PRODUCT
.EVALUATION
Bell Star
Going fast and fee ling good
about it is one edge any road
racer or rider would like to ha ve,
and wearing a Snell approved
Bell Star helmet is one way to go a bo u t
it.
Getting goo d fit is of the essence
and easily a ccomplished due to Bell's
sizing by hat sizes. Once inside the Star
silence abounds , due to abundant
padding, a small eyeport and tight closing shield. The padding is covered
with a terrycloth lining which absorbs
sweat and feels good against the ski n .
The eyeport is competition oriented,
offering less peripheral vision than
other helmets we have used, even to
the point of being claustrophobic to
one staffer.
The shield. which is a hefty 1/16 of
an inc h thick. is raised and lowered via
Bell's Kam Lok system, a four-position
pivot mechanism wh ic h keeps the
shield in place when up. When closed
the sh ield drops over two latches -one
on each side - by itself a nd the shi eld Is
locked down , no snapping is required .
The inconvenient pa rt comes in when
we tried to get the shield open at a stop
light. Two hands are needed to pop
the shield off the latches at the same
time, which means finding neutral at
every stop. Bell does , however. market
the helmet under its co mpetition line.
whereas the shield wasn 't intended to
be opened at fre quent intervals.
The f ou nd latches are drilled off·
center. and the bolt in the middle of
each latch can be loosened (with an
alle n wrench that isn 't included) in
order to rotate the latches. giving different amounts of tension aga inst the
shield when it is closed . We couldn't
find a setting which would let us ge t
the shield up with one hand . Sh ield
replacement and removal require s
another size
allen
wrench
to
disassembl e the Kam Lok , wh ich
again isn 't included .
The major cosme tic fla w of the Bell
Star is th e nosepiece wh ich was
moulded a bit to right of cent er. It 's
not that not iceable . but once we did
not ice it we were bothered by th e fact.
We never had a ch ance to crash -test
the Star, b u t feel secu re in the wa y it
feels , looks a nd operates.
T he Bell Star com es in whit e , black
a nd silver and reta ils for $14 9. Contact
your local d eal er for more info .
a
Tom
M u ell ~~
