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SHOEI quality
Are motorcycle helmets still just crash helmets? Or are they the upper part of a racer’s outer skin which is smothered by publicity badges? F.J. Schermer visited the SHOEI factory in Japan and now knows that they are real works of art, manufactured by hand in an intricate and caring process.
The primordial basis for quality is precision. Everything is clean, it would be easier to imagine being in a pharmaceutical factory than in helmet production. The pre-formed, accurately weighed fibre mats and the resin are ready to be placed into the steel ´baking form´.
A slack rubber balloon is then pushed into the form and 120°C hot steam is blown into the balloon blowing it up to five bars. The mats are thus pressed exactly into the form and actually "baked” for 15 minutes.
SHOEI produces three completely different helmet shells: for the domestic, American and European markets. This is one of the secrets of the excellent fit of the helmets.
After the helmet shells have been cut with water jets and laser beams, the rest of the production is done by hand. The factory staff check the outer shells again and again looking for rough spots. The decals are applied in a bath of water, absolutely no air bubbles should remain.
The helmet then goes to the Test and Homologation Department where it undergoes extensive tests according to all worldwide homologation procedures. Helmets are taken out of production at irregular intervals and tested, tested, tested. Wind turbulence is simulated in the wind tunnel. The slightest bulges or changes at the edges have an influence as to how smooth the helmet lies in the wind or how noisy or silent it is.
After a day’s visit it was established: typical Japanese quality is produced here by hand. This is why SHOEI helmets can be classified among the best if not the best in the world.
About the author:
Franz Josef Schermer, also known under his initials FJS, is one of the most prominent motorcycle journalists in the world. Now 53 years old, he has been present in motorcycle journalism since 1972. He founded his own magazine "Motorrad-Magazin MO” in 1978 and published many catalogues and special editions. He sold his publishing company to his collaborators in 1997 and went to Japan in 1999 for one year on behalf of BMW during which time he visited the SHOEI factory in Ibaraki.
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