Off-road helmets when riding the street.

[jeantarrou]

The visors on off-road helmets make me think they'd be pretty uncomfortable on the street, particularly highway riding. Yes, no? How about at a trackday?

This is purely for poser reasons, thought a off-road lid might look the part on my Hyper...

[Kurlon]

I've sported an Arai XD on the street, the visor caused issues above 60mph, it'd try to rotate my head back. Fortunately it's easy enough to just take the visor off. The 'street' derived ones work better than pure dirt lids in this regard. I haven't tried a more current XD but I'd be willing to bet they'll work better than my first gen did.

My Shoei dirt lid is Snell rated...

[Chippertheripper]

Yes, they can cause quite a bit of lift.
The hybrid type helmets have bigger vents in the visor to cause less lift, but it's definitely still there.

[jeantarrou]

My bike is f'ing awful on the highway as it is, I really shouldn't exacerbate it anymore...

[R7]

Offroad style as in visor and goggles? While I agree on the poser points, I wouldn't do it. There's not enough space between the visor and helmet shell to let air flow smoothly, so your head will always bobble at anything over 40-50mph.
The Arai XD though, is pretty awesome. I have a first and second generation of the XD and used to always use it to ride the SuperMoto, on the track and off. I had no issues with the first generation XD upto 100mph as long as the air was clean/no vehicle turbulence. The second generation is similar, but seems to handle the air turbulence a little better. When it's a warm day and I want to ride, I use the XD. The nice thing about the visor, it forces the air into the helmet vents making the helmet much much cooler to use on those warm days. I can only vouch for the Arai as far as these dual sport type helmets go, I have never tried another brand to see the difference

[nhbubba]

50 MPH on my dual-sport wearing a dirty lid feels a little like I imagine having a jet engine pointed at my ear and a parachute strapped under my chin.

[motoarch]

I think Icon and a couple other companies make a hybrid style helmet just for this reason. Could be worth looking at.

Nexx XD1 Helmet - Solid - RevZilla

i really like this one.

[jeantarrou]

Thanks for the additional insight, I guess I didn't realize the difference between the off-road and the dual-sport style helmets, sounds like if I'm to consider anything like this I should go with the dual-sport. The Arai XD looks really sweet, but man that's an expensive lid. I'll have to check out some of the other brands, and I just saw that webbikeworld has a separate "dual-sport" section of helmet reviews.

[breakdirt916]

I do it often for street riding on the yz250, but no more than 35-40mph or short freeway stints

I do ride 50-60mph off road with it...but the turbulence of riding off road at that speed is much more dramatic than lift and noise

[Stromper]

There are newer Adventure Helmets that bridge the gap

This summer I will be recovering from Cornea surgery and plan to ride with goggles so dirt bike helmet

[Spooler]

My everyday helmet is an arai xd3 and I'm a big fan of it. I experience very minimal lift issues at highway speeds. Around town it's great. I love it for commuting because the visor can help with the sun.

[RandyO]

I think it depends on the bike and windscreen, I ride with my MSR Expedition on the highway with my V-strom, with no ill effects. I don't have issues with riding with my Shoei TZ shield open either

[xsiliconkid]

trackdays = no for dirt bike helmets

[jeantarrou]

Well, thanks again for all the input guys. Considering everything you all said, the fact that I'm already dealing with a bit of helmet lift on the highway, AND the email I just got from motorcyclegear.com, I went with a closeout HJC FG-17. After weighing everything it seemed like a no brainer, posing be damned...

[SVRACER01]

i bought an AFX dual sport helmet a couple years ago. it was inexpensive and figured if i hated it, i wasnt out stupid money. i like the helmet. it has taught me what i want from my next helmet too. like more venting, and easier to change shield.
my next one may be an Icon. theyve been making them for a while so i feel they may have it figured out by now.
i think cycle gear sells those Nexx helmets. heres my concern with those and helmets like those.
they put that "top gun" style drop down tinted shield inside. the idea/concept is good but because the shield retracts up between the shell and the foam, i have a real concern over the large gap and the fact that i can easily compress the shell over that part with just my thumbs.
a lot of these DS helmets allow for goggles to be worn under the shield. my AFX is one. i will admit though that its a tight fit even with my smallest goggles on.

[boosten lebaron]

Depends on the bike I'm on. The r1 of gsxr no but on my rd350 I do. It just feels right on that bike. Tops out at about 80 so its not to bad and I wear glasses anyway so no need for Goggles. It does have some decent lift though. Not bad but i wouldn't take it for long rides at free way speed.
On my old Harley I have a sweet shark face mask helmet. It has a real aggressive look to it.
helmet SHARK RAW SOYOUZ Mat Green Red Black SHARK Raw SHARK Metro Division SHARK-HELMETS - FRANCE FRANCE - English

[R7]

trackdays = no for dirt bike helmets

I've seen many riders, including myself wear dirtbike helmets/goggles at trackdays while riding Motards

[xrocket21]

Ive tried it, and the wind resistance on the visor was significant enough I stopped doing it mostly.

[obsolete]

I have an XD. I flip flop between visor and no visor. It really isn't to noticeable till I hit around 80 and it's still not unbearable. That's only on long slabs, if I'm playing around in twisties I never notice it.

I think this is because the XD is designed to be a street helmet and it allows a lot of air flow.

[typeone]

no issue with my TLD Air dirt lid... but i never straight-slabbed it on the sumo (SXV), just backroad shenanigans + one track day.

[nick5446]

I've got a couple ICON Variants, love them and have used them on almost every style of bike imaginable. Visibility is unmatched. They're great below 70mph, ok up to ~90 and are a pain above that. You can ride at 120 in one, but you're going to strain your neck pretty quickly. Also, the faster you're going, the sketchier head checks get. Also, none of the dual sport helmets are light or quiet when compared to their full-face brethren.

I wouldn't do a track day in them if you plan on getting over 100. And if you're going that slow, aerodynamics and weight are another reason not to use them.

The Arai XD is good too, but not worth the price in my opinion.