VOL. 53 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 17, 2016 P99
A new vented
cheekpad
system helps
keep your face
cool during high-
intensity riding.
of its rotation, unlike the equivalent
AGV or Arai.
>>THE FEEL
This was my first experience with a
Shoei road-racing helmet. Tradition-
ally I've been wearing Shark hel-
mets, then more lately Arai and AGV,
and the Shoei is different from all of
them.
The X-Fourteen's shape is quite
skinny and tall, which for me, with a
round face, I'd have thought would
be a bit of a problem. Initially the fit
is very, very snug—the chin bar is
quite close to my face, and my nose
feels like it's almost resting against
the breath guard. It's also rather
tight around the temples—but it's a
secure feel, rather than an overly
tight one. Helmets need to feel like
jeans when you first wear them. At
first a helmet that feels a touch too small
with eventually break in to the shape of your
head, just like a tight pair of jeans will on
your ass.
Vision is superb on the X-Fourteen. The
field of view is wider than my AGV Corsa and
taller than my Arai Corsair X—in this way it's
similar to my Scorpion EXO-R2000. And I
love the way I can pick a visor position and
due to the tightness of the ratchet, know it
will stay there!
On track the stability at high-speed is
great. The first time I ever wore this helmet
was at Sepang in Malaysia for the 2016
Kawasaki ZX-10R—I've never gone to an in-
ternational launch without at least trying the
helmet first—and the fact I felt comfortable
right away is a big bonus for the X-Fourteen.
There was no undue buffeting down the
two top-speed straights, and I felt confident
pretty much straightaway.
At that Malaysian test it was stinkingly hot
Here you can
clearly see
the exhaust
vents under
the spoiler and
sideplates on the
X-Fourteen.
