shoei x15 helmet
The Shoei X15 helmet is one of their top helmets in the motorcycle lineup. There are many different brand full-faced helmets on the market. In this blog post, I am going to explain why my chosen brand is Shoei and my thoughts about the X15 after a full season of use.
Ever since I started riding motorcycles, I have used a few different brands of helmets over the years. Other brand helmets either didn’t fit my head shape properly, lacked good aerodynamics, poor field of view, or gave me headaches after an entire day of riding. Shoei helmets even at the middle tier levels didn’t have these issues for me. The X15 is just that much better in all categories. Even though I have already disclosed my overall opinion about the helmet, I suggest reading further for details about the helmets performance in a racing/trackday environment.
Fitment: the Shoei X15 fits my head shape perfectly. It comes with extra padding, but I didn’t even need to mess around with it. I don’t have any hot spots or air gaps where the pads don’t have contact allowing the helmet to slide around. One thing I will say is fitment is highly dependent upon your head shape. Most helmets are made for intermediate oval head shapes. Regardless of how awesome a helmet is, it won’t be awesome if it doesn’t contour to your head properly. I find Revzilla’s guide to be helpful if you’re unsure about your head shape/sizing. After an entire season of use, the helmet still fits as new. Some other brand helmets have pads that soften up and the end result is now a helmet that slides around on your head.
Aerodynamics: the aero of the helmet is top notch. At one of the tracks I regularly race/trackdays at, the first two turns are high-speed turns. For example, turn 2 is over 130mph on a 1000cc bike or a fast 600cc rider. If the helmet isn’t up to par in aero, your head will feel it. The buffeting and tension of forces against your neck will also feel it. The X15 cuts through the air without any of those issues. I have worn this helmet at speed of over 165mph without complaints.
Vision: I find the field of view with the X15 to be excellent. Long sweeping corners don’t leave you blind searching for the corner exit. In the tucked position, you can still see with ease. The quality of the visors is also good. I have used the dark smoke and clear visors in mixed conditions. I did not have any issues with glare, fogging, or eye fatigue. The helmet comes with their pinlock system, but I just use clear tear offs on all of my visors (Shoei brand tear offs).
Weight: the weight of the helmet is good. It’s a well balanced helmet, and for the amount of features and protection the weight is surprisingly light.
Visor locking system: this is one of my favorite things about this helmet. The design of how the visor locks into the helmet is much better than other brands/models I have used. Having additional locks on each side of the visor connection points I think is a great idea to avoid the visor coming off with a hard impact. Initially, it takes a little getting used to when switching visors, but I will gladly learn a new locking mechanism than risk debris hitting my face/eyes in a hard impact or aggressive slide.
Overall: at this point, you likely realized I have nothing but good things to say about this helmet. However, my feedback is about this helmet isn’t intentionally positive. The helmet is really just that good, in my opinion. I have never been shy to try different brands/models of helmets, but Shoei admittedly keeps me coming back and for good reason.
This article was independently written, meaning Shoei did not have any influence on my feedback or offered any goods/services in exchange for this article.