FortNine Crash Test 002 - Shoei Neotec Motorcycle Helmet
Hello! I’m RyanF9 and today we crash test the iconic Shoei Neotec.
800-dollars of pristine Japanese engineering – take a good look now because it’ll be utterly destroyed in a few minutes’ time. As is fair, however, we’ll test waterproofing before poking any holes in this helmet.
I have high hopes of staying dry today! The front facing vents are both close-able, and rather uncommonly, the rear exhaust slit is active too. Shoei is known to make a pretty tight helmet, so I don’t doubt that the visor and its rubber seating will seal alright. Only this big panel gap has me questioning how well the Neotec will handle SeaWorld.
So I’m still dry, just noticed a bit of water leaking in XYZ, etc… Overall, we’ve got a passing grade for waterproofing. Next is puncture and visor strength, which means we’re getting deployed to Rambo’s Corner.
Alright, 500 feet per second with a BB, a hollow point and a pointed pellet. The Neotec has Shoei’s AIM shell to protect itself around back – that’s a mixture of fibreglass and organic fibres. The organic stuff gives elasticity so I’m expecting better puncture strength than something like a brittle carbon fibre. Around front, Shoei was kind enough to include an anti-fog pinlock and drop-down sun visor, so they’ve earned two backup layers behind the face shield itself. We’ll start with the round BBs and work our way into sharper ammunition until we find the breaking point… little Shoei, you’re in for a shitstorm.
Okay, so the shell failed at XYZ and the visor failed at XYZ. That gives us a pass/fail for puncture strength, and a pass/fail for visor strength. Now take me out to the ball game, ‘cause it’s time to test impact protection and abrasion resistance.
Batter’s up!
Bomb’s away!
I’ve got no cheeky saying for this one, so I’m just gonna grind it out.
Sit-rep! The side impact didn’t go so well …
So , we get an XYZ for side impact, an XYZ for top impact and an XYZ for abrasion resistance. I kind of expected Shoei to do well there… it’s an expensive fibreglass-shelled helmet, meaning Shoei didn’t need to put as much EPS foam and padding to get its DOT sticker. But the Neotec is chunky and a full 1780g for a size medium, so obviously Shoei did put a bunch of extra padding in here anyway… it was bound to take impacts well. But now for the achilles heel of any modular – chin bar strength. These flip-up mechanisms are a literal weak link. And oh look – it’s my tee time.
So chin bar strength was a failure. Shame, shame, Shoei. Next we’re going to look at heat resistance and pay close attention , because out testing method is very scientific (serious tone).
Burn baby burn! Now let’s try the inside – “How to Use Your Helmet Properly” – I didn’t read the booklet but I’m guessing this isn’t what Shoei had in mind.
Here in the scientific community, we would say that the Neotec was a total bitch to light on fire. So I’m gonna say it has a great heat resistance, you’re gonna ask what the hell that has to do with motorcycle safety, and I’m going to ignore the point by moving on to FortNine’s Ninth test – build quality.
Basically we ask ourselves what still works? This shield, the sun visor, the vents, the chin bar, the padding, etc.
So, XYZ for build quality makes the overall score 5/9. That’s 56% to all the mathletes out there, meaning the Neotec would pass grade 6, if it were a sixth grader.
But it’s not a sixth grader ! It’s a helmet and truth be told, we don’t know if 56% is any good for a helmet, because we haven’t tested enough buckets yet. For now this Shoei Neotec – 800-dollars of beautifully destroyed Japanese engineering – gets to set the bar. At least until next week’s episode.
Thanks for watching.