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Arai Defi ant Pro-Cruise helmet “High End” means more than just “High Cost”


By Wes Fleming #87301 MOTORCYCLE


HELMETS HAVE


one job: to protect your skull and brain. They do this in two different ways. First, the hard outer shell pro- tects your head from impact, incur- sion (think punctures) and abrasion. Second, the extruded polystyrene liner (EPS – the brand name is Styro- foam) is there to absorb energy in an impact, to effectively slow down your brain as it sloshes forward and back- ward in your skull as you come to a screeching, unplanned halt at the incident scene. Beyond those two things, every-


thing else about a helmet is designed to make it as comfortable as possible to wear. Washable, moisture-wicking liners, vents, noise reduction, and the like are all about comfort. If you’re familiar with Arai’s hel-


mets, you already know the Japanese company has a stellar reputation for hand-forming every helmet. Their motto – “made for riders by riders” – isn’t just a tag line from the marketing department; Arai listens to feedback from riders and the Defiant is an example of that – they slightly altered their standard Intermediate Oval head shape to better fit a wider variety of riders that showed interest in this helmet. It’s a good thing, too, because a


Defiant Pro-Cruise is going to set you back more than $700. MSRP is $789.95, but the Defiant Pro-Cruise can be found at most dealers and online for about $710. Price-wise, that compares to full-face helmets from AGV, Schuberth and Shoei, as well as Bell’s high-end carbon-fiber offerings. It’s rarified air in the helmet world when prices get above $700, and rid- ers have to ask themselves if such a


24 BMW OWNERS NEWS October 2015


helmet is really worth it when they can go buy an AFX for $75 or an HJC for $100. I’m not an unbiased source for info in


that regard, as I have owned several Arai helmets, but I’m not going to proselytize to you and repeat the oft-mangled cliché, “If you’ve got a $100 head, buy a $100 helmet.” I’ll tell you this, though, I put my daughter in an HJC because she doesn’t ride much and she grows out of the things twice a year. It’s no doubt scientifically debatable as to


whether a low-end AFX is physically safer or more protective than a high-end Arai. Shells are shells and EPS is EPS, after all, and as long as those things do their job, one helmet is pretty much as safe as any other


helmet, provided they’ve passed the same safety standards such as DOT, Snell and ECE. The more costly a helmet, the more likely


it is to be made from space-age materials like composites and carbon fiber. A costly helmet is more likely to have multi-density EPS, strategically located to best protect your gray matter. Expensive helmets are more likely to have effective ventilation and better wind noise reduction. If you spend 12 to 15 hours a day on a motorcycle in extremely hot or cold weather, that cheap helmet that protects your head just fine in a crash is likely to be so uncomfort- able that you’d rather be wearing a full-face


member tested


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