There used to be a saying among bikers: ‘Got a ten-pound head? Get a ten-pound helmet!’. In other words, the price of your crash helmet corresponds to how much you value your head.
It’s not just the price of a new ‘lid’ that’s important, however. Its safety depends on how well it fits. A badly-fitting helmet can fail to protect on impact, even coming adrift. It can also be uncomfortable - not to say painful - if it digs in. It can be so bad as to become a distraction.
Everyone has a differently-shaped head which is why some riders struggle to find a helmet that fits properly. Manufacturers responded by supplying a range of sizes and optional cheek or ‘crown’ pads.
Now a motorcycle clothing dealership removed the helmet-fitting guesswork. It has created a dedicated boutique ‘surgery’ – Europe’s first of its kind - where riders can have their craniums measured in precise detail by an expert, who then painstakingly tailors the existing range of Shoei helmets so that they fit perfectly.
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This is more important than it might sound. Traditionally, finding the ‘right’ fit has been a matter of cramming a new helmet on your head and - through a crude process of shaking your head, then twisting and turning the helmet manually in front of a showroom mirror - trying to find a ‘perfect’ fit.
It’s hit or miss, exacerbated by the fact that what feels ‘right’ in the showroom might feel very different at motorway speeds, with the helmet under wind pressure. Especially when you turn your head and the buffeting confirms what you feared; you got it wrong again.
Cheek by jowl
Shoei was already doing a good job at facilitating ‘awkward’ heads. It has at least three cheek pad options per model size. There is also an option to fit a thicker or a thinner headliner. Now, however, with the launch of Shoei’s PFS (Personal Fitting System) at Motolegends near Guildford you should be sure of a great fit every time. I booked up an appointment to see how the new system shaped up.
The computer-based process starts in a smart, barber’s-style leather chair in front of a mirror. It’s set in a private fitting room equipped with Shoei measuring callipers and a wall lined with multiple steel drawers, each containing scores of different pads and liners, all newly-designed designed by the manufacturer to go between the skull and the EPS lining, to obtain the perfect fit.
First, Motolegends’ in-house expert, Product Manager Joe Burgoyne, uses an old-fashioned tape measure to find my head’s circumference. Then callipers to gauge the precise height, width and length of my head, plus distance from my ear to the top of my head, before entering the results into an algorithm, creating a 3D representation of my noggin. The computer instantly calculates which foam pads - ‘whales and fishes’ - are needed to obtain the snuggest, safest, fit, inside an otherwise standard helmet.
There are pads for the front and the rear to shorten internal length and to move the helmet further forwards or backwards, without reducing the width, which is what usually happens when you simply insert a thicker standard liner. Other inserts raise the helmet on the head, so that the visor aperture is perfectly aligned.
Each pad comes in different thicknesses and densities. They can be combined by ‘stacking’. Lastly, different cheek pads are inserted, to establish a firm ‘hold’ on the head. My head required only slight adjustment, but the immediate result of the exercise was reassuring.
Suits you sir
Without the adjustments, the helmet already felt a reasonably good fit – as far as I could tell. Afterwards, however, it felt as though it had been tailored, like a well-fitting suit. It resulted, there and then, in a noticeably improved, supremely comfortable fit, slightly on the snug side which is how I prefer a new helmet. Liners ‘give’ after a few hundred miles, making it best to start slightly on the firm side.
The result has been impressive, delivering a supremely comfortable helmet that is stable at speed as well as when I’m craning my neck in London traffic. There’s an added advantage. I prefer modular, ‘flip-front’ helmets that allow the chin piece to be raised for extra vision and ventilation at low speed or for map reading and so on. Often, there’s a subtly different ‘fit’ depending on whether the chin is up or down but for me, the PFS process has minimised this discrepancy.
After miles in the saddle, the Neotec 3 was still impressive although, after trying the helmet with my own, slightly protruding, bespoke ear plugs (which I forgot to take to the fitting) I did ask Joe to trim a little more padding for extra comfort. Result? Probably the best-fitting helmet I’ve ever worn.
What Shoei’s PFS does is eliminate the gamble. Instead of ‘hit or miss’ you should now get it right first time (but remember those ear plugs and, if you wear them, spectacles. Appointments also have to be booked in advance).
Motolegends boss Chris suggests that not everyone will find the perfect fit first time with PFS – Shoei’s idea of the ‘ideal’ fit might not, after all, be everybody else’s. But it is a great starting point and, so far, their successful ‘hit’ rate has been high. Additional adjustments can always be made, a later on.
New Neotec 3
And Shoei’s new Neotec 3 itself? It is an evolutionary improvement on the already highly accomplished, six-year-old Neotec 2 - more luxurious, with some nice operational and styling updates.
The first thing you notice about the latest lid from the Tokyo helmet firm is its overall feeling of high quality, from the flawless exterior finish, through the silky operation of the raising chin piece and solid action of the visor, to the more sumptuous feeling of the liners, complete with moisture-wicking areas and breathability for the closest-fitting sections.
Made from Shoei’s Advanced Integrated Matrix (AIM), a five-layer laminate of glass and organic fibres claimed to give high strength and rigidity, the helmet is certified to the tougher ECE22.06 standard.
