Help
Forums
Members
IBF Apps ˇ
Blogs
Gallery
Shoutbox
Members Map
Portal
Calendar
Quick Links ˇ
Todays Active Content
View New Content
The Rules
The Mods & Rockers
Compose New PM
Support Advertise Link
Contact Form
My Shark full face is like myself, getting on a bit, and I wanted a replacement. Touring with some lads from England who use Cabergs and Schuberts I decided on a flip front for the convenience. Buying off the internet I took a chance that the Shark Medium would have the same internal shape as my current Shark Medium full face, and so it proved to be, it is a perfect fit.
Shark has two new flip fronts, the Evoline which is top of the range, and the Openline which is mid range. Both are handsome lids, and have full Euro specs, so presumably safety is as good as can be guaranteed. Both also have a sunshade which can be levered into place while riding, and levered back if conditions darken. The more expensive Evoline differs in having a chin bar which clears the top of the helmet and locks at the back. It is aerodynamic, and the helmet is certified for open face use with the chin bar locked back. The Openline is a more traditional flip front. The chin bar sits above your eye view, and you are not supposed to ride with it up.
Having originally been drawn to the Evoline, I opted for the Openline because it is lighter, and I did not see myself needing to ride with the chin bar locked back.
In use I found it to be everything that I expected, plus a bit more. For a start, it is light, being only a couple of hundred grams more than my full face one. It is noticably lighter than my brother's Shoei Multitec, which is a very good helmet. The aerodynamics were good to very good. There was no untowards pulling when looking around, although I am using a vario screen on the Blackbird now, and this diverts a lot of air past the rider.
It is also well sealed and fairly quiet. My old helmet whistles loudly if you turn your head. This one does not. I can't say it is the quietest on the market, not having tried them all. I can say for definite it is quiet enough that most of the touring in France and England was done with no earplugs.
Ventilation is good to very good as I see it. With the vents open in a very hot France you got a nice cool draught of air across the bonce, which cooled very well at 60+ mph. It is also designed to let a breeze upwards past the visor to keep it clear. It never fogged up in any of the conditions we met, and they were sometimes severe. In France we went from sweltering conditions in Cherbourg to a hurricane-like summer storm at Mont St Michel. Riding in this torrential rain for two hours it never fogged.
On the way back from Plymouth to Bristol we had another two hours of traffic bound rainy riding. Three lanes of chocka traffic at 60mph and spray everywhere, the visor stayed clear. Some drops did run down inside the visor in heavy rain, but this gave no real problems.
A very worthwhile feature is the integral sun shade, which can be flipped down inside the visor for sunny riding. This proved to be very useful for two reasons; in one, the lever at the side of the helmet clicked the shade down if travelling into the sunshine, say. Or, it could be flipped up and away when entering into a tunnel or dark forest area. This was an excellent feature, and it meant I had no use or need for the polaroids.
It was also safer in said dark tunnels, as you normally can't stop to take off the glasses when you meet a tunnel. Plus one for safety. As for the other reason, when riding at slow speeds in towns etc, you could ride with the chin bar up for coolness, but with the sunshade down, pilot style, you were safe up to 50mph or more from getting hit in the eye by flies or bees. Because of this I rode a lot more with the bar up than I expected.BTW, with the one button push mechanism it was very easy to open the chin bar while riding into a town. You are recommended not to do this, but I mention it because the mechanism worked very well, it is easy to do in safety.
This sunshade developed a fault towards the end of the trip, it was sticking either up or down. It's minor, and can easily be sorted. I'm currently dealing with the company for a fix under the warranty [5 years].
On balance, having ridden over 2000 kilometres with it, am I happy with it, would I buy the same again? Definitely. Yes, I would. It's a very good lid and a bit of a bargain. Sorry for being so long-winded, but I suspect anyone planning to buy one might be interested in how they measure up on the road.
Joe
