[Video Transcript]
Hello! I’m RyanF9 and these are the most underpriced helmets.
The most obviously underpriced helmet is the Bell Qualifier DLX MIPS . By simple math, the parts on this helmet are worth more than it costs.
First we have a Transitions shield – when it’s sunny outside, the lens turns dark in seconds. And when the sun goes away, the tint fades to clear in a minute or two . That does mean I have to pop the visor open when I ride through tunnels, since the clear transition doesn’t happen quick enough. But even still, this is a great alternative to sunglasses and Bell charges over 200 bucks for the shield alone.
Then we have the MIPS system – it’s a slip plane stuck between the comfort liner and the EPS foam. The free-floating membrane can absorb rotational energy before it reaches your head. That’s a level of protection previously unknown to motorcycling and only recently familiar to the bicycling world. Easily worth another 50 bucks, I reckon.
Then we have the new liner, which must be privy to Victoria’s secret, because it’s all suede and sense and softness – probably worth another 30 dollars, that.
Next I’ve got speaker cutouts and the housing for a comm system. With the right adapter plate I can slide a Sena SMH-10 or Cardo Q3 in here – both of which are a little outdated but fine communicators nonetheless. I guess I’d pay another 20 dollars for such seamless compatibility.
Add it all up, plus the 150 dollars for your Qualifier base-helmet, and you’ve got a 450-dollar package. But the Qualifier DLX MIPS actually costs 350 so like I said – simple math, it’s underpriced.
Downsides are present but not problematic. This is a loud helmet, although with the new chin curtain the noise is no longer unbearable. The shield mechanism is also loud and clunky, although less-so than it used to be thanks to the stiffer Transition shield. And finally, the Qualifier DLX MIPS is 100 grams heavier than the base model thanks to its posh liner, although at 1580 grams it can still be considered light in the grand scheme of things.
Next we have the HJC DS-X1 , which is a brand new helmet and the first adventure lid to come out of the Han Jin Crown imperial palace.
It is therefore surprising that this is priced like a 5-year-old, semi-irrelevant, bargain-bin, 200-dollar bucket.
Especially considering how well it’s made. The removable padding feels nice, the shield is smooth and strong – sealing with enough force to lock out a decent amount of road noise. And the included chin curtain pulls off the same job, while also making the helmet warmer and stuffier.
Which actually isn’t a bad thing, because the chin bar is otherwise quite drafty. The active vents on the forehead, the passive exhausts on the rear – those are boring and nobody cares. But these chin vents let in a large amount of air. That’s great for when you’re pushing a 500-pound adventure bike through single track.
The shield is good for it too – opening wide enough to accommodate these very-average Fox goggles. I could also remove the shield entirely, but that annoyingly requires a screwdriver. I don’t know why HJC didn’t just give me thumb screws.
Especially since they must have some lying around. I know they do because they used a thumb screw on the peak adjuster, which actually has a larger range than most ADV lids. Unfortunately that range is biased too high… it has loads of movement from off-road to seriously off-road… but nothing down here for aerodynamic highway riding.
Fitment-wise, this is a neutral head shape just like the Qualifier. The DS-X1 weighs 1710 grams with its polycarbonate shell, and it has speaker cutouts, eyeglass channels, a pinlock-ready visor… all the usual HJC goodies. Only weird thing is that pricetag – 200 bucks seems underpriced for a fresh, fashionable and damn-fine adventure helmet.
In a similar vein, the Scorpion Covert is a new helmet that came out of the gate underpriced.
Around 250 bucks, it’s a damn sight cheaper than the Bell Rogue. Only unlike the Rogue, the Covert has a fuller face mask and most notably – a drop down visor.
I get two lenses in the box, which makes the low price tag even more confusing. And they seal beautifully into a rubber gasket, creating what is effectively a full face helmet in terms of weather protection.
Not in terms of crash protection, however. The chin bar is all rubber and rare magnets, making for a slickly removable and sickly crushable end product. No way in hell I’d want to go down with this thing protecting my face.
Anyway , you can wear the Covert as the full Monty, as a ¾ helmet, or as a half helmet. Although the stealth-fighter style gets progressively dismantled from one stage to the next. It all goes from Dark Knight to Dorky Dwight pretty quick.
In fact, in general , I think the Covert feels too much like playing dress up. It just doesn’t look like something a normal person would wear.
But no one’s really normal anyway. Plus the helmet itself is a well-made polycarbonate that clocks in at 1500 grams. Its ventilation liner has enough canals to embarrass the country of Panama . And it’s a neutral head shape, for all you abnormal riders with normal heads.
I will say that the Covert catches a lot of wind and it’s probably the loudest thing I’ve stuck my head in all year. Louder than most open faces, in fact.
But something tells me that most of the people who wear these helmets… well they won’t shy away from loud noises.
Now , this is the Z1R Jimmy and it costs 85 bucks.
That’s retail. Not sale. Not bargain basement. Not we think this helmet sucks so we hacked the price . It’s 85 bucks MSRP; Z1R suggest s you sell it for that.
Which is wild because it’s almost identical to the 150-dollar Biltwell Bonanza.
Except – I get a few ventilation holes that kinda ruin the look.
And – this liner isn’t removable.
And – it is a little bit chunkier.
And – the helmet bag makes the Z1R Jimmy look like literal garbage.
But I can stomach those things to save 65 dollars. Plus Z1R throws in the snap-on sun visor, which is unfortunately nowhere near dark enough to filter out the sun.
It’s also self-admittedly prone to shattering and embedding shards in my face. But I appreciate the honesty.
The Jimmy weighs 1150 grams, it’s a very round head shape and it’s far from perfect. But at the end of the day it’s half the price of its competitors and slightly more than half the helmet. We’ll call that mildly underpriced.
To end on a high note, the LS2 Strobe is majorly underpriced .
It costs 200 dollars while the closest competitors are north of 500. Let me show you what I mean.
It’s a modular helmet with a smooth and solid chin bar mechanism. Always closes spot-on and never closes by accident. Then the visor is equally tight, with the addition of a quick-release mechanism. And inside I have a drop-down sun visor, which sits properly low and is actually dark enough, Z1R.
The undercarriage seals with a ratchet strap, which is costlier to manufacture and easier to operate with gloves. Then the neck roll makes a comprehensive seal that is surprisingly quiet. And LS2 didn’t neglect the oft-neglected safety feature – a reflective rear badge for those who ride in a tuck.
This is a fine modular helmet, with a bunch of features, that weighs in at a feathery 1630 grams. Nothing about it feels cheap, sloppy, rattle-y, plastic-y… there’s no reason why it should cost a mere 200 bucks.
Of course every helmet has an Achilles heel, and for the Strobe its fogging – there are no exhaust ports and the pinlock-ready visor doesn’t ship with an anti-fog pinlock lens. Ergo, it fogs up a lot. Also impact protection is great everywhere except the left side, where there’s a serious weak spot for whatever reason. I should also mention that the Strobe is a long-oval head shape, which isn’t a flaw per se, but that should dissuade people from buying it nonetheless.
And that’s it for the most underpriced helmets. Thanks for watching.