The Shark RSX Eagle
wBW
Owner Report
by "Mr. Monk"
More: wBW
Reviews Home
| Owner Comments (Below)
Editor's Note: The Shark RSX Eagle is a special
edition for the U.S. market only. "Mr. Monk" bought one and sent this
report.
So I went ahead and bought the Shark RSX helmet that I emailed you guys
about.
All I have to say about it so far is WOW. I felt uber-patriotic when
I first saw it. The screaming eagle on it sealed the deal for me. I dig it,
hardcore.
The liner is comfy and fits
my head really well (I think almost a tiny bit better than my Arai RX-7 that
I sold, but it fits at least as well as the RX-7 for certain).
The RSX seems to have a fairly neutral shape like the Arai
RX-7. The thing that I dig most about the
Shark helmets...the VISOR. That dude is THICK! And I sat here for a good
ten-fifteen minutes and tried every way possible to fog it up....you just
can't.
It also seems to have really good clarity, seeing as how it's 3 MM thick
(the same spec as Formula 1). All around so far, I'm very pleased.
Ah -- I was so excited, I forgot to add some details about
the helmet!
Paint Quality
The quality of the paint and graphics on the Shark RSX seems to be very very
very very good. I looked over the helmet and couldn't find a ripple or a
bubble anywhere. Very high quality finish.
Liner
The liner seems very plush, and very snug (and this is just the stock liner
that came with the helmet). Another thing that I've noticed about it is that
it seems to fit a little better around the ears, and a little bit more
snugly, which to me is an area that a lot of manufacturers overlook unless
you buy custom padding for your helmet.
There is a little extra padding for
the fit on the sides of your neck which seems to eliminate the space right
there that allows for some of the low booming noises that you get on a full
fairing bike. The padding on the chin strap is very comfortable (again, this
is before road testing) and uses the time honored D-ring system.
The extra
strap not being used can be slipped through a loop on the right chin strap
and stays put with a little hook-type attachment on the strap.
The cheek pad mounting is
interesting. It's not the typical Velcro attached type of cheek pads.
It has three snap fasteners that you must first remove before you take the
liner out of the the helmet; a nice little
added feature, in my opinion.
Venting
The vent on the front and the vent on the top are both push-open types. The front vent is pushed open with a resounding click, and closes
with a nice snap as well. The top vent is pushed open with a button, and
then pushed closed when you don't want it opened.
It also has a little two
hole vent on the back of the helmet, underneath the spoiler. After closely
inspecting it, one of the holes is not covered properly when it is supposed
to be closed....this is mostly due to a mounting flaw, because it seems that
the cover was mounted too far to one side. It opens and closes with a little
roller, which also has a very good sounding click when opening or closing
it.
Air Flow on the Road
Here's where I was truly blown away. The Shark RSX has exactly two
air-catching vents: One located on the chin, and one located on top of the
helmet. However, these two scoops do a very good job of directing air
through the helmet.
The vent on the chin scoops the air and directs it over
the back of the visor, eliminating any fog or moisture on the visor. Then
after it flows upward, there is a vent hole on top of the helmet, about 4-6
inches in front of the scoop on the top of the helmet. This little vent is
just a hole with a rearward facing V that allows the air and moisture to
escape out of it.
The scoop on top of the helmet is nothing more than a
forward facing V that pops up with the push of a button. However, with this
cold weather snap we've recently had in Texas, I
was able to tell a drastic difference in coolness when I had the vent closed
versus when I had it open.
The ram air hits the scoop and is forced almost
straight down on top of your head before being venturi-forced out the back,
taking with it any heat that might be trapped at the top. It then exits the
helmet at two holes underneath the "spoiler" at the back of the helmet. I
give this helmet a rating of outstanding for airflow.
Visor
The visor uses the button release system found on the newer shark helmets.
VERY easy to remove, you just move a small comma shaped lever downwards,
push in the button in the center of the visor hinge, and pull the visor off
the button.
I have owned an HJC
AC-12 (wBW Review) top-of-the-line helmet, an Arai RX-7, a
Caberg Justissimo (wBW Review),
and now this Shark RSX, and the Shark hands down wins in terms of ease of
visor changing.
The whole removal would probably take less than half a
minute, if even that. It also comes with tabs to apply tear-offs to the
visor.
The way that this visor locks in place is unique -- unlike the typical
button and slider type of receiver (such as on the RX-7), the RSX visor locks in place with a pin and hole kind of system. There is a locking
pin, shaped like half of a button that you would see on your jacket, and a
receiving hole in the visor allows it snap into place.
