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New helmet review – Shark Evoline

Shark_Evoline_Helmet_Silver_detailI got a good deal for a new Shark Evoline on ebay, and because the reviews I’ve read don’t seem to jive with my experience, I thought I should pass on my impressions.

For those that don’t know, this helmet’s chinbar rotates completely to the rear of the helmet when open. It also has a slide-down sunshade.

This is the only modular/flip helmet that has DOT/ECE2205 approval in either 3/4 or full-face configuration. DOT doesn’t mean much (nothing to any race organization in the world) but ECE2205 is a valuable certification.

First, weight. it is heavy, at least compared to my Shark RSi, which seems very lightweight. However, while you’re wearing it, the weight doesn’t seem as noticeable as when you’re holding it. Make no mistake, any of the modular/flip helmets will be heavier than a full-face helmet.

Second, fit. My Shark RSi is advertised to fit long-oval head shapes, and it is a very comfortable helmet for me. The HJC AC-15, on the other hand, causes so much pressure on my forehead that it is basically unwearable. I guess that means my head shape is long-oval, which is largely true of the US population. Asian people have a more rounded head shape, which the Shoei helmets fit very well. I found the Evoline to fit tighter on my forehead than the RSi, but not too much. It will fit round-oval head shapes just about perfectly. As to size, the Shark chart is spot-on.

Third, operation. The chinbar can be moved from open to closed fairly easily, but when closing it, after rotating it down, you need to push the chinbar to the back to latch it. You can feel it snap into position. The latches are metal on both sides. For the Jay Leno’s, there is a lot more chin clearance with this chinbar than on my Nolan N-102 or my HJC CL-MAX.

Fourth, noise. It is quiet, as long as you’re behind the wing’s windshield. In the moving air, there is a fair amount of noise. It is pretty much an unaviodable side-effect of the flip mechanism, but if you’re wearing earplugs or earbuds as you should be, the noise will not be an issue. It is quieter than the Nolan when the chinbar is closed, but is much louder than the RSi. Ventilation is not great, and your head will sweat if it’s hot out. The best you will do in that situation is to open the chinbar, the vents are there but don’t allow much air movement.

Extras. The liner can be removed for cleaning, as can the faceshield and the sunscreen. It comes with a nice quality storage bag.

Update 9/15/2009 – After a few rides, I have some updates to the review. First, the faceshield has a raised rib so that you can open it, but is is located at the top center of the shield instead of the more usual lower left side. That takes some getting used to. And because the face shield must be open to rotate the chinbar open or closed, you will be opening it.

Update 9/30/2009 – Well, I now have some considerable experience riding in the rain with this helmet.   With the chinbar rotated back (in 3/4 mode) the face shield doesn’t come down to the level of your chin, it stops about mid-upper-lip. That means that your chin (and in my case beard) will be wet if it’s raining. For me it wasn’t really an issue, but if you’re expecting the same shield length as a 3/4 helmet you will be disappointed. Remember the chin bar takes up a lot of the space that a normal 3/4 face shield takes.

With the chinbar down and the shield closed, the face shield fogged up on me. To be fair, Noah was looking for lumber on Saturday, so the sheer amount of water and vapor in the air made fogging inevitable. By opening the face shield a click you could cut down on the fogging, but with the shield partly open the gasket at the top of the face opening allowed water to run onto the inside of the shield. If you want to ride with the shield closed in rainy weather you’ll need a pinlock anti-fog insert.

Fitment was an issue. After a few hours in the saddle on Thursday, I was developing a hotspot in the center of my forehead due to pressure from the helmet. By rotating the helmet forward I was able to relieve it somewhat, but I never got rid of it completely. Today I pulled the liner out to see what I might be able to do to relieve some of the pressure and found a surprise. Glued to the styrofoam liner directly above the eye opening was a piece of hard black foam about 2 x 4 inches. I pulled this piece off the styrofoam and reinstalled the liner. The helmet fits perfectly now, no pressure on the forehead at all. Crap. All I needed to do was to pull the inner liner out and I could have “fixed” my helmet’s fit at any time. Oh, well, at least now it fits perfectly.

