Bell Bullitt first ride report

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webman94
XJ Enthusiast
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Posts: 431
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:35 pm
Location: Arizona

Well, I've been looking for a new helmet for quite awhile, and I just got one of these as a Christmas gift. Only one ride in so far, and I liked it!

It was about 60 degrees and breezy for my first ride, and I put in about 60 miles, mixed freeway, country road, and city streets. The helmet's louder than my older Shoei full face, but surprisingly, at highway speed, I had much less buffeting than I get with the Shoei. Not sure why, but this is a nice surprise.

There's a bit of draft that leaks through the gap between the visor and the helmet, not really an issue, as I wear glasses, but might bother someone who wears contact lenses. One nice benefit of this is that the shield is much less fog-prone than my Shoei.

I've read some reviewers that complain about noise from the forehead vents, and it seems to be highly dependent on your riding position; with the head down in more of a sport bike "attack" position, the vents whistle noticeably, but in a more standard bike riding position, the noise disappeared. Note that I wear earplugs when riding, so there may be noise that I'm not hearing...

The Bullitt has a HUGE eye port, much larger than my Shoei, or any other full face helmet that I've ever seen. I noticed a major increase in peripheral vision with the first left turn out of my neighborhood, a really nice thing. The chin bar is much lower than on my Shoei, practically out of view; it's almost like riding with a 3/4 helmet with a flat shield. This is a new experience for me, as I've never owned an open-faced helmet, but now I understand why they're so popular. In fact, when it warms up, I look forward to trying out my new goggles with this helmet. It'll be interesting to try riding with goggles on the street; I've only done so on a dirtbike before. It should be even more like riding with an open faced helmet. I'll let you know.

The interior of my black helmet is a beautifully finished brown leather, with a red leather pull tab on the d-ring. There's also a very effective snap at the end of the chinstrap, which keeps the strap in place. One of my pet peeves with my Shoei was that the strap is really long, with no retention system. This often results in it flapping annoyingly at speed.

I found the helmet interior to be quite snug, but it felt great after about 15 minutes. I expect it'll feel even better as the leather breaks in. The one complaint I had is that the neck roll leaves a rather small opening to put your head into, meaning that it felt as if I was going to tear my ears off the first time I put it on. Hopefully, this will get easier as things break in. Fitting my glasses in was quite easy once the helmet was on, so if you prefer sunglasses to wearing a shield or goggles, this is a viable option.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the helmet so far. It is beautiful, and seems to function really well for what I need. I'll do an update this summer; by then it should be breaking in a bit, and the hot Arizona summer will provide a good test of its ventilation!

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