This seems to be a solid alternative
to the hook and slide receiver like the one found on the RX-7. Another cool
feature is that you can adjust the tension of the visor very very easily. Shark provides a small
Allen wrench with the helmet, and the tension
adjuster does not require removing any parts to get to. The adjuster is
located on the comma shaped lever that you move down to remove the visor. Nice little
afterthought, in my opinion.
All in all, I'm very impressed so far with the quality of this helmet. Shark
has cranked out another quality helmet in the RSX.
Noise
After having tested this helmet on both the neighborhood street, the
highway, and on a back road stretch with nobody around and high speeds, I
find that I like this helmet even more than my Arai RX-7. There is, of course,
the typical low frequency booming noise that is associated with all helmets,
but other than that I cannot seem to find much else to complain about, noise
wise.
Do keep in mind that I ride a fully faired bike (a Ducati 996), and as
such I wear custom fitted earplugs which helped to greatly reduce the wind
noise. However, even without my ear plugs this helmet is fairly quiet.
What
is kind of unusual is that there seems to be a bit of a gap between the chin
guard underneath and my chin (there is a little fabric flap sewn into the
front of the helmet to try and reduce the amount of wind flow coming up
underneath the helmet), and this is where more of the low boom and wind
rushing seems to come from, rather than the usual space behind the neck
roll.
I feel that with a
Windjammer
wind blocker (wBW Review), as is talked about in many many other
reviews, that this noise would be even further reduced. The pop up scoop on
top of the helmet, as well as the little vent hole towards the front of the
helmet (almost right over the top of where the visor sits when closed,
albeit the room for the helmet's forehead) does not give off the high
pitched whistle that I was expecting.
I give this helmet a rating of
excellent in terms of noise. See the wBW
Earplugs and Hearing
Protection page for more information and a list of earplug reviews that
we've posted on the site.
Turbulence and Weight While Riding
I don't find that I get very much turbulence while riding with this helmet. A little head bob is to be expected, but beyond that I did not experience
any sort of extraneous wobble.
In terms of helmet weight while riding, I
feel as if I'm wearing a foam bicycle helmet. The RSX balances out VERY
well, and even when going from riding to stopped, I don't feel that much of
a weight change. This is largely due to the Kevlar-carbon multi-composite
structuring, and at 1350 grams, this helmet is super super light. I'm in
love with this helmet. I give it a rating of outstanding for weight and
turbulence.
For more information on motorcycle helmet weights, visit the wBW
Motorcycle Helmet Weights page to compare the weights of all helmets reviewed on webBikeWorld.
Conclusion
All in all, I think this helmet is worth every bit of the ~$432 and a bit
that it retails for. I feel that you get exactly what you pay for, which is
good protection, a solid helmet, fantastic graphics, and a very comfortable
fit, without fifty extra air vents and little plastic pieces stuck here and
there just for looks.
The graphics of the helmet are high quality and speak
for itself, and with the super easy push button visor change, it makes going
from a tinted visor to a clear one for night riding a hassle-free operation
of less than a minute.
I tried on a Shark RSR2
(wBW Review), a Shark RSI (wBW
Review), and a Shark S 650 (wBW
Review) -- basically the entire Shark helmet line -- and I find that the
Shark RSX is the one
that fits truest to the sizing. I wear a medium, and in the RSI and RSR2 it
seemed as if the small was an XS and the medium didn't fit quite right in
the back of my head. The RSX fits like a glove.
Shark RSX Specifications
-
Shell made from Carbon/Aramid multi-directional composite fibers.
-
Two shell
sizes
-
Multi-element internal shock absorber (6) with differentiated density
-
Airflow directed by integrated ducts
-
F1 type enhanced safety 3 mm visor Dual
treated (anti-scratch/anti-fog) “Total Vision” visor "Push One" visor quick
release system using four anchorage points
-
"Touch One" flush rapid-opening
ventilation Optimized demisting using frontal "Venturi" extractor and visor
frame diffuser
-
Fully adjustable, removable and washable interior in Coolmax
fabric
-
Ergonomic cheek pads in 3D foam
-
Double-D ring "Racing" chin strap
-
Anti-fog mask and chin cover for visor
-
DOT and ECE 22.05 approved
| Product
Review: Shark RSX Motorcycle Helmet |
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| Available
From: Shark
Helmets and
Shark U.S.A. |
Suggested
Retail Price: $479.99 |
| Colors: Solids and
graphics. Sizes: XS to XXL, two shell sizes. |
Made
in: "100% Made in Europe", according to the label. |
| Ratings Scale:
For reference, our ratings scale is subjective and ranges
from unacceptable to poor, good, very good, excellent and
outstanding. |
| Product
Comments:
Warranted for 5 years. Review Date: December 2007 |
Comments are ordered from most recent to oldest.