Schuberth C3 lid review
by Andrew on Jun.16, 2009, under Andrew Dalton, Kit Reviews
I had heard a lot of good things about the Schuberth C3 and having ridden 600 miles in a day with the very noisy Carberg I decided to try out a Schuberth. I popped into Helmet City’s shop cum farm, where the guys let me put my soaking wet gloves on the heater. I tried out a range of helmets, but was advised by them not to buy a seriously reduced in price C2 as it had been on about 3,000 heads at shows and I tried it on and it did smell a bit! I bought a C3 flip up lid in matt black. The price was discounted but it is not a cheap lid.
However I wanted a number of features, the first was the drop down dark visor, secondly I wanted quiet, thirdly I wanted a helmet which was designed not to come off in crash. As a solicitor who spends all day dealing with serious motorcycle accidents I am all too well aware that just about any helmet will come off just about any head if the rider is unlucky. The Schuberth has two key features which resist this. The first is the chin piece sits snug to the chin and secondly the strap sits close to the throat. Having seen loads of expert reports as to why helmets come off, these Shuberths are said to be designed to avoid this particular problem. However, all lids have their engineering constraints, so no helmet manufacturer will ever be able to persuade me that their lids will stay on in every situation.
On riding for the first time in the Shuberth, it was a bit but not massively quieter than my Shoei Raid II. It was comfortable, quite snug and the noise reduction was most noticeable when listening to my sat nav and mobile phone. If you don’t have your lid wired full of gizmos and ride in earplugs the quietness really is not a big factor.
It was really easy to fit the Autocom head set neatly into the lid, with a little nick cut into the polystyrene lining to accommodate the shrink/heat wrapped connector for the autocom.
So would I recommend it? Yes, it is quiet, comfortable, the inner visor is excellent but it has one really annoyng habit. The main visor flops down at about 25mph. In urban riding in the summer I lift the whole front up, which looks a bit stupid, probably isn’t especially safe and has the potential to mess up my already fairly lived in face. If the weather is really hot, I use the Shoei, which for a supposedly top of the range Schuberth is a little poor.
June 30th, 2009 on 4:08 pm
Helmet City sent me some replacement pods, so now my visor cracks down at about 50. Better, but still not good. Helmet city very good, still unconvinced about Schuberths.
July 13th, 2009 on 1:47 pm
I am trying to decide if I should return my C3 due to the visor not staying up. It slams down from all the way open to all the way closed at low speeds. This is rather annoying specially when the weather is hot. It is a shame that they overlook something so important is making a truly comfortable helmet. Living In Illinois it costs me a lot in shipping from overseas. I made the mistake of listening to the dealer and not going off my old helmet when buying the new ones. My wives’s and mine were both too small by one size. I had great luck with the C1 but this visor issue is a bit much for such an expensive helmet.
July 14th, 2009 on 10:20 am
I am sending mine back to the factory. Yesterday in torrential rain (the skies really opened) and was raining so hard I could not see through my visor meant I could not have my visor up at all. The gap between the pinlock fog screen and the visor filled up with water vapour droplets. I really wish I had worn my cheaper Shoei Raid II.
July 18th, 2009 on 11:43 am
Hi,
I trashed my C2 yesterday which I have worn everyday for the last 3 years in all weathers. I had a crash on a motorway yesterday at about 60mph in really bad rain.
When I got up after sliding and rolling down the road the helmet had not come loose at all and the the locking device worked as if nothing had happened.
Afet this event no one can ever persuade me that Shuberths are no good, in fact I am off to buy a new one next week.
July 21st, 2009 on 9:01 am
It is stories like this that made me buy the Schuberth. It is now back with Helmet City who are sending it on to the importers, who will I am sure either fix the “slappy” visor or replace the lid. Ideally repair as the helmet has been customised a bit for me!I bought the helmet after a lot of thought as I had always bought plain full face Shoeis but really liked the drop down visor and reports of good build quality and good customer service. Any firm or company can make a mistake,it is when things go a bit wrong that you see how they look after customers. I certainly don’t think Schuberths are no good, I have a problem with one, but I am pretty optimistic that it will be sorted.
Good luck Dave, 60mph offs always hurt, but then again, you didn’t really need me to tell you that.
July 21st, 2009 on 10:28 am
Erm, bit embarrassed, Helmet City’s Ben called me. I have apparently put the pods on the wrong side (to save my embarrassment apparently the virtually identical side pods have a tiny L & R in them) and I offered to pay postage for my lid to be returned but they declined with good humour. Hopefully I will be getting my lid back tomorrow, so lets hope all is well with it.
July 21st, 2009 on 4:50 pm
Riding a flip up helmet, with the flip up, is the same as riding without a helmet on, it was NOT made
to be ridden in the flip up position, as a legal person, especially dealing with bike accidents, I am, ” surprised ” you not only do this, but also tell people you do,
would you ride with the strap undone ?
