A silent helmet to rival schuberth?

[I-AM-THOR]

Hi guys,

I'm in the market for a new lid and wind noise really bothers me. I ride without plugs as I often have earphones in. I have a lid for the motorway but want one for those Sunday rides. Although in my case its a mon-sun ride. Around town,back roads and so on. I'd also like it 4-5 stars in sharp testing. I gotta admit I'm loving the look of the hjc and agv.

I just wish there was a wind noise testing place like sharp.

[Arwen]

The easiest way to get rid of wind noise is ear plugs as everyone head is slight different. As helmets have to have to accommodate that. You can get custom molded earplugs that you can put your own ear plugs in if you like. Can't remember who dies them but they hang around at the bike shows so someone else might remember.

[Stu]

Ear plugs is the only way

With the added benefit of stopping you going deaf

You can get custom ones with earphones in but they aren't cheap but I suppose that depends on how much you value your hearing

[JRH]

I have used in ear speakers from Autocom. They still let in some ambient noise but this is tuneable with inserts. Found they could be uncomfortable for long periods.

Now have some molded items from Sensorcom, these have small removeable speakers but the cable can be fragile. Had one set replaced FOC cause the wire broke. Sometimes they are dislodged when using the lid on.

[Joeman]

The big test is to listen to music off your bike and make a note of the volume level. If you have to have the volume higher on the bike you are likely damaging your ears.

My HJC helmet is OK, i wouldn't say it's soundproof though, but that's likely due to all the vents and lever for the internal visor.

Online retailers will take returns (legally they have to) so that's one option for testing wind noise... Bit cheeky though.

[Arwen]

My Shark helmet is not particularly quiet so I always wear earplugs when on the bike. It is rather funny if I don't cause I end up stalling it all the time because it sounds different!

I use disposable earplugs and with my Q3 headset I listen to music. The music is slightly louder than normal for me, but nowhere near as loud as inear earphones have to be to drown out the equivalent wind noise.

[JRH]

The in ear items from Autocom are designed as ear plugs to keep wind noise out so the music volume is fairly low., as are the Sensorcom unit. Though they did bring the tears to my eyes with the cost.

[TC1474]

Biggest cause of wind noise. Badly fitting helmet or a helmet that fits but is the wrong shape for your head.

Ear plugs can help and reduce noise levels, but whilst people use helmets that are the wrong shape and/or size the probem will remain, hence the reason why Police riders have to have audiometric tests every year.

But noise levels are also subjective. One persons noisy helmet is anothers super quiet hat. AGV for me are the quietest helmets on the planet, but nothing even comes close to the old Everoaks which were silent because of the way they covered the ears.

It is all about trial and error, a little bit of luck and experimantation.

[bonio]

Ear plugs are a must if you ride a lot and you want to protect your hearing.

A decent headset will be loud enough to hear the music with earplugs in.

[Guest]

I used to have a Schuberth C2 which was way quieter than my Shoei Raid. Last November I changed to a C3 pro but it is only a tad quieter, not worth the higher cost. However my C3 with my moulded earplugs from Ultimate means my rides are very quiet and my bike is loud. It does mean I miss the overrun crackles, but my hearing comes first.

If I know I'm only going out for a short ride then I leave out the earplugs to enjoy the racket.

Ultimate also do moulded plugs with earphones in them.

If you go for moulded make sure to keep your face and jaw muscles still whilst the moulds are setting.