Helmet: HJC RPS-10

It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about helmets, but I’ve come across one that I really think merits some attention.

You may or may not be aware, but I’ve always been a little bit of a snob when it comes to helmets. I’ve always liked Arai and Shoei, Schuberth and Nolan, etc. To me, if it didn’t have an elite label I wouldn’t even consider it let alone actually wear it. Well, since I reviewed the Bell Star Carbon earlier this year I’ve realized that a lot of people have caught up to the big boys. Now the Bell happened to have a “big boy” price to go along with its general awesomeness, so I guess maybe it wasn’t exactly fair, but I felt the exact same way after I reviewed the $349 Bell RS-1 in August.

Don’t get me wrong – A Schuberth C3 is still an incredibly high-quality modular helmet. It offers technology, comfort, safety features and features that merit its $699 price tag. We will actually be doing a review of a Schuberth C3 to hear what all the fuss is about in the near future — but for right now we are going to look at another helmet trying to prove that a modest price does not mean a modest level of features and form.

I’m talking about the HJC RPS-10. The last HJC I reviewed, the IS-16, floored me in terms of bang for the buck. This helmet, HJC’s top of the line piece, tries to entice buyers away from the likes of Shoei, Arai and other high-end brands with beautiful graphics (like those on the limited edition Ben Spies model), top level safety (Snell 2010 and, of course, DOT approved) and a very nice level of comfort and stability. It’s also a pretty light helmet too, very comfortable for a long day around town or at the track.

Fit and finish: The RPS-10 is definitely a beautiful helmet, whether looking at a solid color or a helmet with graphics. The paint just looks good – it looks “quality” as my brother-in-law Guido likes to say. The finish is good too, if a hair below the top-tier helmets. If I was paying $600 I’d probably be annoyed, but if I was picking it up on sale at my local bike shop for a little over $300 I’d be pretty impressed. What I’m moaning about are maybe a few tiny unfinished bits of plastic here and there and stitching that could be a hair tighter, but I REALLY had to look to notice.

Venting: It’s kind of hard for me to give my honest opinion on how cool the helmet is, since it’s pretty cold out right now, but I can tell you that I definitely feel the air moving around with the vents open. The top seems to flow quite a bit of air, with the bottom flowing somewhat less. The venting has held up to fogging though you can use the pinlock system if you really need to make sure you get absolutely zero fog.

The fit of the helmet is sort of in the middle, maybe a little narrow but the padding is extremely comfortable. I’ve had a couple of buddies try it on too and it seems to fit fine on all of them, despite the fact that we each have pretty different heads.

I think that HJC has a real winner here. It might retail for $349, but I’ve seen some of the local guys taking ten or fifteen percent off, especially this time of the year. For under $300 you’ll get a good, solid helmet that does a lot of what the much more expensive helmets do but still have enough money left over for some cool boots or gloves.

Being an HJC you can get this all over the place. You can get HJC helmets at Crolli, Forest Park Honda, Off-Road Express and, if you are down in Meadville, Street Track and Trail has them. Finally, oddly enough, the Boot Box can get em.

Thanks and ride safe.