July 22nd, 2009 on 9:09 am
I certainly do not ride with the strap undone, but I am not going to lie on a blog and say I do not ride flipped up, especially in hot weather at low speed. I am well aware that if I hit the deck there will be significant rotational forces caused by the leverage of the flip up, and my chin will be as exposed as if I were wearing an open face lid. But I have seen any number of police officers riding with the lids flipped up, usually in town but also on the open road. By the same token, if you ride with your visor up you are asking for an eye injury, but I bet you do it.
And riding with the lid flipped up still protects the cranium, and the frontal zone of the brain, so I disagree with you that riding flipped up is the same as riding lidless. My jaw is exposed, granted, and the rotational forces are increased, but that compared to either heatstroke in 30 degree London heat or constantly lifting my visor (and thereby riding one handed frequently) as well as being distracted by the visor violently clunking down means I will continue to ride flipped up. Whatever you do on a bike there will always be risk.
July 23rd, 2009 on 1:41 pm
Just got my helmet back from Helmet City – not good news. I was reassured it was working fine and when I tried it the visor was sloppier than ever. I called Ben at Helmet City. He advised me that he had compared my lid against another Schuberth and they are all like this. I had checked this against another C3 at Hein Gericke and that resisted normally, not the sloppy collapse of this visor. Helmet City sell loads of helmets and loads of Schuberths and I am the first one with this complaint apparently, so lets hope the importers, Oxford, can sort it out.
August 10th, 2009 on 2:00 pm
Got my lid back, well packaged etc – and immediately the resistance to visor flop felt very much stronger. I was delighted when I got up to 70mph and the visor stayed up. At 80 with a cross wind it slapped down, but I can live with that. The visor vibrates a lot more than my Shoei when it is up, and I think the Schuberth is noticeably more quiet with the visor down, save for crosswinds which seem exceptionally noisy but I think there are some adjustments I need to make. I also give Helmet City a thumbs up. They remembered me when I came back with a problem and did not insist on me digging out my receipt. I am happy enough with my helmet, but not so much happier that I would pay the Schuberth premium again.
September 8th, 2009 on 4:10 pm
3 months ago I purchased a C2 after reading great reports of the lid and how quiet it is, I hate wearing plugs! It is quiet the only wind noise that is anoying is through the front vent I placed a bit of tape over it and I am happy, best lid so far. Love the secure flip front locking device, solid snap shut. Flip down sunvisor is poor though giving a very hazy outlook so I wear my BMF special bike sunglasses, these let you have the visor up on hot days and you will not gain any damage from bees or flies! Very much rate Schuberths. I thank you. Paul.
September 9th, 2009 on 2:31 pm
hi Paul, I am still far from happy with the C3 – as it has now gone sloppy in the visor again. On a different note, I will give you a bell about the Xenons for my wife’s car and my bike! Good to hear from you.
Paul runs car Concepts in Aylesbury, and deals with all the electrickery on my bike and had as many gadgets on his GS as I had on mine. He is a top lad and an excellent (and neat) autoelectrician.
Andrew
September 11th, 2009 on 10:30 am
Couple of things. I have a C2 and a few months ago the disc at the centre of the hinge just broke when I picked it up by the chin piece. Oxford wer about as much help as a chocolate firguard. Refused point blank to sell the offending disc, demanded that I send them the lid just before I was off on hols on the bike. happily I had an old C1 and discovered that the hinge was identical so I scavenged the offending disc from the C1. Took 5 mins and no more complex than changing the visor. Not happy with Oxford’s attitude at all.
Interesting point from “ex old bill” about riding with the chin piece up. The old people I have seen riding with the chin piece up have all been old bill.
Can’t bring myself to stump up for the C3 yet. Tried one on yesterday and they are very very nice but I think the C2 is also damn good and so will probably put off replacing it until next year when the price might have come down.
October 15th, 2009 on 12:14 am
I have C3 with sloppy visor. Even closed, latched and then pushed back, it still leakes… Are there any adjustments? Could it be there are differetn size visoros for different sized helmet shell? It really is a sloppy fit…
Also, my anti fog liner doesnt work either… In rain or even if I start breathing hard, it will fog up…
Any suggestions?
October 15th, 2009 on 9:08 am
I have kind of given up on the C3 – the most expensive lid I have ever bought, and I am now using my much cheaper Shoei Raid II as my every day lid. It is a real pity the sloppy visor issue has made what I think could be a really good lid into my least favourite lid. The only suggestion I can make Tom is that you check the visor size matches the helmet. Mine does and it does not leak at all. The only downside is the helmet is so well sealed (for wind noise) that with vents shut it will steam up.
Andrew
November 3rd, 2009 on 5:11 pm
I bought a C3 from Helmet City around a year ago, great service and no complaints with them. I have had exactly the same experience with the Visor coming down at fairly low speeds. It is SO annoying and dangerous. The helmet has gone back to the distributor on two occasions, each time taking over FIVE weeks to come back to me. On the last occasion they put a new visor on the lid which has improved it a little, but it feels like it will loosen up again. This is a MAJOR short-coming which spoils a good helmet.
