Shoei X-14 Helmet

Post date: Jun 26, 2020 2:46:33 PM

Today we are going to take a look at the Shoei X-14. This is a race-bred helmet designed for that full tuck at maximum speed, let's take a closer look and see how the X-14 could benefit your ride.

The X-14 is coming in at around $850, and everything about this helmet is geared towards the racing application, in fact the five times world champion Mark Marquez trust this helmet to protect him while racing Moto GP. Everything from the vents, the shield even the shell design is geared towards that maximum speed full tuck riding.

We have an Eames Plus shell; that's an advanced integrated matrix plus shell, and what you need to know there is that it does a great job of dispersing energy. It's very lightweight, and it is solid.

We threw this helmet up on the scales, and it weighed in at three pounds seven ounces in a size medium. Of course, this helmet is DOT certified, but it is Snell certification as well.

Before I jump into some of these features, let's take a second and talk about the fit, as the fit of your helmet is essential. This helmet is available in sizes extra small to two XL, comes in a few different color options as well as a multitude of different graphics.

For reference, I measure right at twenty-two and a half inches around the circumference on my head, and I typically wear a size medium. The medium fits me well in this helmet, and it fits me true to size.

The internal shape is going to be an intermediate oval; it's a bit more elongated from front to back than it is side to side. Taking a closer look at the chin, you'll find that we have two active vents at the chin, one at the forehead as well as the top of the helmet.

Swing it around to the back, that's we're going to find these very aerodynamic passive vents. There are passive vents incorporated into the rear spoiler. The rear spoiler is very pronounced; it's designed for that full speed, it's going to add that centrifugal force and help this helmet maintain stability when you're riding in that application.

Moving back to the front of the shield, we do have a few detents. That's going to allow you to open the shield. It's going to hold that position, maximize your airflow, and still provide you with some eye protection, especially handy when you're rolling around the track Pitts.

You can also see that we do have a locking mechanism on the left-hand side, which will allow you to secure the shield and prevent it from opening up when you're out there riding at those higher speeds.

We have a nice gasket rounding the shield, so it's going to create a great seal and help block out any unwanted wind noise. The shield is pinlock ready, so you have a pin lock insert included in the box.

Throw it on the shield, and that will prevent any fogging that you might experience when you're out there riding.

You're also going to see these posts on the left-hand side; these are for tear-offs. These are for the racing application; it's not something you're going to utilize on the street because you tear these off the shield and discard them, and you don't want to litter when you're out there on the road.

You're also going to see on the left and the right-hand side of the shield that we have these vortex generators. That's designed to break up the wind and to help reduce wind noise in this location near the pivot system.

Moving from the exterior to the interior. We do have a simple double D-ring closure. You've got a breath guard included in the box as well as a chin skirt.

The liner is antibacterial, it is full removal, you can wash it throw it back in, and you're good to go. You do get the emergency removable cheek pads, so that's going to be a great additional safety feature, especially when you're riding in that track application.

One of the main takeaways and favorite parts of the interior liner is that it is highly customizable. You can take pieces out of the liner, make adjustments, sell in different thicknesses, position it higher or lower on your head, and fine-tune the fit in that location.

The same thing goes for the cheek pads. You can adjust how high or how low they're going to fit on the side of your face. You can make those fine-tune adjustments focusing less on your helmet's fit and more on your riding, which is handy when you're riding at those higher speeds.

That's what's going to separate the X-14 from a lot of the competition out there.

When Shoei was making this helmet, they had three main criteria. They want the ventilation to be reliable; they wanted it to be durable and wanted it to be lightweight.

I've ridden around with this thing on my head for a couple of weeks now, and what I can tell you with it is lightweight.

It does have excellent ventilation, I haven't crashed in it, yet so I haven't tested the durability, but I'm not a big fan of testing that for my first videos anyway.

What I can't tell you it is DOT approved, and Snell certified, so it should be reliable. It also has an EQRS system installed, a system that lets a medical professional easily remove a rider's head from the helmet without having to move their neck around a lot.

It even comes with a little sticker at the bottom to let you know about the EQRS system, and if you were to go down on a track, I'm sure the medical professionals they would know about it so they wouldn't damage your neck while trying to get your helmet off.

The only thing I worry about is that if you're riding on the road, what are the odds that a regular medical professional will be trained with an EQRS system to look for that in a motorcycle helmet?

I appreciate the fact it's just a motorcycle helmet; I worry that most people aren't going to know they're there to help you when you crash on a regular road. Regardless, it isn't as a safety feature that I do appreciate.

Replacing the shield on this helmet was extremely easy. Shoei has what they call a QRE baseplate system, which allows for tolles shield removal.

As an Icon variant user, the fact that I didn't have to use a tool to get the shield off was fantastic, it took like 10 seconds, and I never found any issues.

The visor has a nice solid feel, and it is supposed to give you 99% protection from UVA and B rays, which was a nice little bonus. They also have an exclusive patent-pending vortex generator on the side to reduce air friction.

I'm a simple man, and not well-versed in the science of air friction, so I went to their website, and I'll give them credit the X 14 page has an excellent image explaining what the helmet can do and what it's built fro.

But let me break it down for you. Those little things on the side are vortex generators, and they supposedly help the aerodynamics of the helmet. During my testing, I couldn't tell the difference with the vortex generators, but that could be because I don't ride fast enough to deal with air friction.

When I'm paying this much for a helmet, I better have a solid visor that doesn't move around. It also has a dual shield locking system to prevent it from opening when you don't want it to.

I felt like this worked a little too good because there were a couple of times I felt like I was about to break my neck trying to pop the visor open, I'm sure once I wear it in a little bit, it won't be so hard to pop up in my thumb.

Speaking of the aerodynamics of this helmet. I thought they were incredible; I can honestly say I have never ridden with a helmet that had this little force on my head while riding down the highway.

I could move my head all around, and in no position did I feel the wind pushing my head in a certain way, which was honestly a little weird at first. But, after I am Howey for a little while, I quickly got you to it, and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Against my better judgment, I felt a better way to test the ventilation of the X-14 than to take it out on a 95 degree Atlanta summer day and ride around with it with the visor shut.

We're talking red light to red light with slow-moving traffic, and honestly, it was terrible. But as any helmet would be regardless of the ventilation.

I can't happily say that once I even got slightly moving just the tiniest bit, there was plenty of air to start cooling me down instantly.

One way this home it does that is it actually has a cheek pad cooling system where it vents air from the front of the helmet in through the cheek pads and then out of the back of the helmet, and that worked well.

My final big takeaway from testing this helmet was what ended up being my favorite part of the entire helmet, and that's comfort.

I can honestly say this is the most comfortable helmet I have ever ridden in. Once both helmets are on, they feel snug and safe to ride in, but when I was riding in the X-14, the interior liner felt a little more soft and comfortable, and a little higher quality.

Getting the glasses on in this helmet is a giant pain in the ass, but once the glasses are on, they are comfortable.

That is the X-14 from Shoei. It is expensive as hell, but you know what? I can finally see why so many people spend so much money on these helmets.

There was not a single time while I was riding around with this helmet that anything felt less than top quality. It was a pretty magical experience.

I must say, I know that something stupid to say about a helmet, but when you stick your head into a small confined space for long periods, it's pretty nice to have it surrounded with some top quality materials.

I'm not saying everybody should go out and get a Shoei X-14 because the price is way up there, but what I'm saying is that if you've got the money to invest in, you stick your head in while you ride, the Shoei X-14 is pretty freak in phenomenal.

There you have it; a race-bred helmet from one of the world's most well-renowned helmet manufacturers. It's designed for that full Tuck maximum speed riding.