Hello! I’m RyanF9 and these are the best helmets … for wearing eyeglasses.
Now these spectacles are fake, because I don’t need ‘em. But my recommendations are very real . I have been wearing glasses in all the helmets I reviewed in 2017, just so I could pick the best one s for this video. Open face, touring, ADV, sport, racing and modular.
The Scorpion Belfast is my retro, cruiser-ish choice because of something it doesn’t have .
Lots of padding there, and there, and there and oh, hold on, it’s hollow up here .
See Scorpion didn’t stuff foam into the top of the cheek pads, and that’s brilliant . Obviously it leaves room for the temples of my glasses, so they sit comfortably on my face without any pressure points.
What’s special about this design is that I can adjust how my glasses sit. So many helmets carve eyeglass channels into the liner, which is only good if you want your glasses to sit at the precise angle of the channel . But with the Belfast, I have a hollow patch rather than a hollow line. So my glasses are comfortable like this. Or like this. Or like this. Whatever.
I will say that it’s still a squeeze to put the glasses on. Just because of the way ¾ helmets are designed, they tend to pinch more on the sides.
What else should you know about the Belfast? Well, its main thing is hand craftsmanship . The fibreglass shell is hand-laid, the nappa leather is hand stitched… it’s a lovely place to stick your head, so long as you don’t mind paying 250 dollars to do so. Unfortunately the leather liner cannot be removed for washing, and the rear goggle strap sits far too low.
But , at least you get a drop down sun visor. That’s kinda rare on open face lids.
Now , the Scorpion EXO-T510 is the best touring helmet for wearing glasses.
That’s because of something called KwikFit and AirFit. KwikFit is Scorpion’s super fun word for a standard eyeglass channel… nothing special here and as I already mentioned, it’s kind of annoying that it forces your frames to a certain angle.
But AirFit is special . See a lot of visually-challenged riders will choose helmets that are too wide for them, because that makes it easier to take glasses on and off. Of course, the downside is that having a loose-sided helmet is bad for safety.
With AirFit, you can have the best of both worlds.
In the resting position, the EXO-T510 is loose enough to slip glasses in and out. But then it’s designed to be pumped up , inflating a bladder behind the cheek pads, which snugs the helmet on each side. When you want to take the glasses off, just deflate the bladder and you’ll regain your wiggle room.
Pros and cons are easy. The T510 is way too loud for a touring helmet – con. And it has emergency release cheek pads and a visor lock, which Scorpion always seems to remember. That’s a pro.
In every other way, the T510 is just some helmet. 1640g for a size medium – neither light norheavy considering the shell is polycarbonate. It has a drop-down sun visor, it vents alright, it cuts the air alright. The 270-dollar price tag is alright… I wore this lid for the Can-Am Spyder review last year and it left no impression whatsoever. Just some helmet.
Unless you have eyeglasses, in which case the T510 and its AirFit system is brilliant .
Now , the best ADV helmet for wearing glasses is Arai’s XD-4 .
In fact, this is the best eyeglass helmet in my entire video . You can see how the padding totally falls away above each ear, opening into this expanse of free space.
This is the only helmet I’ve worn that literally does not inhibit glasses. They go on without pressure points, they stay without pressure points and they have oodles of room to adjust without pressure points.
It’s hard to show but easy to describe. Wearing glasses in the XD-4 is like wearing glasses with no helmet at all.
The other thing is that Arai’s padding has 5mm of peel-away foam. So even if you don’t get a perfect fit for your glasses off the factory line, you can just make like Picard and make it so.
The XD-4 might be the best four-eyed helmet in the world, but as some of you will remember, it’s also one of my favourite adventure lids.
The XD-4 is a true 50-50 helmet. It’s fairly light – 1650g for this size medium. And breezy – with rare visor vents and four-way chimneys, the XD-4 is an airy helmet to float around the trails .
