Q for Shoei GT-Air owners

[VladTepes]

I know there are a few out there....

For those who've had their helmets for a while...

What are they like noise-wise?  Do they get noisier once they are 'broken in'?
What's the situation re fogging? Good on this front?
Ventilation looks like it SHOULD be good?

Drop down (internal) visor - does it drop far enough? The Shark ones seem to sit a bit high...

Overall comfort, compared to other Shoei's you have have owned?

Thanks

[RickC]

I'm happy with mine, I've had it for a year or so.
I bought mine a bit tighter because my previous Shark loosened up a lot, this helmet hasn't done that.
It is a lot quieter than the Vision R that I had before, it hasn't got any noisier in the time that I've had it but I wear plugs as well because my hearing is a bit dodgy.
Ventilation is good, I'd buy the same if  I needed another.

[KiwiCol]

I know there are a few out there....

For those who've had their helmets for a while...

What are they like noise-wise?  Do they get noisier once they are 'broken in'?
What's the situation re fogging? Good on this front?
Ventilation looks like it SHOULD be good?

Drop down (internal) visor - does it drop far enough? The Shark ones seem to sit a bit high...

Overall comfort, compared to other Shoei's you have have owned?

Thanks

Noise wise, fine. Quiet & comfy helmet.  Now my bike has this fairing which directs windflow directly at my head, and it is noisey in this situation, however, if I remove the fairing it's quiet.


Fogging, nope, no problem. Sometimes I can see fogging around the edge of the pinlock screen, but it doesn't affect my vision.  Now, having said that, there was 1 day whilst I was riding through thick fog (for miles & miles) it did fog up, to the point where I couldn't see at all, opened the visor (I'd stopped) dried it off & tried again, nope, just too much fog about & it 'fogged up' again. Had to ride with the visor up in cold fog with streaming eyes, but at least I could see about 40%


Ventilation is really good (IMO) and you can feel when you have the vents open or closed. 
(Once again) another anecdote on the vents, Been riding a while (3 hrs or so) n stopped for natures call etc. Cleaned the visor (as I do) to remove all the bugs & allow me to see half decent again. Just set off & wallop, a wasp (or the back half)splattered right in my vision area. Bugger, not going to wipe it as it'll just smear, I'll put up with it.  Well, I couldn't, it was right in my vision, ok I'll wipe it (while riding) & hope it doesn't smear too much. Nope, nothing!  Didn't move. Tried again, nothing, smooth visor???  I then realized the back end of the wasp was on the INSIDE!   Quick pull over to side & lift visor, remove back end of wasp.
What had happened is the wasp was cut in half by the air inlet tube & It's back end came down over my head & blowing onto the inside of the visor. Now imagine if that had landed on the top of my head or face,!!  Wasp can sting repeatedly even when bisected.


So, yes these helmets do have good ventilation & airflow, just hope you don't get bugs going down the plughole as I did.  (I've also had small live things come down too, & have them flying around just in front of my eyes - open visor & they soon gone though.


Drop down internal visor, yep good. Not sitting too high & covers my eyes well - looking straight ahead. I can keep my head in normal position, look down & see clocks below in the wee gap. It's not intrusive & I find that a good thing, lowering my whole head to see clocks through the internal visor makes them harder to see accurately -ya can do it, but you have to look down for much longer, something I don't like to do too much of.


(This is 2½ cents worth, bit wordy aye)

[VladTepes]

either of you happen to wear glasses?  I have to and am hoping that isn't an issue with this helmet.

[KiwiCol]

I wear glasses, but only for reading. 
I sometimes drive the cage with them, - progressive lenses & am supposed to wear all the time, but I can see better distance wise without them.

[gsxbarmy]

I have the GT-AIR and wear glasses and they are no issue. I agree with all the above comments, really good helmet, not the quietest, but not stupidly noisy - I have rider intercoms on mine with the wife (who also has a GT-AIR and we can speak and hear each other pretty easily at speed without wind noise interfering.

What I would advise though is getting yours fitted. Shoei in the U.K have a number of authorised dealers to fit their helmets by changing bits of the liner to accommodate different shaped heads. On mine I found it a little too tight on the cheeks so they swapped out the cheek liners for slightly slimmer ones and the fit was perfect. On the wife's they changed the top lining to make it sit correctly on the top of her head.

A worthwhile trip to get them fitted as they now fit nice and snug. Really very happy with them, and the pinlock on the visor stops it misting. Happy also with the dark flip down, only comment on that is that it does sometimes make my sat nav a bit dark to read.

[RickC]

I've worn glasses and sun glasses with this helmet and I haven't had any problems with glasses either.

The UK Shoei fitting service sounds like a great service, I haven't heard of anything like that over here.

Shoei have 5 shell sizes as opposed to some off the Shark helmets which have 3 shell sizes and rely on more padding to cover the extra sizes, this make the Shoei more likely not
to loosen up as much as some of the cheaper helmets.

[Kiwifruit]

I wear glasses all the tme and find the GT Air  very comfortable. Have an intercom in it and wear ear plugs. So I Can hear the instructions.......... but i can choose if i have heard them.
I have no trouble wearing the helmet all day. Drop down visor is good. 
I tried quite a number of helmets on. Some i took off straight away. They just didnt fit me.
After nearly 12 months the lining has not changed much. Still pretty firm. Nice helmet.

[VladTepes]

Thanks mate - did you get the Sena 10U ?

[Bov]

happy with mine and love the drop down sun visor

[Kiwifruit]

Sena SMH10R Vlad.
Works well, can be hard to hear at speed. But then im on a bike not a car.

[Bov]

+1 for sena, much better than scala

[ARH]

Have to reiterate and agree the comments above.  I also had to change the cheek liners but that was no biggies and now have a perfect fit.  I use the Sena10u.... Great but of kit although I found the handlebar remote a bit fiddly.... but nice functionality! 
Definitely recommend the helmet, but I can imagine it's not for everyone....

[bigian14]

I use a Shoei X-Spirit 3 and much quieter than any other helmet I've owned. It makes my bike sound quiet which it certainly isn't by a long way.
The fact that all the internals can be changed to get the perfect fit is huge benefit as when shopping for crash helmets how often do you try something you really fancy but it doesn't fit quite right but you buy it anyway because it's the closest you can find?
I rarely use the internal flip-down sun visor as I have a dark tint visor fitted most of the time but when I do use it I find it a little close to my nose but can be rectified by moving the helmet slightly on my head.

[Dusty ST]

I've been using a GT Air for around 2 years now. I made the mistake of assuming a Shoei Qwest Large would be a similar fit to a GT Air, when I bought it I assumed the lining would bed in, but it didn't even after 18 months! I ended up using my old Qwest for longer rides as the GT Air would be very painful after 40 mins.
As per above I visited a Shoei dealer who fitted me with an XL GT Air, which has been all day comfy.
I find the internal visor clears my glasses but I do get some odd internal reflections when riding into a low sun which means I can see more with the internal visor raised, other wise it works perfectly reducing glare on bright days.
Unlike everyone else I've not found the ventilation that good, I can't tell if it's open or closed! Also I can never remember which way the front and rear vents move to open - it's not intuitive.
Noise wise I find the angle I hold my head at makes a big difference, I'm not sure it's the quietest out there as I'm always the first of the group to be unable to hear bike to bike comms as speed rises.