Wobbly
10-01-2005, 01:06 PM
I was out shopping for a new helmet last weekend, as I finally decided that an offroadie was needed to replace my old HJC MX that had been gathering dust for serveral years in my closet. I went around the normal haunts in Ringwood and noticed quite a lot of stock being run out fairly cheap to make way for the new 05 models and colours.
There were a stack of helmets in the $100-$200 price range, but few of them had fibreglass construction and not many seemed to fit all that well. Even though they pass the relevant AS standards, I also have a bit of a problem paying $100 for a helmet for me noggin. They had some AGVs which seemed a fairly good fit and made with a fibreglass shell for about $200 ($189 in A1), and which were starting to look like the way to go (although apparently they're the same as the THH with a different liner?).
That was until I walked into the motorcycle accessories store next to A1 (sorry, can't remember the name!) and found they were getting rid of the remainder of their O'Neal 904's for $299, which is about $100 off rrp. I tried one on and found it fit a lot better than I found the cheaper range of offroad helmets and felt like it was about half the weight, even though it was fairly large physically. Its made of a fibreglass and carbon fibre construction which probably goes some way to explaining the light weight. It passes all the normal AS standards (of course) and also exceeds the US DOT and the euro SNELL 2000 standards as well.
Even got a couple of pics from my crappy camera phone of it sitting on my desk at work:
http://vsmr.net/files/904_1.jpg http://vsmr.net/files/904_2.jpg
So, if you're in the market for a new helmet, I'd suggest dropping in there fairly soon as they're getting rid of their remaining stock before the 05's come in at normal retail. Good buy methinks!
There were a stack of helmets in the $100-$200 price range, but few of them had fibreglass construction and not many seemed to fit all that well. Even though they pass the relevant AS standards, I also have a bit of a problem paying $100 for a helmet for me noggin. They had some AGVs which seemed a fairly good fit and made with a fibreglass shell for about $200 ($189 in A1), and which were starting to look like the way to go (although apparently they're the same as the THH with a different liner?).
That was until I walked into the motorcycle accessories store next to A1 (sorry, can't remember the name!) and found they were getting rid of the remainder of their O'Neal 904's for $299, which is about $100 off rrp. I tried one on and found it fit a lot better than I found the cheaper range of offroad helmets and felt like it was about half the weight, even though it was fairly large physically. Its made of a fibreglass and carbon fibre construction which probably goes some way to explaining the light weight. It passes all the normal AS standards (of course) and also exceeds the US DOT and the euro SNELL 2000 standards as well.
Even got a couple of pics from my crappy camera phone of it sitting on my desk at work:
http://vsmr.net/files/904_1.jpg http://vsmr.net/files/904_2.jpg
So, if you're in the market for a new helmet, I'd suggest dropping in there fairly soon as they're getting rid of their remaining stock before the 05's come in at normal retail. Good buy methinks!