[silverluxe]

I looked at both of these helmets in person and both fit me properly. Also tried on the Shoei RF1200 and an Arai Vector. The RF1200 doesn't fit me right and the Vector, while perfectly familiar doesn't have the neck enclosure like these newer style helmets, so I'm looking to upgrade to a style that's less noisy.

What I liked about the Shoei is it has the most 'tech' and it's a full face helmet.


What I liked about the Schuberth is that it's lighter, the interior materials are more luxurious feeling, the quick release neck strap is awesome, the sun visor part falls down further so it covers the eyes better for an upright rider.


Do any of you have opinions on one vs the other? I'm going to purchase one of them. I think either is probably a good choice but is there a reason to not go with the Schuberth C3? Both helmets cost the same (500 bucks.)

Final question: White or black? Black looks cool, but I'm leaning toward white for summer heat reflection and possible better visibility to traffic...

 

[Recondite]

What I liked about the Schuberth is that it's lighter, the interior materials are more luxurious feeling, the quick release neck strap is awesome, the sun visor part falls down further so it covers the eyes better for an upright rider.


Do any of you have opinions on one vs the other? I'm going to purchase one of them. I think either is probably a good choice but is there a reason to not go with the Schuberth C3? Both helmets cost the same (500 bucks.)

Final question: White or black? Black looks cool, but I'm leaning toward white for summer heat reflection and possible better visibility to traffic...

I just bought the GT Air. I didn't have the opportunity to try on the Schuberth.

+'s double seal gasket on the visor, extremely quite, can add dual pane attachment for anti-fog, wider field of view than the Aria & is already set up to receive communication with a speaker and routing in it if I want to install it.

If you wear glasses, be sure to have the glasses on when you drop the tint, as your glasses may rub on one or the other depending on your face shape and the glasses shape.

Where in the heck are you finding them for $500? I paid $603 out the door and that was the cheapest I found.

I went Matte Black w/Red Stripe. I too wanted white, but matte and they didn't have it. As well I thought about for visibility. I was told the white is harder to keep clean and gets dingy. Plus I figured in fog how does white help out, so I went with the matte black that almost has a safety color red stripe for visibility and contrast to the black, but is still close in color to my Icon.

 

[JWA]

From the pluses you mentioned the Schuberth sounds great. I've had both good and bad results with Shoei's but don't know anything about either of those.

If you haven't checked, WebBikeWorld does the best helmet reviews around: Motorcycle Helmet Reviews - webBikeWorld

 

[silverluxe]

@Recondite, the local mega store that sells Kawasaki, Triumph, and Suzuki out of a metal shed has the GT Air for 494 dollars. These are plain black and plain white. It wouldn't surprise me if the model with stripes costs more. Meanwhile, the shop that I hand-held the Schuberth in was looking for 600 dollars for the same exact GT Air.

They wanted 630 for the Schuberth.

Motorcycle-Superstore and Revzilla both have the Schuberth C3 for 500.00 right now. They must be trying to clear them out.

I'd put the order of materials and quality in this order:

3, 2, 1 - Shoei, Arai, Schuberth

And technology in this order

3, 2, 1 - Arai, Schuberth, Shoei (but barely)

To me, the Schuberth seems like the most easy to live with for convenience every day for the next X number of years. It's easier to put on because you flip up the front and put it on like a 3/4 helmet. I doubt you can get it on without flipping the front up.. That or you'll have flashbacks of your own birth. That hole is pretty small once it's on you properly.

Supposedly the Schuberth is the quietest modular helmet made, so hopefully it's slightly quieter than the GT Air (which it looks like people think is quiet.)

I'll hit some various websites and read more reviews. Getting me to come off this much money is a rare event.

 

[outofthebox]

Personally I think the Schuberth looks a lot cooler than the Shoei but then ...

If I was ever in the market for a modular it would be a toss up between the Schuberth C3 & the Shark Evoline and maybe, just maybe the Roof Desmo for it's funky looks.

Lastly, if you've got your heart set on the German beauty and don't mind doing 'showrooming' you can get it for about $350 shipped from this German website or this one. I keep buying a lot of stuff from them.

