The 2017 Arai RX-7V Motorcycle Helmet
Arai’s stunning retro paint options are somewhat appropriate – their motorcycle helmets are living in the past technically as well as visually.
It has been a year since I’ve worn an Arai. I’ve tested a number of other brands’ offerings at different price levels, and I prefer just about all of them to the Arai RX-7V. Going back to the Japanese firm’s top helmet revealed they’ve not really improved much: they’re still heavy, still noisy, the visor mechanism is even more annoying and fiddly unless you dedicate a week to learning to use it.
The internal fit is good, but it gets a bit sweaty. If feels no better than the last one I had (2016), where others have developed new ideas, improved and made Arai look like old fashion…
It’s time to ditch the side pods, and accept that others beat them to faster, more robust design. The weight hurts your neck over longer periods, the noise does your head in, and I’m not convinced these shortcomings add up to a protection benefit – my tumble on a wet grass verge still rung my bell at 60km/h. If you’re a long time Arai motorcycle helmet fan, you’ll probably love it, but there’s plenty of other motorcycle helmets doing a better job now.
