The helmet I bought...
I have never chosen a cap based on the fit like the aforementioned Arai and SHOEI user reviews. You can change the fit of the cheek pads by adding or subtracting the anchors of the cheek pads in any way you want, and I choose them to suit the motorcycle I'm driving at the time with an emphasis on satisfaction.
I've already given up the SEROW I was riding when I chose the Tour Cross 3 and will have the VTR finished and ready to ride soon!
In this situation, I decided that the one to buy was full-face, and the one that came up on the list was Arai's RAPIDE-NEO and SHOEI's Z-7. If you were driving an SS motorcycle, it would definitely have been a manufacturer's flagship model like the RX-7X or X-14, but the VTR was out of the selection because I wanted to ride it flat out.
And as a result, I bought Z-7 ZORK. Yes, it's cool.
Purchase decision
The reason why the RAPIDE-NEO fell out of the selection process was, quite frankly, the tightness of the mouth area.
I probably wouldn't mind people switching from full-face to full-face, but when I jumped up from the adventure helmet to wear the RAPIDE-NEO, I felt like I was suffocating. I'm not sure if it was MRI phobia or claustrophobia, but it brought up the fear I had at the time and I had to give up in tears.
In comparison, the Z-7 feels a little narrower, but still well within acceptable limits.
I had no idea that past trauma would be the deciding factor in my purchase.
The ZORK of Z-7 has a calm design, but the color pattern is a little flashy, and the balance is just right. The bag is reminiscent of neon tubes and the mouth is a cyber-chic that evokes the movie, Tron. It also has a 90s sci-fi feel to it, not modern sci-fi, and I loved the good and bad looking graphics.
1-month review
I'm very happy with the outcome!
The first day of my commute, though, was full of freshness, so much so that the commute felt like an enjoyable experience. The first thing to mention is its overwhelming quietness. Compared to the new Tour Cross 3, the difference may not have been so great, but these guys traveled 50,000 kilometers together to get the most out of the Tour Cross.
It was so noisy that it made me realize that I had literally used it all up. The Z-7, on the other hand, is incredibly quiet. If I were to compare it to the Z-7, it would be as quiet as if it were a Sedan instead of a Hiace.
The next thing I felt was the lack of wind resistance. The Tour Cross 3 has a visor and protruding nose-top that makes it susceptible to wind resistance and is not good at high speeds. A highway on a windy day is like a highway on a windy day, where you have to be careful not to take your head off every time you do a visual check.
On that point, the Z-7 is nothing to turn around to. It creates the illusion that you could be friends with the wind. The cap weight is also lighter than the flat Z-7, which may have something to do with it. There was virtually no fatigue around the shoulders on the Z-7 that I felt after long hours on the road.
And the Z-7 has a great value for money because it has all these accessories. Pin lock seats, nose deflectors, chin curtains, and all the other stuff you'd love to have! In the summer, I think I'm going to get a lot of heat in my mouth, but I just have to equip myself with a full set.
I've written a lot of good things about it, and it may not be interesting to Tour Cross 3 users. I'll follow up on that, and I'm planning to buy a second Tour Cross 3 in the near future when I have more money to spare. It's not that I can't use the Z-7, but I'm going to use it with the Z-7.
The visor is especially useful in the winter season when the hours of sunlight are short and the sun may flicker on the way. It's also hard to change anything about the ease of breathing, and it's awkward to throw away the optional smoke shield without using it.
In the first half of the article, I asked myself which is better, Arai or SHOEI, and while describing the structure of the conflict, I ended up realizing the advantages of both.
If I had bought the RAPIDE-NEO at that time, I would not have been able to write the article and it would have been all about Arai.
Perhaps being able to think flexibly and not be confined to an Arai-head or SHOEI-head is what you need to do to find the right helmet for you.