The sunshield works well and is most useful for late evening/early morning sun. If it came down a bit further that would be nice, but it’s still better than changing classes or putting on sunglasses.

The only item I will look for is a pinlock system and pins for the face shield. Now that it fits properly, the only real fault is fogging and that’s fixable. This helmet is a keeper for me.

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Honeymoon trip, part 3

Today is a biking day, we’re going through the Smoky Mountain National Park from east to west, down through Deal’s Gap, and back to Cashiers.   I had a suggestion of an interesting route north on NC-107, east on NC-281, left on Canada Road, north on NC-215 to Waynesville.   It was a good suggestion, Dan, thanks.   281 was nice, but Canada road was really nice.   Almost no cage traffic, nice curves, and perfect weather combined for a really nice ride.   We had a snack in Waynesville, which looks like a nice town.

We headed west on NC-19 towards Cherokee and 19 was a nice road too.   In Cherokee we took US-441 north into the park and stopped at the visitor center.   It was starting to look like rain when we headed out, and it was raining when we got to the turnoff to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the park and also in Tennessee.   We decided to continue and in retrospect should have taken the side trip.   Oh, well.   Another reason to return on the bike isn’t a bad thing.   We stopped at several turn-outs, photo opportunities were abundant.

I wish the park exit didn’t dump you into Gatlinburg.   What a circus and a mess.   It was almost embarrassing to have that scenery so close to the scenery in the park.   Over the top isn’t always necessary.   When we finally left the last of the circus rings behind us, we ran into Pigeon Forge, which wasn’t really any better.   I’m sure the locals know a better way top get to US-321, but we didn’t and sadly it left a bad impression.

US-321 was a pleasant change from the previous few miles, and we enjoyed the trip down to Chilhowee.   It was past lunchtime and we were both hungry.   Knowing that there wasn’t any place to eat until we were south of Deal’s Gap, we turned north on 129 and went to Tallassee where we had a big burger and fries for lunch.   Now we were ready for the Gap.   It was fun, and Killboy did take some photos of us, but when it’s all said and done, we liked NC-28 from US-129 to Stecoah better.

We stayed on NC-28 to Franklin and then took NC-64 back to Cashiers.   A nice day, some phenomenal scenery, twisties, my new bride riding pillion – pretty tough to beat.   And this is only Wednesday…

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Honeymoon Trip, part 2

After the long day on Monday, we weren’t in a big hurry to be up and going so we called the whitewater rafting place and postponed until the afternoon.   It is about an hour away, and we needed to stop at a store and pick up a few things so we left pretty early.   My friend John told us about a restaurant at the Nantahala Outdoor Center that has great burgers, so we planned to have lunch there before rafting.   We took a nice (translated – not direct) ride up to Bryson City and got there in plenty of time.   Lunch was good, and everyone that had finished the rafting trip was smiling – a good sign.

We signed away any responsibility for our deaths, and watched a video about NOT standing up in white water.   We got our flotation vests and paddles and boarded a bus to take us upriver.   I haven’t been on a school bus in a long time – until today.   The water is pumped from a lake by the power company and used to generate electricity and the water is COLD.   Not Deadliest Catch COLD, but still COLD.   After losing all feeling in the foot that is wedged under the thwart in the raft, you soon forget about it.   Your foot, that is.   Some people decided to jump into the river; why someone would do that from a boat that is not burning, sinking, or being destroyed by icebergs I have no idea.   My bride was one of them, some things just defy explanation.

Our guide Raymond was great.   Had some stories about the river and some of the well-named rocks in it: Jaws, Pyramid, and a few others that escape me now.   When we got to several of the rapids, the right side of the boat (my side) paddled forward, the other side paddled backwards so we could spin through the rapids.   Apparently the goal of this maneuver was to ensure that all occupants were equally soaked by the end of the trip.   The Nantahala Falls are class 3 rapids and pretty exciting, but you’re through it very quickly.

