I’m about to buy a new adventure helmet and as usual I’ve spent hours looking at the various options. My initial list took in over 20 helmets and I’ve slowly eliminated those that are not suitable for my demands for one reason or another.
I then set about ranking the remaining helmets so I could take a short list to the shop to make choosing the right one a little easier. This isn’t like finding the best upgrade for the bike as the biggest test is how it actually fits my head which I can’t do online.
Originally my criteria included a safety category but once it became clear that all of the helmets comply with the EC 22.06 standard and have excellent safety features, I removed this category. I also had a category for fastening mechanism as I’m not a huge fan of D-rings with cold gloved fingers, but gain they all had D-rings except for one which didn’t seem like the basis of a good comparison. There are also after market kits to convert D-rings to other fittings if its really an issue for me.
So categories where:
- Motorway riding – based on sound, wind noise, how the helmet peak caught the wind and general touring comfort
- Weight – obviously the lighter the better
- Googles- Can I use them off road with goggles and not have to take the visor off
- Camera – this may not be relevant for everyone but I wanted to be able to fit a camera to record riding videos
- Comfort – this is the amount of shell sizes, material they us and general comfort review
- Sun visor – I prefer having an extra sun visor but would tolerate a reactive visor
- Communication – I prefer a Sena device but I want it to be integrated to the helmet so it can’t be knocked off by a branch
- Peak removal – If I’m doing a long motorway stint i might want to remove the peak easily without tools or losing the bolts
After many hours of reading manufacture websites, watching reviews and reading about the helmets I created a shortlist:
- Scorpion ADF-9000 Carbon
- NEXX X.WED3
- Nexxx X.Rally
I’ve looked online and the Sportsbike Shop offer all of them, and they all you to order the helmets to my local shop to try on free of charge. I’m now off to the shop to try them all on and see which one fits the best.
If you would like to sue my spreadsheet for your own comparison its available below:
How the scoring works
This is the important bit. I haven’t simply added up the number of features each product has. Different features matter different amounts depending on how the system is going to be used.
For this comparison I weighted the criteria as follows:
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Motorway | 15% |
| Weight | 15% |
| Goggles | 12% |
| Camera | 10% |
| Comfort | 20% |
| Sun visor | 12% |
| Intercom | 12% |
| Peak removal | 4% |
Each product is scored against these criteria and the weighting is then applied to produce the final score.
Why weighting matters
Imagine one helmet is an excellent motorway tourer but weighs 2.5kg, or its light weight but you can’t fit a commutation device, has no sun visor and it can’t be worn with goggles
Which is better? There isn’t a universal answer.
It depends on what you’re trying to achieve.
The weighted scoring system allows me to reflect that rather than pretending that one specification tells the whole story.
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