I've written recently about how my vision is blocked when I'm wearing my helmet--has been blocked wearing any of the helmets I've owned over the years -- so I decided to do an experiment.
I was at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in Greenville, SC, this weekend and among the vendors there were several helmet manufacturers. Why not take the opportunity to try on a lot of different helmets from various makers and see how they compare?
For one thing, DC Motorcycle Travel Examiner Mark Poesch had told me that he checked out whether his helmet blocked his vision and he reported that it did not do so. Not at all. So maybe it depends on who is making the helmet.
I tried three brands: Shoei, HJC, and Arai.
My two current helmets are Bieffe and HJC. It was no surprise then, trying on the HJCs, that looking straight ahead, my peripheral vision enables me to see the outer edges of the opening, and rolling my eyes left and right shows even more of the inside of the helmet. That, by definition, is limiting to my vision. That's what I've complained about.
The Shoeis were the same way, though perhaps not as bad.
Then I tried on the Arais. Lo and behold, even when I rolled my eyes I could only see just the barest bit of the helmet to the sides. While that may constitute a partial blockage, it was so minute as to be essentially irrelevant.
I guess you know what brand helmet I'll be buying the next time I'm in the market.
So I don't know what brand helmet Mark wears, maybe Arai. I do know I have better peripheral vision than most people. Presumably most people have no problem with most helmets. I still challenge anyone who claims flat-out that motorcycle helmets do not hinder vision, period. In some cases they do, so that kind of absolute statement is just unacceptable. But now I know that there are at least some helmets on the market that even I can wear without compromising my vision.
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