SHOEI GT-Air II

I was a bit amazed to see that we have never posted anything about our helmets. Kirk uses a SHOEI Neotec II and I use the GT-Air II. So why a SHOEI and why the Air II?

As explained in our write-ups about ourselves, I just got back into riding almost a year ago. Of course safety is top on my list. First thing, a helmet. There are three basic types of helmet shapes:

• Long Oval
• Intermediate Oval
• Round Oval

The most common type and the category where most folks fall into is the Intermediate Oval. And because of this, most helmets ALSO fall into this category. For Kirk, that was great news and the SHOEI Neotec II was a perfect fit.

Now for me, I am a Long Oval. Unfortunately that is the least likely size and finding a helmet was extremely difficult. I am not sure how many helmets I tried on. Of course most dealers and stores do not carry Long Oval and to make matters worse, I am a 2xl. In fact in one store, they told me that they could not help me since they would not order it unless I wanted to put up a deposit. For an helmet I don't know will fit? No thanks.

Luckily there are still a number of online dealers that have a GREAT selection and a GREAT return policy. In my case, I orders from Cycle Gear. Why? Mainly since they have a store locally. I can order my gear (since the store inventory is very limited) and if it does not fit, take it back to the store for refund. In my case, I narrowed down my selection to 3 helmets that I could never find in my size. Ok, so I had to shell over $2,000+ but I knew I would get it right back. Out of the 3 helments I orderd, the GT-Air II fit the best. I returned the other 2 in a few days and the refund hit my credit card before I had to pay. No harm, no foul.

So it really was not that I loved the GT-Air II helmet but more the fact that it was one of the only ones I could find that fit. But I cannot stress enough Cycle Gear and their return policy. I try to buy all my gear through them just for that fact.