dual-sport helmet street helmet or roll-on deodorant helmet what is the
perfect adventure-style helmet so the dual sport helmet is really popular now
but to understand whether this is the ideal helmet for you we really have to
explore where this helmet came from so let's start by looking at the dirt world
this is a dirt bike helmet and it is made strictly for riding in the dirt the
dirt helmet has a very large visor on it mat visor sits very tight to the helmet
across the top and it's very very long and generally has a little bit of a lip
at the very end the purpose of that visor is so that when I have dust all
over my goggles and I ride into the Sun I can tilt down just slightly and shade
the goggles so I can see clearly so the large visor also protects me from rocks
and dirt being kicked up by the rider in front of me so dirt helmets also have a
very large opening for eye protection the only eye protection on a dirt helmet
are goggles and they are ideal for sand and dust and things that blow all around
your eyes but they require a lot of space dirt helmets are ideal off-road
not so great on the street this visor that works so well offroad it captures
the air and it pulls your head back when you're going down at speed these
unregulated vents that work so well at low speeds can blow a lot of air through
your helmet and cause a lot of noise as well and the only eye protection option
you have is to wear full goggles all the time street helmets are ideal for
higher speed riding so 30 miles an hour 50 60 miles an hour they have open
ventilation now that regulates so you can shut it down and open it up they
have aerodynamic design which makes them quieter and reduces neck fatigue street
helmets have quick disconnect visors it's very easy to change the color or to
pull it off for cleaning many have features with sun
visors that drop down inside street helmets are perfect for the road but not
so ideal for off-road this chin bar that's now shorter and tighter means
when you're at low speeds off-road and you're panting you're breathing in your
helmet and trapping a lot of heat it doesn't have a visor on it so the dust
particles that collect on the shield all of those dust particles reflect the
light and you can't pull down and shade them so you'll end up losing your
visibility goggles work really well in sand and dirt because all the edges all
the sides there's no way for dirt or dust to get into your eyes the goggles
they don't work on street helmets
modular helmets have all the features of a street helmet and they do this modular
helmets lets you expose your face it's much more comfortable for people to
interact with you means you can talk to a border agent
when you come up to the border without removing your helmet in stopped traffic
you can open them up and get maximum ventilation and they're very popular
amongst riders of wear glasses so street helmets are great well if most of your
adventure riding it's on the street but they also work well if you ride solo on
gravel roads where you're not dealing with a lot of dust being kicked up by
other riders finally the dual sport helmet like the dirt helmet the dual
sport helmet has a visor built-in so when you come in to the Sun and you have
all that dust on your shield you can tilt down and shade your shield and be
able to see but different it has these large louvers this allows more air flow
to go through so you don't catch that visor and it doesn't try to rip the
helmet off your head it also has a larger chin bar on it so when you're
going at lower speeds and negotiating those trails or more difficult terrain
and you start huffing and puffing your helmet there's more air flow back in
behind the chin bar like the street helmet the dual sport helmet now has a
built in visor this helmet mine has a quick disconnect on the shield so I can
remove that and I can use goggles when I need maximum protection for my eyes.
it also now has regulated air flow for cooling and it also has an aerodynamic
design on the helmet so that reduces neck fatigue dual sport helmets do tend
to be louder than dedicated street helmets due to the extra visor and the
airflow going over the helmet and although they do a very good job of
regulating air flow you still can catch wind on this and it can kind of wear for
some fatigue I wish I had a modular dual sport helmet for international travel
color is another important consideration with choosing a helmet black is the most
popular color of all helmets but a white helmet is five to six degrees cooler
inside the helmet and a study in New Zealand showed 24 percent fewer
collisions with white-helmeted riders over black-helmeted riders helmets are a
complex topic and I've only scratched the surface here we talk about safety
ratings EPS liner versus isolation rotation protection we can talk about
visor types fit finish how clean they are inside the strap system you have on
them the thing is there's a lot to consider so for me to make sure I always
have the perfect helmet I have one for looking cool one for dual sporting one
for the road one for the dirt and one one for international travel