distant third in comparison to Shoei and Touratech. The peak catches more air than the others, making mild head turns feel a little like getting face-slapped by your prom date. That being said, the Arai performed best off-road, as the peak was well placed and excellent at blocking the sun.
Ventilation Here we focused on hot/cold spots, and ease of opening the various vents and visors while wearing bulky gloves. This became interesting when the weather was cool (we got down to about 40 degrees F).
Touratech Rating: A- Touratech was the clear winner here. The vents were a bit small and difficult to find, but the helmet was so well vented we found it hard to care. The inclusion of a Pinlock® visor insert ensured there was no fogging to impede vision, and the included chin deflector diverted unwanted winds with no cold or hot spots to speak of. Touratech pro- vides additional venting inserts at no charge, making it very easy to customize airflow through the helmet.
Arai Rating: B+ Arai came in a close sec- ond. On the upside they have always had ample venting, and the XD4 was no exception. As a plus, the visor has brow vents that open for extra airflow, with noticeable results. Every- thing was easy to find and adjust, even with thick gloves. The visor was easy to open when riding off- road, and goggles could be utilized even without the visor removed. There were problems, too, which will be outlined in the “Wet Weather” performance section.
Shoei Rating: D Shoei scored lowest, as the
April 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 33
venting is minimal and nearly impossible to adjust with gloves. The chin vent was the only one we could change on the fly, and we managed to break it at the start of our first ride. Cold spots were clearly felt on the face, especially in the eyes. The visor was diffi- cult to open and even more so to close com- pletely. The Pinlock® anti-fog system kept the view clear, but it was small comfort in exchange for the inadequate venting.
Wind Noise This means different things to different people, as is the case with the Adventure Brothers. Where one of us rides with little to no hearing protection, the other uses full blown noise-cancelling earbuds. The latter means that wind is not the issue so much as comfort (big earbuds, little space). In this regard all helmets performed well, though Arai had more usable space for hearing pro- tection than the others. That being said:
Touratech Rating: A Touratech was the quietest helmet. We’re not sure how they were able to combine so much airflow with so little noise, but they
did. The Aventuro was reasonably quiet at all speeds, making conversations over the communications system a breeze (no pun intended).
Shoei Rating: B Shoei was second. A little louder, but not by much. Clearly an advantage to their mini- malist approach on venting.
Arai Rating: C- Not surprisingly, Arai was last. They have always been loud, and this was no excep- tion. More than noise, the buffeting—usu- ally a result of airflow around the bike—was much more pronounced than with the Shoei and especially the Touratech helmets. The whap-whap-whap noise made ear pro- tection a must.
Wet Weather Performance This was a game changer. As we made our way into an all-too-rare California rain storm, we received a good pelting, which challenged helmet and rain suit alike (we’ll get in to the latter another time). As with other testing, there was a clear winner,
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