 

[Jerry Winder]

Me and a few of my mates have had C3's and I wouldn't buy another one. We all do fairly big miles a year, (about 18k in my case), but with all of us, while the Schuberth seems a quality helmet, they have started to fall apart after a couple of years. Air vents falling off, visor issues, stuff like that. It's a shame because it is a good lid, just not tough enough.






I've never tried a GT Air but my current go to helmet is a Shoei Neotec that is lovely, really well put together but bloody expensive at £500.


Jerry

 

[TC3]

I have a silver C3 Pro which I think is a brilliant helmet in terms of comfort and quietness but as I only do a max of 5k miles a year I do not expect it to fall apart any time soon

 

[littleowl]

I was looking for a helmet that had good sound deadening qualities, went to try the Schuberth and the GT Air. The Schuberth was more comfortable but possibly a little big, the GT Air was a very close fit. I couldn't decide on the day so went home to research them online, and the Shoei seemed to get many more good reviews as to 'quietness'. I also preferred the look of the Shoei, there wasn't much price difference between the two and the shop was doing a good deal on certain colours, black and red was one so I got that.

It's a really well made helmet and is quieter than my Arai (bits just fell off that!), it is rather tight but surprisingly comfortable on a long run, I'm sure the foam will give. All vents are easy to access with gloved hands and don't seem as flimsy as the ones on the Arai.

 

[silverluxe]

Jerry, you said the vents and stuff broke off. Was that from drops or do the parts just rattle loose? I noticed some people said that for best results they replace the 90 dollar face shield every year. Seems kind of crazy.

The Shoei GT Air has a spring loaded mounting plate, so it pulls the face shield back into the double gasket surface keeping it tight for a long time.

Now I'm back to being on the fence.

For me the big value spots are: Convenient (easy to get on and off quickly), quiet, and doesn't blow around in the wind. Are there other helmets I should be looking at as well? The Schuberth modular only interested me because it's also known to be quiet. Otherwise I wouldn't mind a full face. I definitely have to try them on in person though because Bell helmets don't fit me and don't support me wearing glasses.

 

[outofthebox]

silverluxe, my $0.02 on one of your value spots - 'quiet' is to not focus too much on it as the results can vary wildly from claimed specs and reviews. To make things more difficult, fact is that this feature can never be tested in a helmet showroom.

IMO, if noise bothers you on your rides, then it's a lot simpler to use those $1 orange ear plugs with a ceramic tip (which lets in the sounds of horns but blocks pretty much everything else) than to pay extra $$$ specifically for a claimed quiet helmet. I'm sure this will also simplify your decision making chain.

Build quality, visibility (by others), fit, comfort, weight & balance over anything else.

I think you should take a closer look at Shark Vision-R, Shoei RF1200 & Arai Vector 2.

 

[silverluxe]

I tried on the RF1200 yesterday and it was OK but didn't fit me right. Too tight in the cheeks, too loose in the crown. The Vector-2 was indeed a direct step back into the Quantum II Arai I traded away last week. I liked it, but it just felt like they've been doing the same thing for so long that there may be better 'new technology' (drop down sun shield, quieter, better under-helmet wind blocking, less buffeting, etc...)

I was surprised that the Vector didn't (seem to) have a drop down chin curtain like my 21 year old Quantum F has, which actually works great on cold nights.

One thing I kind of just guessed at is that the Shoei GT Air is more suited for leaned forward riding and the Schuberth is hopefully suited for more sitting straight up riding. But that was just my guess based on the vision angle out of the front of the helmet. It seems based on reviews that helmets are noisier or quieter based on what type ergonomics your bike has. One person's quiet helmet is another person's noisy helmet.

Too many choices I wish I could try on some Shark helmets, but I've never seen any in person.

 

[outofthebox]

I guess that only leaves the Defiance Pro Cruise or the Signet-Q Pro Tour in the Arai line up for you to try out. They come with a sun shade called Arai Pro shade system which otherwise is a $90 option for other Arai helmets.

I guess the GT in Shoei stands for a Grand Tourer (as opposed to a GP or Grand Prix), implying upright riding positions. The only other one for you there is the Qwest but it has no sun shades in it.