Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

As mentioned in the IAM thread we had a talk from a MotoDirect employee about Arai and AGV lids.

He reckons the new sport modular lid from AGV is a game changer. I'm not into flip up lids but from what he told me afterwards it's been tested up to race spec, it's the quietest they've made and it's still incredibly light. When I mentioned how a lot of lids aren't suitable for me as I need a wide POV he said Rossi likes a wide visor so he can see all around him. AGV have used the same design from Rossi's lid to make sure it's suitable for commuting.

https://www.agv.co.uk/sport-modular.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Arai won't do a modular lid nor will they put sun visors in their helmets. They have their own philosophy about helmets which is all about safety first.

From what this guy told me, the reactive pinlocks are excellent and well worth the money. So much so you don't need a sun visor or a dark visor. The reaction is incredibly swift. The only limiting factor is the pinlock itself. Rossgo mentioned that Pinlocks are susceptible to moisture and this was confirmed last night. The rep reckoned a two year life span is what you should expect from a pinlock.

Got some good advice about carbon lids as well. A lot of them are polycarbon with a carbon weave over the top. Arai use top grade carbon weave. There are 11 layers in their carbon lids and it takes ages to make them.

There was a load more stuff discussed which I'll add to later. I've got some work to do

Maybe because I had older cheaper AGV's but compared to my shoei I felt like I was looking through a letter box, very narrow, Id never noticed until I got the shoei and then it was like WOW! peripheral vision is amazing, not just side to side but top and bottom too, it had never bothered me until then, now I really struggle with anything that is not as wide a field of vision as that.

Good info

The current AGV helmets have the widest aperture of anything on the market i reckon. Its all down to Rossi's input as the man said.

I do consultancy work for Terry (the MD of Moto-Direct) and so I get to visit them at their HQ in Notts on a regular basis.

If you saw some of the ideas in development it would blow you away.

But from an interest point of view, they have at least one of every helmet on show going back 50+ years. So they have a brand new AGV Ago (70's) and earlier than that as well as Arai's going back to the 50's. It really is like a museum

They also store some classic race bikes and have them on show such as Foggies Ducati, a couple of Joey Dunlops IoM winning bikes, Niall Macs YZF500 GP Bike plus the H2 Limited edition Kawasaki which was brought as an investment and has never turned a wheel on the road.

There are oads more there but it is a distribution centre as well as a museum.

I have been fortunate enough to go to both factories in Japan and Italy and it is impressive and it helps you understand where a lot of the cost goes, unlike a very expensive German brand which retails for over £400 but the shells come out of China for about 50p a pop.

Did he show you the battery operated reactorlite AGV visor? Expensive but impressive.

Of course Moto-Direct are also the UK importers for Dianese, Alpinstars, Wulf and RST (which is their own bran and much is made in the UK) to name but a few.

Terry is also one of the leads lookinging into the new PPE standards being introduced which is currently being led by a Frenchman, but some of the new rules actually inspires confidence.

Pleased you enjoyed the presentation.

Arai usually have 5 sizes of lid available. They will make 4 different size helmets for that, rather than 1 or 2 and pad them out. Depending on the model AGV will do 1 size for their cheapest up to 4 sizes.

Arai lids are designed to be very stiff and are as smooth as possible so they don't catch if you slide. All of the impact protection is within the inner shell. AGV are designed with a softer shell and the lid will take the initial impact energy before it being transferred to the inner layer.

Sounds like a good talk mate always nice to know what companies do to make you safer

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

If you are interested, the 2nd part of my article was relaeased on the Motorcycle Direct Insurance website earlier today

https://www.motorcycledirect.co.uk/moto ... -spend.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Part 3 will be in about 2 weeks time and the final and last part 2 weeks on from that.

Thanks Tony, that's a good read.

Part 3 of my article is out today

http://www.motorcycledirect.co.uk/motor ... -part3.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;​