But it’s also brilliant on pavement. Better soundproofing than almost everything in its class, and idiot-proof aerodynamics. No matter what toolless system you have – ratchets, thumb screws, whatever – nothing will be easier than the smoosh down sun peak on the XD-4. Idiot-proof.
Safety is a whole other discussion for a whole other video. In short, the XD-4’s external parts – vent cowls, sun peak – it’s all designed to break off in a crash rather than transferring torque to my neck. Plus the helmet passed Snell and it has emergency-release cheek pads. Long story short, it’s safer than almost any ADV lid. Two things I don’t like about the XD-4: the eye port is too small for large frame goggles, and I can’t afford it. 700 dollars, eh.
Now , when it comes to wearing glasses under a supersport helmet, I got screwed.
That’s because the most comfortable option is also the most expensive. It’s Arai’s Corsair-X and it costs 1000 dollars, so nobody wants to buy one.
Too bad really, because the thing is remarkable. Small and slippery from the outside, but hugely spacious and precise on the inside. It’s like an optical illusion. And just like the XD-4, that means your glasses can slide and stay in here without any pressure points. I also have that same 5-mm peel-away foam padding, if I need to make more space.
Plus the visor lock can double as a lever, opening the shield a crack so your glasses don’t fog. It’s a good thing too, because otherwise this chin curtain locks in way too much humidity .
Arai’s big thing is glancing blows, which I already touched on a bit. These cowls snap off, these side pods are sunk flush with the shell … even the visor was designed with a sliding pivot point so the hinge could sit lower, allowing more of the upper shell to be perfectly round.
The result is one of the safest Snell helmets out there. And like I said, easily the best racing helmet for wearing eyeglasses. I love the Corsair-X, and there’s no way in hell I can afford one.
So I threw on my glasses and scoured the shelves for a cheaper alternative. I tried every Bell Star, I tried the RPHA 10 and 11, I tried Schuberths and Scorpions and HJCs and LS2s and what was the second best option I found?
The 650-dollar Shoei RF-1200 . F*ck.
So it ain’t exactly cheap. But it is roomy and comfy to wear with glasses. I will say that the on-off manoeuver is still a tight squeeze, but sport helmets are made to fit snug so that’s hardly surprising.
Odds are you’ve already heard the deets on this helmet – everyone and their grandmother has one. 1575g for a size medium, which is 25 less than the Corsair-X thanks to a clever weave of organic and glass fibres. It’s Snell rated and it has a high-trimmed racer’s cut – that poses less risk of breaking your clavicle, and also frees up neck movement to go into a full tuck or to shoulder check on the losers behind you.
The last big benefit of the RF-1200 is quietness . Shoei added soundproof padding and threw a tighter spring in the visor shutter since the last iteration, so this helmet locks out road noise better than most. It also ventilates worse than most, especially at slow speeds. And that… is the definition of Karma.
And finally , the best modular to wear with glasses is HJC’s RPHA Max .
To be honest, most modulars are easy. They don’t wrap the face as tight as a standard helmet, and they flip up. So putting your glasses on in the open position is a cinch.
But the RPHA Max has an extra advantage . Partially because it’s roomy in the temples, with eyeglass channels that are deeper than average. And partially because the RPHA line vents so well, so fogging is rarely an issue.
I was secretly hoping the RPHA Max would prove most comfortable with glasses, because it’s such an easy helmet to recommend. The carbon, aramid and fibreglass shell brings weight down to 1580g, which is lighter than almost everything in its class. And it just feels nice. It feels premium. It feels more expensive than 550 dollars.
This wouldn’t be a FortNine review without some negative feedback, so here we go. The sun visor is shit. For one – it’s nowhere near dark enough. For two – you have to press the button and the lever at the same time to reach the third and lowest position, which is ridiculous because what the hell am I controlling my motorcycle with? And for three – HJC used such a wimpy spring in here that it barely retracts fully when new, let alone two years down the road.
And that’s it for the best eyeglasses motorcycle helmets. Thanks for watching.