For
those who ride into Europe's big cities, 'flip-over' helmets have
become somewhat ubiquitous. And indeed for the urban rider, a flip-over
might just be the perfect helmet, combing the protection of a full-face
helmet when you're on your way into town from the suburbs, with the
cooling effects of an open-face helmet when you're inside the city
limits.
Shark helmets has
been producing flip-over lids since 2007. The original helmet was
called the Evoline. A design upgrade earned the helmet a new name: the
Evo-One. That helmet went through several iterations , not all of which
were hugely successful. But with the need to upgrade to ECE 22-06, Shark
decided to start afresh from a blank sheet of paper.
There's nothing particularly outstanding about the technical spec. of the new
Shark OXO, as the company's new flip-over is called.
The
shell is made from a material called Lexan. That's a fancy word for
plastic. This is not the most sophisticated substrate for a helmet, but
plastic helmets are good at absorbing the energy of an impact. Plastic,
though, doesn't make for the strongest shells, when it comes to multiple
impacts, for example.
The helmet comes in just
two shell sizes. Now three shell sizes is the mark of a truly premium
helmet, although it's still probably the case that most brands have two,
including some upmarket ones like, for example, a
Schuberth helmet.
The
OXO comes in six different sizes; from XS to XXL. Interestingly, the
helmet has six different eps sizes, which means that each helmet will
fit differently. And I mention this because, in the outlying sizes,
some helmet makers rely on the comfort liner to alter the internal fit.
The
headliners on the OXO can be removed and washed, by the way, but don't
come in different thicknesses. But the cheekpads do. In fact, in every
size of helmet you get the option to fit up to five different
thicknesses of cheekpad. And that's pretty impressive.
The
internal facings are certainly comfortable. All the surfaces feel nice
next to the skin, although we're not talking about the levels of
sumptuousness of a
Shoei helmet here.
To
us, one of the most interesting differences between the old Evo-One
helmet and the OXO is the way it fits. Frankly, the OXO's predecessor
had a very idiosyncratic fit. The helmet was very wide, meaning that it
revealed large open spaces above the cheekbones. It then tapered down
quite aggressively to the chin, meaning that it often felt as though you
were wearing a boxing head guard. The result was that the cheeks could
be very tight, pinching the mouth, and making it nigh on impossible to
chew gum. Or even talk! People got used to it, but there was no other
helmet quite like it. We were never great fans of the fit, although the
helmet's overall rounder shape did work well on those with wider heads.
Well, the OXO is very different.
The
starting point is that it looks much more like a regular helmet. Okay,
because of the lift-up chin bar it's a touch wider than some full-face
helmets, but put it on and, from 10 paces, it just looks like any
full-face helmet.
Now that's good, in our view.
The helmet wears much more like a regular, full-face helmet too. There
are no gaps above the cheeks. As a result, the OXO should be a pretty
quiet helmet, we feel. And this is in contrast to the old Evo range of
helmets, none of which were. Without doubt, however, the fit around the
head is much more oval. Now we don't have a problem with this. But those
who wore a Shark Evo because it was the only helmet that didn't pinch
the sides of their skull may find that the OXO is not so accommodating.
Other stuff?
Well you get a chin vent and a brow vent, but they're pretty basic. One position, really, on both. Open or closed.
The
outer visor doesn't look as though it's Class 1 optical quality,
although it does come with an anti-fog coating. If that isn't up to the
job, well you also get a Pinlock 70 in the box. Personally, I thought
that Shark now put a 120 Pinlock in every box these days. A 70 Pinlock
is cheaper for Shark, but it's not as effective in extreme conditions. I
actually find this kind of nickel and diming a bit disappointing on
such a high-profile brand
One of the things that
Shark usually does better than the other manufacturers is detente
mechanisms. But the main visor on the OXO has nothing in this regard,
and I figure that this is a price you pay for having a flip-over chin
bar, as the Scorpion equivalent is similarly deficient in this
particular department.
By contrast, the drop down
sun visor is very clever. It has five different 'click' positions, all
of which can be released by depressing a button that sends the visor
flying up into the shell.
The helmet, obviously,
is both P and J rated, so can be ridden legally as either an open-face
or a full-face helmet. There's a lock position that stops the chin bar
from coming forward when it's in its rear position. It's part of ECE
22-06, but it's not something that is really necessary on a flip-over
helmet.
Now the OXO, in truth, will stand or fall
on the reliability of the chin bar's rotating mechanism. The truth is
that I have not rotated it forward and back a million times in the way
that I hope that Shark has. All I can say is that it feels tight and
robust in the way that Shark's mechanisms never really have done in the
past. It feels to me as though it's going to work well, but it's too
early to be sure. We'll only really know that after the helmet has been
in the market for a while.
There is, though, one
thing that might not work for everybody. And it's the chin bar release
mechanism. It's a little bit fiddly, and requires a pinching action
with the thumb and forefinger to make it work. It's not horribly
intuitive, and will take a bit of getting used to. I suspect it may be a
bit tricky to use with heavy, winter gloves.
Finally,
there's a range of integrated Sena comms. systems that can be fitted
into the helmet. There's a more basic Bluetooth system for those who
want to connect to a satnav or phone, or to talk with a pillion or
another rider. And then there 's an all-singing-and-all-dancing Mesh
system for those who ride in a larger group. Both have a 15 hour
battery life, and a one-mile talk range. And both come with HD speakers.
There is, I'm afraid, no Cardo option. Sticking a Cardo unit onto the
shell is possible, but it won't be particularly easy to access.
What
we can be fairly definitive about is that the OXO is a big step up from
its predecessor. It feels more solid, better designed and better
engineered. We think it looks much more like a regular helmet, and
certainly it wears more like one.
The older Evo
range of helmets was never particularly mainstream. They did give riders
the option to ride with either an open-face helmet or a full-face
helmet, but the truth was that the Evo helmets were not great to ride
in. They were too noisy for motorway riding, a tad on the flimsy side,
and not always particularly reliable. Well, the OXO looks and feels very
different. In fact, it's clearly a better helmet.
As our regular customers know, if you want a flip up helmet we would recommend the Shoei Neotec 3 or Schuberth C5;
but this is a different style of helmet. If it's a flip-over that you
want, then the OXO needs to be on your shopping list. In fact, it
should probably be at the top of it.
