, whilst the two makers were in a league of their own, Arai clinched it from a protection standpoint. But given how Arai has done little to make their helmets easier to live with over the last 20 or 30 years, we felt that Shoei produced helmets that were nicer to ride in.
Arai, of course, has a very loyal following. Many of those who were riding bikes in the seventies, and eighties have come to revere the brand. Some people still associate Arai with all the great names from the heyday of GP500. And some, often without much foundation, have managed to convince themselves that they have an Arai-shaped head. But nothing in life, other than an Arai helmet perhaps, stays the same. We greatly admire Arai's adherence to its founder's principles. The company has a design philosophy based on an uncompromising approach to safety and protection. But whilst Arai has made, perhaps, a conscious effort not to change, Shoei has gone the other way, such that these days we are finding it harder here in the shop to recommend an Arai over a Shoei.
Why was it only Arai and Shoei?
What about the rest?
Arai and Shoei are the most longstanding helmet makers, and like many Japanese companies they are driven by an unwavering ethos. Japanese businesses tend to take a longer term view of the world. Japanese companies take a more holistic approach, and usually have a greater sense of their place in society. They are focussed on continual, incremental improvement. Cutting corners in order to increase margins, and following fads and fashions, is not part of their thinking.
Over here in Europe, by contrast, the focus often seems to be the Return on Investment. Often the makers are driven by the need to continually satisfy shareholders, particularly if venture capital is involved, as it increasingly is. And so we see a lot of helmets designed by marketing departments, and with short-term commercial objectives in mind.
Both the Japanese brands, of course, are much involved in MotoGP, and whilst 'open-chequebook' sponsorship deals mean that the duo do not dominate the grid in the way that they used to, it was these two companies that largely shaped the recent FIM helmet safety standard for the series; a standard that, to a great extent, informed the new ECE 22-06 protocol.
Now every helmet manufacturer,of course, will pay lip service to protection, but the two Japanese companies live and breathe it. They are not interested in meeting the current standards; they are intent only on exceeding them.
Both brands make exclusively in their own factories, and obsess about the development of the skills required to create a helmet largely by hand. It is said that it can take 10 years for an Arai technician, for example, to become sufficiently skilled to produce an outer shell. Arais and Shoeis are still hand-made by time-served craftsmen, who take a great pride in their work. These companies truly are the Aston Martin and Rolls Royce of the helmet world.
Not everybody values what you get when you buy such a helmet. To those of a less inquisitive disposition, an Arai or a Shoei might appear to do the same job as the much cheaper helmets that sit next to them on the shop display. But when you buy an Arai or a Shoei, you basically know that what you have bought is as good as it gets.
For a helmet to work properly it has to fit properly
Remember, we are talking here about a motorcyclist's most important piece of safety equipment; a device that, in extremis, can prevent brain damage, or even death. And this, of course, should be every motorcyclist's prime concern. We understand the desire that many motorcyclists have to look the part, but whatever else you decide to do it is foolish to compromise when it comes to a helmet.
But the bottom line here is that a motorcycle helmet will only do its job properly if it fits properly. A helmet that is so tight that it causes pain is an accident in the making. Whilst a helmet that is too loose is distracting, and won't absorb the energy of an impact in the way that it is meant to. And the fact is that both Shoei and Arai give us a greater ability to custom fit helmets than other brands.
Now most helmets come in two shell sizes; and frankly this is nothing more or less than an exercise in shaving production costs. Getting a proper, snug fit is far less likely in a helmet that is only produced in two shell sizes. All Shoei and Arai helmets, by contrast, come in at least three shell sizes.
But what further separates the two Japanese brands from all the others is the interchangeable interior liners that can alter the fit both around the skull and the cheeks.
Now Arai offers seven different cheekpad thicknesses for many of its helmets, whilst Shoei offers at least one thicker pad, and one thinner pad, for every single helmet size. It's even more black and white when it comes to headliners. The two Japanese makers are the only brands to actively offer different headliner thicknesses. Arai offers four different thicknesses for each of its three shell sizes, whilst Shoei again offers a thicker and a thinner option in every single size.
So the facility to have their helmets custom fitted is, for us, yet another reason to put the Japanese brands on a pedestal.
But recently Shoei has taken the concept of custom fitting to the next level. The technology involved in their new PFS helmet fitting service totally blows every other helmet brand, including Arai, out of the water. With Shoei the notion of a perfect fit is no longer just the goal; it's an everyday achievable reality.
PFS, which stands for Personal Fitting System, has totally revolutionised the concept of helmet fitting. There has never been anything in this market like it. And it sets up the proposition that if you want a helmet to fit properly, so that it can do its job properly, it's really got to be a Shoei.
And that's why, for us, Shoei is the king. For most people, in most situations, a Shoei will simply be the best option. As a package, a Shoei helmet is now, in our opinion, without equal.
Shoei PFS. What it is. And how it works
The principles are straightforward, although it has taken Shoei many years to develop and test the system. In essence, we measure your head in four different ways. We input those measurements into what is basically a Shoei app.. The system then creates a 3D image of the rider's head. Now, obviously, Shoei knows the internal architecture of all its helmets, and so what the system does is marry the two together, and then suggests what pads are required where in order to fill the open spaces, and optimise the fit. To this end there are a dozen or so different pads that can be added to the headliner in every model of helmet.
Quite frankly, the system is amazing. We usually get a pretty darned perfect fit first time, although as we all feel things differently there have been instances where customers have come back in for minor adjustments.
Now, historically, we here at Motolegends have always been the helmet-fitting specialists. And because we always carry all the required headliners and cheekpads, we have often managed to fit helmets comfortably where others have not. But the issue has always been that we could never see inside the helmet to ascertain just how good the fit was around the skull. Well, with the Shoei PFS system, we now effectively can.
It is hard to over-state the difference PFS makes to customising the fit of helmets. It has removed all the guesswork, and replaced it with science! In the past, it took a lot of effort to get a helmet to fit correctly; with PFS it would take a lot to get it wrong.
The fact is that most motorcyclists, however long they have been riding, and however experienced they might be, have never had a helmet that has fitted them perfectly. Now, even a newbie can get it right on day one. And on the road, a properly-fitting helmet can make a huge difference to how you feel on the bike, and ultimately to how you ride it.
PFS really does mark a sea change when it comes to helmet fitting. It is truly revolutionary. No other helmet manufacturer has anything like it; and knowing where most of the brands sit when it comes to the fitting of helmets, I reckon it could take 10 years for anyone to catch up to where Shoei is today. Most brands, I suspect, won't even bother trying.
How to get a Shoei PFS fitting
We are not the only PFS dealer in the UK, although we are the only one with a dedicated PFS studio, and the only one to employ a full-time PFS technician.
We are also, by quite some margin, the most experienced PFS centre in the country. We carry large stocks of all the PFS-specific liners and pads, but we also have all the standard headliners and cheekpads, which are still crucial when it comes to getting that perfect fit. Bottom line? We are better equipped than other retailers to get this done right.
To book an appointment, you can click here.
In the future, with PFS, you will be able to get a perfect fitting helmet without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
But here's something you should bear in mind. Once your details are in the system, you can then order a new helmet from us without even trying it on, in the knowledge that it's going to fit perfectly. And that applies equally to helmets that have not even been announced yet! When you buy a helmet online, getting the fit right has always been an issue. Well PFS removes it from the equation.
We stock all the Shoei EC 22-06 helmets which are the Shoei Neotec 3, Shoei GT Air 3, Shoei NXR2, Shoei Glamster 06, Shoei J-Cruise 3.
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