Shoei Hornet DS
 

Cant say I have ever posted a thread before but had to mention this helmet. Just got my first duel purpose bike and my AGV was looking a bit tired and unsafe after 2 years of everyday/all weather riding.
I had never spent more than £150 on a helmet but made the fatal mistake of trying on the Shoei Hornet DS. What a difference this lid makes and after eating from the supermarket benefits buffet for a while, saved up and bought one. There are loads of reviews so I wont bore you any longer but this is the most comfortable lid I have ever tried on. Peak helps with the sun and not too much wind lift, although you can take it off. Feels well made and instills confidence that if I should fall off it will protect me very well. Venting is a dream and the pinlock is incredible, even in torrential rain (I live near Whitley Bay) it never fogs. No gripes at all apart from helmet hair tramlines due to the liner although I quite like the Kryten from red dwarf look.
If you are in the market for a new lid, stay in one Saturday night and put the money saved towards one of these.
PS, Matt Grey looks cool and brings out the bags under my eyes.

http://www.thevisorshop.com/acatalog...ttdeepgrey.jpg

I also bought one of these recently and it is as good as I expected (I also own an excellent Shoei XR1000). The fit (for my head) and build quality is much much better than similar helmets I have tried in the shop (haven't tried Arai). But (!) it is very noisy at 100 km/h (80 is fine) and the whisper strip kit of my XR1000 doesn't fit. I haven't used other dual purpose helmets, but I assume the noise comes with the design and they all suffer from the same problem. Ear plugs should help.

I have just noticed the pin lock insert for the visor (the anti fog insert). I have this in my XR1000 but not in the Hornet DS?! Do you really have this in your helmet or is it just in the picture?

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This is not a comment on the above helmet, but i just wanted to cast my vote for the pinlock insert. I've had this on my Nolan 101 for the last 4 years and would not have a helmet without this facility, absolutley brilliant, all helmets should have this.

Regards,

Glenn

Same here. I have one in a Nolan N84. :thumbup1:

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Pinlock's standard on the Hornet. I've done about 6000 miles in mine now and it's an excellent lid. A lot quieter than my old TourX and immune to misting with the pinlock fitted. You can get dark tinted inserts for £16 as well, which is a lot cheaper than a second visor.

Pinlock must be standard in the European version. I have bought one in Asia and it hasn't got one...

visor stops
 

I've been using the Shoei Hornet for a while and I have noticed another problem. The visor has a few stops between closed and fully open. With my Shoei XR1000 I use the first stop a lot for additional venting when I'm hot. The first stop of the Hornet visor is too far up though, the visor directs the air straight into my eyes which makes this stop unusable, even at low speed. Other than that (and the noise which is fine with ear plugs) it is an excellent helmet.