They have photos for sale of each boat going over the falls, and of course we had to have not one shot but two.   A lot of fun and something we will definitely do again.

The ride back was fun too (translated – lots of curves) and dinner was a pizza at our cabin.

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Our Honeymoon Trip, part 1

The trip from home to Cashiers, NC made for a very long day.   We made it on Monday. Barely (by the clock). We left home at about 7am Monday and got to the cabin in Cashiers at 11:30pm. We rode 861 miles on Monday, a long day’s ride by most any yardstick.   We lucked out – the weather was fine.   Not too warm and just a little chilly in the morning.

Almost had a phone crisis – actually, an iphone crisis.   I set my iphone on the trailer while I put my gear on, and left it there.   About 2 miles down the road I checked my jacket pocket for the phone and it wasn’t there.   Turned around and headed back, figuring that it was in the ditch somewhere.   Luck was with us, it was on the cooler rack, right where I left it.   OK, NOW we can leave.

The trailer is awesome.   Plenty of room, a place to put your helmet and jacket when you stop for gas, and (mostly) not noticeable from the pilot’s perspective. Allowing for longer stopping distance, not quite so close to the gas pumps, and a bit slower acceleration is pretty much it.   We had the “Just Married” sign on it, and a lot of folks honked and waved as we headed east.

The trip was a long one and I had not loaded a route into the gps – one task that just didn’t get done before we left.   We could have saved a couple of hours by going east from Louisville, KY on I-64, but I headed on to Nashville on I-65 and then east on I-40.   That decision added a couple of hours and caused some real concerns on my part.   The original plan was to be in Cashiers at dinnertime, but the gps now shows us arriving after 11pm.   We wound up riding over the mountains at night, in the rain and fog, 2-up, and pulling a trailer. A little nerve-wracking, especially coming down the mountains on a wet, unfamiliar, 2-lane road at night.   But we made it just fine. Tired, but fine.   Riding 1000 miles in 24 hours is doable without a lot more effort than that trip.

Whew, glad to be there.

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Maiden voyage for the trailer

Well, the hitch and chains are in place and secured.   The wiring is OK, held in place by some electrical tape while I figure out the best way to route the wires and locate the plugs.   I decided that a trip to the grocery store was as good a reason as any to take the plunge.   So, after checking the running lights, turn signals, and brake lights, off I went.

Interestingly, it was unremarkable which I suppose is the best possible outcome.   I had placed the spare tire up in front to give the trailer some tongue weight, having read some horror stories about improperly loaded trailers causing accidents.   The trailer tracked perfectly, and I made some sharp turns through town to see how it would handle them and to see how much additional space I needed to keep the trailer wheels off the curbs.   Not a lot, but being aware that the trailer is there undoubtedly caused me to allow a little more space during turns, just to be sure.

I was easily able to get all the groceries in the trailer, and probably used a third of the available space.   The chains were rubbing on the pavement, so when I got home I removed a link from each one.   They might still be a little long, so I will check clearances during sharp turns and might remove another link from each side.   I don’t want to go too far and have to buy new lengths of chain.

I still need to route the wires and tie them in place to locate the plugs in a good location.   Once this is done, the trailer is ready for a trip.

What a surprise, there’s a trip beginning next Monday.

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Wrapping up the trailer bits

The kind that you pull behind the Goldwing, not the kind you live in.   C’mon, keep up. 🙂   The previous owner put in a swivel for the tongue, which is a good thing, but the additional length made the safety chains too short.   I measured the existing chains and added 8 inches to arrive at the length I thought would work.   Off to the hardware store to get some chain and connecting links to simplify the hookup.   Removed the swivel and the old chains, put the new ones in place and made sure the length was correct and reassembled everything.

The remaining task is to route the wiring and socket for the trailer lights.   You don’t want an excessive length of wire, but there needs to be enough so that the wiring allows the full range of without stretching.

