Extremesupply.com
Warning. Buying a helmet involves personal choices, tons of them, the kind of choices they call "consumer lifestyle decisions", or some do, anyhow, which is ironic as buying a motorcycle helmet is also a pretty straightforward life "style" decision: dead, paralyzed, brain-dead or life. Good thing they all have that feature. So yeah, it is a style buy, like a hat. When you see it, you know your own helmet, right?
You need the largest selection you can find. Brick-and-mortar motorcycle stores are fine, but end up buying the cheapest one they have, turn your head on the freeway, and off flies your face shield. A true story, it pays to shop the biggest store in town: Online.
I already knew I liked to ride open-faced from a series of dorky Magneto helmets, and that was good for that time, but today I want to step up to a real modular.
Complaint. It did not occur to me that most modular helmets are open only when you park; few are designed to ride in the open position. Why a person needs a 2-position helmet you can not ride in the open position, I do not know, so I checked it out on Wikipedia. If you want a modular helmet you can ride open, be careful what you buy, and they mention Shark, from France. Wikipedia is an endorsement, so I click the company up. It is soon clear; this is my helmet, when you see it, you know.
I go to buy, which should be easy, but, it turns out, if you want that model, style, color and size (the one Amazon do not have) buying this helmet is not easy, even online. Shark does not sell from their web site, and they are in France, which I'm told is a long way away. There is only one licensed dealer in the USA, and they are, more or less, the same distance from me in the opposite direction. They do not have a web site at all.
I do searches; I find the helmet for sale all over Europe and Australia. Gottit! After a 2-hour sit down (kind of like doing your taxes) with a currency exchange site, a translation site (for the Australian stores), and a calculator, I figure it out. The shipping charges just kill you, so I was going to be waiting 8 weeks for my helmet.
While just about giving up for the night, I find the helmet, the exact helmet, down to the clasp, at Extreme Supply. I'd looked at so many sites out of the country I do the entire math anyway, turns out this Shark is cheaper, a lot cheaper, than many of those European stores. What's to think about?
They have free shipping, but I want it faster, so I spend some of the money I saved on 2-day air. Then I crash out, so to speak. Math does that.
You never know what will happen when ordering online. Extreme Supply, these guys have their customer service down. Next day I get an email, and a call. (Talk about real service, when was the last time Amazon called you? In the morning?) My helmet, they don't have the exact size in stock, but they can get it in 1 day. 1 day? Now how can they do that? Took me a day to find. Sure enough, 1-day and 2 days shipping later the helmet is at my door. Fresh, shiny, French and a deal, all right here in the USA.
Extreme Supply rocked; Yes they did. read more