Safety Equipment Help.
I just got a bike on the 1st. I havent ridden it once since (the seller delivered it to my place). The reason is that I have yet to purchase a helmet, jacket, pants and gloves. I haven't ridden a bike in 13 years so obviously I want to be a bit careful. I did some home work and decided on the HJC AC-12 helmet and Joe Rocket Ballistic 6.0 jacket and Ballistic 5.0 pants and gloves.
So, today I went to a motorcycle dealership to purchase them. I picked up a HJC XL and tried it on. Not a bad fit. I tried the XXL and not a bad fit again. Got confused on the correct size for me and decided to seek help from a friendly sales guy. This very helpful dude measured my head circumference above my ears and suggested that I actually tried a L size helmet.
OK, so I tried a HJC L and it felt like a extra tight fit but with a two finger gap between the helmet and my chin. The sales guy looked at that and also my eye position in relation to the top of the visor and said that it was a bad fit. He went and got a Arai Quantum 2 L size helmet and had me try that. Now the gap at the chin went away. I also saw that the cushion inside the helmet was very thick. The sales guy had me hold both the helmets and showed me how much lighter the Arai was. But next he did a strange thing. He had me hold each helmet around the mouth area and he gave them a good whack on the back. He said that with the Arai I should feel less of that whack from where I was holding it. And I think I did. Of course there is no way to be sure that he hit them both with the same intensity. Anyway, the Arai costs about $510 and the HJC costs about half of that, $250. What should I do? Should I get the Arai? Is it really that good a helmet? Then why is HJC is the best selling helmet here? Are there any better alternatives in the HJC price range? Also, what do guys think of my choice for the jacket etc? Should I just get a Aerostich then?
Thanks,
Raj
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