It is very much a premium helmet (as you’d expect with prices ranging from £589.99 to £679.99) that has a newly-designed visor, with the lifting tab now in the centre, to avoid one-sided flexing (not that I found this a problem in the 2). If you’re used to the Neotec 2 it takes time to adapt but the new system - complete with a firm, clicking, locking action when it’s closed - works very well. It requires a little deftness to raise, as - if you push it all the way down - a locking tab engages, and requires ‘pinching’ open again. It soon becomes second nature and it’s more secure than on the 2, which retains the visor on a ridged groove.
The visor doesn’t ‘remember’ its position when the chin piece is raised then lowered, instead reverting to the closed – but not locked – position, unlike some rivals.
Like the 2, the 3’s chin piece has two fully-raised positions, one locking it more firmly for riding, the other looser ‘notch’ facilitating briefer ‘raises’, for instance when donning the helmet or paying for petrol. The helmet is homologated for use open, or closed. The built-in sun visor latch slide is in the same place as before, but the visor is usefully deeper, by 5mm, for extra protection from the rays and wind.
The 3 has a similar same micrometric strap fastener, but the locking tab is slightly narrower, and cradled in a better-designed, softer, wider ‘mount’, that gives a feeling of added luxury and comfort. Other changes include a redesigned front air vent that now has two open positions. It’s OK, but I prefer the older 2’s, as it is slightly easier to slide open and close; I find it hard to differentiate between the two ‘open’ settings with gloves on. The top vent is reshaped for better grip - and is highly effective - retaining two different openings.
Inside job
The biggest changes are inside, where the designers have done a great job of making the (fully washable) materials look and feel a lot more upmarket than in the 2. Instead of that helmet’s ‘foam’ finish, the 3 makes extensive use of a smooth but more grippy material, designed to increase airflow and moisture wicking over the skin. The neck opening is slightly tighter than on the 2, for a snugger fit - presumably in a bid to reduce noise levels.
In short, the interior looks and feels a lot more high-tech; hopefully it will prove as long-lived as the less-classy-looking lining in the 2. There is still a removable chin curtain for extra warmth and sound-deadening and a removable, internal ‘nose deflector’. On a hot day, it was easy to remove both the chin curtain and nose deflector, and appreciate slightly increased airflow.
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Other improvements? The rear ‘spoiler’ is slightly more pronounced for a sportier look while, from the front, the 3 looks more compact, again, sportier. The external ‘forehead’ is shallower, and there are other, minor, styling changes to update the look. It looks more rounded, more contemporary, than before.
The end result of the redesign? One very comfortable lid that you can strap on at 9am, tour all day and still be wearing comfortably as you roll into the campsite or hotel car park in the evening. It’s one of the quietest helmets I’ve worn (although this is hard to quantify), it’s highly stable at speed, gives a wide field of vision in traffic, and looks pretty much like a non-modular helmet, so well disguised is the ‘lifting’ action.
No sweat
I’ve worn it in hot and cold-ish weather. When hot, sweating has not been an issue, and the venting is very good indeed. When cold, with the chin curtain in place, it’s been as snug as I hoped. When you do close the vents, on a cold day, there’s the added benefit of a visor Pinlock insert, to manage misting. Inserting this - unless Motolegends does it for you - is easy, as removing and reinstalling the visor is relatively straightforward.
The optional, near-invisible built-in Sena SRL-3 intercom is the icing on the cake (not inexpensive icing, at £282.50 when bought with the helmet). With clear audio even at speed (and a simple-to-operate mesh control to connect with other users) it was (thank God, these things can be hell) dead straightforward to pair with my iPhone 15 Pro Max, for navigation. It paired easily with my Garmin Zumo XT sat-nav, too.
Breaking the habit of a lifetime, while riding, I’ve found it’s good for listening to music too although, when you really need it (on long, boring, m-way stretches) and as noise levels inevitably rise, you do have to jack up the volume and listen hard. With bike gloves on I still, after many miles, find it almost impossible to locate the right buttons on the left-hand side, for the volume controls. Maybe this will improve with time. Speaking of time, the helmet has a five-year factory guarantee.
The Neotec 3 I’ve been reviewing weighs 1846 grammes complete with the comms system, so is not especially light. On the move however, it feels pretty much weightless and well balanced, so I don’t see this as a problem. Interestingly, my old Neotec 2 weighs 1750 grammes including comms, but the newer lid feels more streamlined, with less ‘grab’ on the slipstream.
It's hard to be scientific because of variable conditions but I’ve worn the 3 on the partially faired BMW S1000 XR, my own CRF300L, also partially faired with an aftermarket screen, and the naked Royal Enfield Guerilla. It’s performed brilliantly on all of them, and feels marginally quieter than the 2.
In short, Shoe’s Neotec 3 is a reassuringly well-designed, assembled and great-looking helmet that is a pleasure to wear. The fact that it fits like a glove, giving that hand-crafted vibe, makes it feel that little bit more special.
More on the Motolegends’ Shoei PFS at Motolegends
