<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nI will tell you it’s still a premium helmet; it’s the advanced integrated matrix composite they have from HJC, so it’s the top of the line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s ultimately that Arfa 11 pro with the same composite they’re using on the racetrack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they’ve done with this helmet though is they’ve increased the ventilation, made it more aggressive, making it more narrow and in our estimation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s competing for much more heads up at this stage of the game with something like that GT Air from Shoei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You still have your drop-down Sun Visor, but the beauty of it is it is now DOT, and ECE rated whereas this helmet used to be DOT rated only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I like about that is that you’re taking a helmet, you’re increasing the safety rating. It’s still organized for upright or three-quarter riding. It looks that much more aggressive, but it only gained a few ounces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Putting it on the scale, we see three pounds four ounces to three pounds six. For a sport touring helmet with a drop-down Sun Visor, DOT ECE rated that now has emergency cheek pads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has added all the things, including the extra vents. We’re looking at this helmet and saying it’s a huge win; they’ve only added two ounces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will tell you that it’s going up 40 bucks, but it doesn’t scare us. It comes in under $400, and ultimately there’s not a lot that we can pick apart because HJC, as they’ve done for the last couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has blown us away as soon as they launched new helmets. They’ve continued to innovate, and they’ve continued to bring things to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that sounds vague, but when I walked through the full helmet, you’re going to see that I mean even single things like the shape, the fact that the vents in the back now have three positions on the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vent opened halfway and closed, and even the back vents or non actuate events are fully passed through and cheerful, so they’re extracting air whereas your Arfa ST had them for looks. They looked great, but they were not fully featured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s not a full overhaul, really an iteration, but enough has changed that we look at this through the lens of a new helmet. It’s staying within the standards of what we expect these days from HJC, but ultimately still not over $400<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now carrying an ECE rating really and optimized for multi-season sport or in commuting sport riding without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fitment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The fit has not changed; it’s still intermediate oval head shaped, which should work for most riders. A little bit longer front to back, it’s not overly round and not excessively narrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interior<\/h3>\n\n\n\n They’ve updated the interior guts. It is antimicrobial with the multi cold system, which has a cooling property to it but again, premium guts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It now comes with an emergency cheek pad removal system. It’s not an overly racing fit, it’s more of a touring contour, but ultimately the fit won’t surprise you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we think about some of the other features, it comes with a fiberglass composite now with a lower profile and more aerodynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ventilation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The airflow has been improved, and they’ve changed and added vents. The chin vent is actuated on the inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This vent didn’t do a whole lot for us, but ultimately this is meant for riding in the upright riding position, and depending on if you have a windshield and how it is configured, you may or may not get that airflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top vent and scoop, which has become more dramatic again, have three-position, open, closed, and the halfway point and that was one of the big themes we saw the Arfa 11 pro come out one of the best venting helmets we’ve ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately much more dramatic looking, much narrower, and if you look at the back of the helmets, you will see big flares are leading down to the open and closable vents, which are full extractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There has been a significant overhaul in the aerodynamic profile and a big overhaul in the ventilation scheme. In my opinion, it is much better on this helmet than the previous version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the venting side of things, we went out on our bike, and we pushed this helmet, and my thoughts were okay when you’re adding that much airflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You’re going to feel it that much more which we did and <\/strong><\/li>Is it going to become annoyingly noisy at that point with so much air moving through it? <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nI found that that the ear pockets were compartmentalized enough and separated from the vents to where you can open everything, and it wasn’t annoyingly loud, which was a nice feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Face Shield<\/h3>\n\n\n\n This helmet comes pin lock ready and is still very simple to remove. You open the shield fully, pull the tabs on the side of the helmet, and it comes right off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Profile<\/h3>\n\n\n\n When we talk about the profile of this women’s full-face helmet, we’ve spoken of venting, we’ve talked about the weight again the premium composites it’s using. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last thing I’m going to delve into is on the previous version, and you had a lever actuation on the side. Now you have a jawline actuation that is done with a cable that is smoother and more positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interior<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The neck pads are now made from a rubberized material that allows it to not slide off your seat if you put it on your bike. It has an emergency cheek pad removal system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re knocked out cold, the EMT can save your neck if you happen to have a cervical vertebrae issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s easy to pull the cheek pads of if they don’t know about any injury you may have to your neck. They pull them off and slide the helmet off the crown of your head versus wrangling it when you’re out cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the underside of the chin, there is a removable chin spoiler. Just behind that is the actuation for the front vent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The removable head insert is a 3D construction with multiple layers, multiple densities of foam again flowing a ton of air through on the top and the sides of the helmet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But again, staying out of the way, making itself non-existent from a pressure point standpoint, which is enormous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ear pockets can be removed. They cover up holes that cover the speaker pocket so you can add a third party communication unit to this helmet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you are not using the speaker pocket, you can cover it over, which makes the helmet a lot quieter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top of the helmet on the inside has lots of channels, lots of vents, which makes an excellent ventilation scheme, and it’s not overly loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HJC has done a great job of improving things by adding better looking and more aggressive, more massive scoops, and adding additional exits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are two that are positive – they’re passive, but they both flow air with six total inputs in the helmet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the previous version, it went up in price by 40 bucks. It went up two ounces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t care about either those things because the helmet, relatively speaking, for where it plays in the market is still underpriced. They could charge more for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t care about two ounces when you go to 3.4 pounds to 3.6. I don’t care that’s still an extremely light helmet under the 3.8 pounds mark, and ultimately if we think about the rest of the helmet, they’ve improved many many things over the previous version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only gripe I might have about this helmet is sometimes you’re not getting the benefit out of the chin vent depending on how you ride, but it looks badass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n