Hello! I’m RyanF9 and today we find out which helmet is safer – the Icon Variant or the Shoei Hornet X2.
When it comes to dirt-style helmets that are primarily at-home on pavement… you’re lookin’ at ‘em. That’s why so many people are faced with this decision. Do I want DOT or Snell? America or Japan? A layman’s 400-dollar bucket, or a nobleman’s 800-dollar status symbol? It’s a hard choice.
In the War of waterproofing, SeaWorld is our battleground. The Shoei is equipped with two visor springs, sealing the lens to a beefed-up rubber gasket. And the Icon closes with… well, nothing. It just kinda closes.
Well, I’m still dry. | Yeah, me too .
All tied after one, but the soundproofing test is bound to give us a leader. We have 100 decibels of wind noise and some suitably adventurous music going on outside the helmets… time to see how “quiet” they are on the inside.
So , that was 97 dB inside the Hornet and 99 dB inside the Variant. So the Shoei was quieter and it pulls into the lead by one.
If Icon wants to p[lay catch up, this is a good place to do it. Rambo’s Corner always separates the men from the manlier men. Our Icon Variant is armored with a fibreglass, dyneema and carbon fiber shell… should be enough to resist my 550 km/h pellet gun for a few shots. And the Shoei has fiberglass woven with organic fibers… much lighter than the Icon but perhaps not as strong.
I see EPS foam. Four shots for Shoei .
And there it goes, four shots for Icon .
So the Variant and the Hornet X2 had identical shell puncture strengths. Four shots for each.
Visor strength should be interesting. The Shoei has a very typical face shield, but the Icon’s is bubble-y. Will the super-round profile be better at deflecting pellets? Or maybe it just makes the visor weaker?
Bang, bang, bang, bang . Wow six shots to get to the Shoei! That's teh best we've ever seen.
Bang, bang, bang, bang. So four shots and we are technically through the Variant even though the pellet is stuck in there. Either way its gonna be worse than the Shoei's six shots.
Sit-rep! After four tests the Shoei is ahead by two and the Hornet might have the edge when it comes to side and impact protection. | Why? these are both multi-density EPS liners. | Yes, but yours is a narrow headform… the Shoei is round and round is strong.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that both helmets fared pretty well. Only the Hornet busted a little bit of its sun peak off, that's nothing too much. But it does take a G-sticker to give us conclusive proof… yep, less than a 100gs on both.
Now, top impact protection. | After you , Shoei. | (shrug, drop)
Candid reaction: I figured the that theses would probably help absorb some of that impact but I would be wrong about that. More than 100g, failing grade, less than satisfactory on both count.
Now these are two rear impacts… not sure if we’ll get a clear winner on this one but my money’s on the Shoei.
And I was right! The Shoei did very well but of course my Icon did too. Passing grade on both counts. The damage to the shell is looking pretty brutal tho.
Speaking of brutal, we’ve destroyed almost all of the shell and with the last unbroken piece we’ll test abrasion resistance. 40-grit paper, 19km/h, it’s a race to the EPS foam. Only the first helmet to get there loses.
That’s 21s for the Shoei Hornet. Very thin shell. Very bad abrasion resistance.
Annnd we have a winner! 34 s for the Icon Variant. Not that great by most standards but that's good enough to beat the Shoei.
So , heading into the final period, our Hornet leads the Variant two to one. Shoei notched successes in soundproofing and visor puncture where Icon clawed one back in abrasion resistance. If the Icon is going to save some dignity in and pull a victory it’ll have to do well on the final stretch.
A stretch that begins in Golf Town. I have a watermelon in each helmet, I have a golf club in my hand… can’t imagine a better way to test chin bar strength. The Hornet has a pretty thin one by the way, while the Variant has a beefier chin bar with thicker padding in behind. My money’s on ‘murica.
So the Shoei generated a very slight contusion into out cantaloupe . Now on the variant it gpt the worst of the nose job but if you look at the cantaloupe is in pristine picnic condition. I'm gonna give the edge to Icon.
Our penultimate test is no picnic, however. I’m going to light both of these helmets on fire just to see how heat resistant they are.
Well, the Shoei is rather average to get through the shell. Same with its visor. And the peak. The Icon’s shell, visor and peak. Yep, call it good heat resistance, bad heat resistance… call it whatever you want, there ain’t much between ‘em. Shoei is doing pretty well on the shell so far. Some bubbling but that's nothing new. Let's try the visor. Crackle crackle crackle. It's taking a very normal amount of time to get through this if not a little bit more than normal actually. We saw in the puncture test that this is thickness and strength is pretty damn good. Yeah. Top marks! Sun peak up here. Pretty good on that plastic.
This is the shell of that Icon. White thing always that lovely marshmallow color. Heh, goes through there a little quicker than the Shoei but still not bad. It would seem that the Shoei Hornet is a more fire resistant.
Now, our last test is build quality, where we count miracles. On the Icon Variant, the face shield is miraculously still working. Also the sun peak is still attached on both sides. But the Shoei can answer that though. There quick release face shield down here, still works on both sides, the sun peak only on one of them. They can answer a third though since all the vent callings are more or less still attached on here. The Icon tho pretty much lost everything that wasn't hard molded into the shell. Overall i'm gonna give the edge on build quality to.. Shoei!
The Hornet X2 definitely won the day though, notching victories in soundproofing , visor puncture strength, fire resistance and build quality . Icon’s Variant put up a valiant fight, clawing back a few wins in abrasion resistance and chin bar strength , but at the end of the day it limps home a loser .
As a consolation prize for Icon, we’re setting our sights on another of their products. This Stryker Rig is the lucky target of next week’s Crash Test – should be interesting to see how an armored exoskeleton stacks up against some of the other jackets we’ve tested. Consider subscribing to our channel if you fancy finding out how that goes, and until next time, take care!