Retiring a vital part of my riding kit.

Things have been pretty slow for me and motorbikes this time of year. I took some time off and with the federal holiday, I'm able to get 2 weeks off by only using 6 vacation days. Unfortunately my visions of daily long rides and multiple track sessions are curbed by the reality of closed schools and holiday bustle. I did get out for a ride before Christmas and it was refreshing to be on the empty road in the crisp winter air. Another thing I got up to was officially retiring my old white Shoei Qwest. Helmets, like the milk in your fridge, have expiration dates. I took my old one out of commission and I'll show you why you might want to as well.

Here is my trusty old white Shoei Qwest and next to it is my 'new' silver Shoei Qwest. I say 'new' because I've actually had this helmet for a little over a year now. I got it in a Black Friday sale back in 2017. I wanted an updated helmet for racing. Shoei was discontinuing this line of helmets and there were some pretty good close-out sales on all of the major online retailers I usually frequent. I was thinking of getting something completely different, but in the end, I knew how the Qwest would fit and feel. I happened to really like the Qwest helmet and the price was low enough to make the choice a simple one. The Qwest is a helmet made for a standard riding position. It does not have many frills or features. It is not the lightest helmet in this segment. It is a well made, comfortable, reasonably priced helmet with both DOT and Snell ratings. Replacement cheek pads are available, but it doesn't have a removable liner. I like solid color helmets because I think it is pretty silly to spend a couple of hundred dollars on shrink wrap vinyl graphics. I changed it up this time around by going with the silver.

These two pictures are why I felt it was time to replace the helmet for good. On the right and left are a couple of date codes that all riders and racers need to be familiar with. Remember the expiration dates I mentioned in my opener? On the right you have the Shoei QC inspection sticker. It tells me that the white helmet was made in November of 2011 and was inspected by an M. Satou. Just like Internet forum discussions about the best tire or oil to use, opinions vary about helmet expiration. I have decided that a 5 year cycle is a good time frame. This helmet was already two years old when I bought it, but it was new in the box. In the five years I have worn it, it has had over 20,000 miles of use including street and track use. It has never been dropped from higher than seat height and never been in contact with the ground in an accident. If you have keen eyes, you can see in both pictures that the foam above both of the stickers inside the helmet has started to compress. The areas of compression are around the temple area of my head. 

By contrast you can see that the foam is a bit different looking in these inside pics of the silver helmet. The protective EPS foam inside the helmet is designed to absorb the force of an accident by crushing at a certain designed force load. This then prevents the force of the impact from going into your skull. The foam distributes the force over a larger area as it crushes preventing the force from concentrating in one location. All of the helmets I have seen, have foam that is black on the inside. When the foam is crushed, you will see the white of the foam as above in the old helmet's pictures. Since the foam in my white helmet is compressed, it may not absorb as much impact and allow my head to take the brunt of the force. Once I saw the indicators, I knew it was time. I had gotten five years from my purchase and the helmet had met all of my needs. I had a spare handy so it was an easy choice. I also mentioned the Snell certification. Snell updates their certification every five years. Depending on the race organization, they may not accept an old Snell rating. The SCFTA doesn't check gear (or anything really) during the tech inspection. One of the track days I went to checked helmets during the tech inspection process and would only allow Snell 2010 and 2015 helmets. Read your particular orgs rule book to make sure you have the correct gear for whatever you plan on doing.

Retiring the helmet was as simple as pulling off my UClear communication system and putting it back into the silver helmet. I did have to get crafty with some velcro and glue to install the speakers. The comm unit itself is on its last legs as well. The UClear system I bought back in 2014 has done me well. It was the dual system so I could chat with my wife, but with kid #2 that hasn't happened enough. The primary unit I had on my helmet finally gave up the ghost so I pulled the secondary unit from my wife's helmet for my use. The little nubs meant for sliding the unit onto the mount that was stuck to my helmet broke off. I resorted to using some 3M double sided tape from a roll out of my GoPro box. It was easy enough to pull off of the white helmet and stick onto the silver one. I rerouted the wires and gave it a test. Except for the color, it feels just like my trusty old white helmet. I know where all of the vents are and how the visor operates. I can see another good 5 years ahead of me with this new helmet.

And that is it for this week's post friends. I will be getting out this week for some more supermoto track work. I may try to get back to Adams instead of Apex, but that will also be dependent on my schedule with the kids. I am itching to get back to the dirt, but need to get another rear sprocket and brake disc so that changing out the wheel sets is easier. The weather is very cool and the FZ1 really feels good out dancing in the hills. Hopefully I can get another ride in on her as well. Stay safe and ride your own ride friends. Until next time!

Blue