I would add that I too have had droplets of water getting into the visor during bad rain. Which never happened with my old helmet.
I also suspect that there is a slight flow of air ‘leaking’ in through the flip mechanism; this results in my right eye watering / itchy nose! But this is a subtle problem – cant be sure if its the flip or the visor.
Unless we got a bad batch through Helmet City I’m surprised I haven’t heard more complaint’s about this model. All the reviews rave about how great it is, I remain disappointed.
November 4th, 2009 on 11:11 am
My C3 is now gathering dust. My Shoei Raid is now my daily lid and I am taking out the Autocom stuff to put in my Arai Tour X. I cannot just send mine back as it has had the lining snipped for the Autocom and has the same helmet stickers as our sponsored racer Jamie Wilkins, but I am mightily disappointed. I would happily do business with Helmet City again, but not Schuberth. Daniels experience is identical to mine.
November 8th, 2009 on 2:53 pm
I bought a C3 from Hein Gericke two weeks ago after deciding my 8 year old AGV X-Vent was now past it. I was excited about wearing it for my usual 55 mile Monday morning commute which turned out to be a pretty chilly one with low sun at 07:00.
My AGV X-Vent was fitted with an aftermarket clear visor which had an anti-mist coating and I never had a problem with it misting up.
The sun visor in the C3 was perfect for such early morning conditions where I set off before sun-rise and progressed in to low sun in front of me.
I found the C3 much quieter than my old AGV. Quite possibly it is lighter too, but in being quieter through the use of under chin wind and noise guards I believe this is a flaw for glasses wearers.
Normally, I don’t have to touch my AGV visor or vents for the entire trip, but the C3 I found was either too much air being blown in the front vent or not enough and everytime I stopped at a junction my glasses misted up instantly. I found the pin lock worked well, but at low speed I noticed the rest of the visor around it had misted up which was quite distracting.
For years I have felt extrememly happy to ride in any weather in my AGV, even enjoying heavy rain on occassions as I would be warm and snug in my wet gear.
But, all this has changed with the C3 as of my commute home in the early November dark and rain on Friday, which is not an unusual event for me.
I set off from work needing the front vent fully open to keep things clear, but as the M25 slowed down I had to crack the visor open to the smallest opening, just short of fully sealed shut, to keep air moving around my glasses. Alas, this then let rain in and the misting increased until I was faced with not being able to see where I was going and having to closely follow the car lights in front of me.
The helmet is great for those fortunate enough to not need glasses or whose eyes are compatible with contact lenses, but in shutting out the wind noise Schuberth have made this helmet unsuitable for riders who wear glasses, in my opinion.
I am now faced with having to spray anti-fog spray on my glasses and ride without the under chin wind and noise deflectors, or leave the C3 at home and use my old AGV whenever the weather forecast predicts rain.
November 9th, 2009 on 10:23 am
I don’t think it is just me that feels the C3 does not live up to the hype. I am not getting another one, ever! Like Neil in torrential rain the visor became really frightening. I think this expensive lid is going to go into the bin.
November 30th, 2009 on 9:25 am
I have a C3. One of the worst helmets that I have ever bought. The inner visor keeps falling out. The chin peices fall off or at best come away from their clips. The plastic on the chin is so thin, one tap and it falls apart. This product is truly appauling.
I too had problems with the pin lock steaming up.
January 20th, 2010 on 4:43 pm
Reading these reviews of the C3 makes pretty glum reading really, the helmet is a top tier item which ought to get a better write up than this.
Is it then, that the ability to have a design that allows a flip up of the chin, will always restrict basic functionality such as misting, visor flappyness all that stuff?
I want a helmet that is really quiet, and is also fully functional. Any suggestions? At this price level, it is an very expensive mistake waiting to happen.
Cheers
RW
February 8th, 2010 on 3:14 am
I am considering buying a C3…. ok I pretty much have my heart set on one as the supposedly quietest lid around, so it’s really great to see some real-life views and comments on the net. Keep it coming guys!
So why am I leaving a comment? Well, I was prettty disappointed with the ex-poloiceman’s note about the lid and impressed with Andrew’s careful and well thought out follow up. I have no gripes with the UK police at all, infact I’ve always found them to be really pleasant people whatever the circumstances but these kind of narrow minded comments about flip-ups being up etc are really for teenage scooter riders, not grown-ups please.
I’ve just been living in Brasil for 2 years where hardly anyone uses a helmet, or carries one on their elbow just to pop-on when the police are spotted. You can’t tell me that the RTAs I stopped at to assist would have looked the same if the riders had been wearing an open flip-up. I personally ften rode in Brasil with my flip-up open at low-ish speeds as it gives much better awareness, reduces fatigue and overheating and increases primary accident protection (i.e. not having one in the first place). Secondary protection (i.e. actually protecting your head against being hit) is, of course, reduced but it is important to accept that is part of the picture, not the whole answer.
Thank God for a blog that uses reasoned argument and experience above knee jerk policy quoting.
Best regards,
Jon