Once this is done, ready for the maiden voyage.

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Helmet issues part 2

shark_rsiWell, I went south for the long Memorial Day weekend to meet some friends at my place in southern Indiana and to ride the curves in Indiana and Kentucky.   And on this trip, I wore the HJC FS-15 helmet I had purchased in March.   About 2-3 hours into the trip, I had a sore spot in the middle of my forehead that was uncomfortable and becoming very painful.   Clearly the helmet wasn’t fitting properly.     By slightly loosening the chin strap and shifting the position of the helmet, I made it to the cabin.   I pulled the liner out of the way and began to perform surgery on the foam to try and get a better fit.   Suffice it to say that I was unsuccessful.   The next three days varied from uncomfortable to downright painful and I will probably not wear that helmet again.   It hurt that badly.   I did some more research into helmet shapes and found that there are two basic shapes – round and long oval.   Not exterior shapes, but interior shapes.   Most Asian people fit into the round shape and most Americans fit the long oval shape better.   I also found out that HJC primarily make round-shaped helmets and clearly I need a long oval shape for the helmet to be comfortable for me.

By looking for long-oval shaped helmets, I foound that Shark makes a very high quality helmet in the model RSi.   They make other helmets in round and round-oval shapes too, but I was pretty sure that I needed an RSi model.   I measured and began looking at various retailers to see what was available.   I found an RSi on closeout at motorcyclecloseoouts.com for more than $200 off the original retail price and I ordered it.   It arrived in just a few days and as aoon as I put it one I knew this was the right shape for me.   It fit perfectly, no pressure points at all, anywhere.   Since I work from home, I left it on for a while and it was still very comfortable.   The quality is excellent and the visor removal/replacement is very simple.   It is also a very lightweight helmet, and no comparison with the modular helmets in this regard.   At last – a comfortable helmet that didn’t break the bank.

The downside – sliding my glasses on after donning the helmet is proving to be a challenge.   I can sometimes do it, but usually not the first time.   I need to find a way to cut a “glasses groove” in the upper part of the cheekpad to help out.   I don’t know how to do that just yet, but I’ll figure it out.   I can live with that issue for now, because the other issues I had are completely solved.

Light weight, the protection of a full-face helmet, and proper fit.   3 out of 4 is pretty good and I’ll fix the glasses thing soon enough.   Then, I’ll be 4 out of 4.

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I’ve got a SPOT

TMI? You’ll have to decide that for yourself. The SPOT I’m referring to is a satellite-based tracking device. It can be used for several things but the main functionality is sending periodic reports of your position that can be viewed via a web browser. You can create a private (password protected) web page or a public web page that will show your position. If you ride alone it can be a comfort for a spouse to know that you’re OK.

In addition to tracking your progress, you can also set a “send help” message, and can send it by pushing a button. People on your notify list will get an email or sms message that you need help. You’d use this if you had a mechanical problem in a area without cell phone coverage. I know, the Verizon guy doesn’t want you to know that those areas exist, but we all know they do.

If the worst happens, and you (or someone riding with you) needs medical help, just press the 911 button. The local ambulance/search/rescue people are advised along with your exact location.

If the best happens, and you’re happily motoring along, you can send an “OK” message. The difference between tracking and the OK messages is that the tracking messages are sent every 10 minutes with no current way to alter the timing, and the OK messages are sent when you push the OK button. A lot of long-distance riders do not use the tracking feature, they just push the OK button at the top of the hour.

There are some interesting websites springing up that use the position information sent by the SPOT unit. The SPOT service only displays the last 50 OK messages, and maybe you’re on a long distance multi-day trip. There are ways around the “last 50” limitation.   You can enable Yahoo Fire Eagle to receive your tracking messages too.   Then you can use Jason Jonas’ website Spot Trip Manager to manage your trip / adventure location information and it can contain any number of tracking/OK messages.   It works very well.