The Shoei X-Eleven Kiyonari TC-5 is a high-quaility full face helmet that's at home on the street or racetrack.
The single most important piece of riding gear you can strap on is a helmet. But with the ever increasing number of helmet manufactures out there, it can be difficult to weed through quality, established brands and mediocre fly-by-night operations.
That's where the
Shoei X-Eleven helmet comes in. The X-Eleven is the pinnacle of Shoei's road-going helmet technology. It epitomizes 40-plus years of R&D accomplished at racetracks and roadways worldwide.
The first thing we notice about a helmet is its flashy finish, or lack thereof, and the Japanese designed and manufactured helmet has style in spades.
The race replica lid just oozes racetrack style. The helmet's base paint coat and graphics are done by hand and an ultra tough clear coat finish is applied over the color scheme. The shiny, high-gloss finish does an excellent job of protecting the paint from erratic flying debris. After a few thousand miles of use both on and off-track, our Kiyonari TC-5 has not one chip.
Beneath that glossy, candy painted exterior of '07 BSB champ Ryuichi Kiyonari's replica lid is Shoei's patented Advanced Intergraded Matrix (AIM) outer shell. The shell is constructed out of thermosetting plastic that's reinforced by layers of both organic fibers and fiberglass. This hybrid construction allows shell design to be rigid while still being extremely light. How light you ask? Less than a half-gallon of milk.
Next to looks (yeah, we know...we're vain), the second most important feature we consider in a brain bucket is fit and comfort. We always here people say that they are "fill-the-blank" helmet guy or gal but simply, out of all the various helmets we've ever tried, the X-Eleven is the most comfortable, well-fitting helmet we've ever stuffed our melon in. The X-Eleven's is the helmet equivalent of a properly tailored Canali suit. Our size medium helmet fits us snugly and had absolutely zero free movement when strapped. From the moment we first slid it on, there were no pressure points and, unlike other helmets, dreaded break-in time was almost non-existent.
The inner liner is constructed out of super soft material that is extremely breathable and feels velvety smooth to the touch. The modular liner easily pulls out to facilitate washing when you're sick of looking at the crusty, salty remnants' of those hot summer days.
Extended time in the saddle exposes the X-Eleven for its unassuming feel. After a while it feels like you're not even wearing a helmet-which allows us to focus on the task at hand - riding.
When your blazing down the road at triple-digit speeds there's no doubt that there's going to be some noise. In order to try and preserve our hearing we wear ear plugs most everywhere we go, but on the few occasions where we didn't the Shoei lid was not overly loud.
Shoei's X-Eleven is comfortable at any speed, as Adam demonstrates aboard the sleek Ducati 1098S.
Keeping your cool, especially on the race track is crucial. Shoei's answer is an integrated ventilation system that incorporates a front intake, lower intake and neck exhaust outlet and rear aero edge spoiler, which when open, work to keep a constant flow of air across your head. When the mercury started climbing during the summer, the venting system did an excellent job of keeping us cool and collect. And worry not, when the weather turns cool in the fall, the vents can be shut allowing the helmet to retain some of your body heat.
Unlike other helmets where you need a mechanical engineering degree and a multi-piece Craftsman tool set to change the faceshield, the X-Eleven utilizes its "Quick Release Base Plate System," which allows you to easily remove the CX-1V face shield (also compatible with the less expensive RF-1000 and TZ-R full-face helmets) without any tools or gear-head know-how.
Since Shoei helmets are first-rate, it seems pretty obvious that they stand behind their helmets with a solid five-year warranty from date of purchase or a seven-year warranty from date of helmet manufacture. But still it's nice to see a company standing by their product.
There's no doubt that the X-Eleven helmet is pricey. But like your ol' man use to say, "you get what you pay for," and this old adage remains as true today as it did when Gramps sprung for that spade-shaped shovel that now takes up space in your garage.
You've spend all that hard earned cash on that brand new shiny aluminum steed. So do yourself a favor, spring out a little more for the same high-quality lid that MotoGP racers like Chris Vermeulen and Tony Elias entrust their multi-million dollar earning heads when they are blasting around on their 200-plus horsepower MotoGP rides. Trust us, you won't be disappointed.
Product: Shoei X-Eleven Helmet
Available Sizes: XXS-XXL
MSRP: $587.00 (Solid color) and $692.99 (Race Replica)
More Shoei Helmet Info:
www.shoei-helmets.com
Check out more Shoei Helmets and Motorcycle Helmets at Motorcycle Superstore.
