One or two of you may have noticed that I am no longer the pin up poster for a well known tyre company – you know the one where the cartoon character pulls spare tyres from his waistline!
Whilst the loss of that claim to fame hasn’t kept me awake at nights – what has grabbed my attention is the time (and money) I now spend buying new kit to replace perfectly good stuff I already own!
My pulling power is legendary – my head has always been large enough to have its own gravitational field. Indeed you may have noticed the small planets orbiting it from time to time. However all that is at an end with my new smaller helmet to match my less bulbous head – the Shoei Qwest.
Shoei has been my choice of lid for years – and the Qwest continues the high standards I expect. This one is far better designed than my previous Shoei lids over the past 10 years or so. First and foremost the visor area is a lot bigger making it a real doddle to see more in my peripheral vision. They’ve used a bit of common sense and carried this through to the anti-mist insert to ensure it is also increased in size so you don’t get the top of it right in your line of vision when your head’s tucked down.
I’m not one for dark visors preferring to roll with some sunglasses instead, but inserting a visor remains one of the easiest things on the planet with a simple lever system that appears to be idiot proof.
The vents are spot on – much easier to manipulate with gloves on at speed, than the previous helmet and more importantly they do what they say on the tin – which is let cool air in and hot air out!
Being the style-guru that you all know and love, I find the Qwest to be aesthetically pleasing, in other words I preferred the plain black – and it was cheaper to buy than the colours! Actually the shape of the Qwest has improved significantly and the base of the lid has a curve in it to accommodate the way you move your shoulders which adds to my comfort.
Last but not least I’ve found it to be a fairly quiet lid on the few occasions when I’m not being an old man and wearing ear plugs!
