New Caberg Solo - $75!!

[crispiegee1]

I consider myself an oval headed guy and it seems to fit me satisfactoraly.

I never did write a review of the helmet as I intended.  I will say this:

1) It's noisy as hell.
2) The snap closure on the chin strap is much harder to adjust than a D-ring.
3) The sun shade has some weird wavy sort of thing going on when you look through at certain angles.

It's a generally well made helmet and looks nice.  I just wish I could stand to ride with it more often.

[Sport-Touring]

[atadaskew]

I consider myself an oval headed guy and it seems to fit me satisfactoraly.
1) It's noisy as hell.
2) The snap closure on the chin strap is much harder to adjust than a D-ring.
3) The sun shade has some weird wavy sort of thing going on when you look through at certain angles.

I'm long oval and it fits me well.
W/ re. to the above:
1/ Noisy -yes, but quieter than my GMAX.  But I always wear earplugs and then it's just fine
2/ Yes, but you adjust it just once and leave it as it has a seat belt type latch not d-rings.
3/ Not with the 2 I have, maybe you should have asked for an exchange?

Here's the thing, it cost $69!!!!! That's the price of a beanie helmet!

[zam70]

I've been wearing the Caberg solo for about 3 years now - my favorite helmet

If you wear ear plugs (which you should no matter what helmet you wear - you actually hear better with them than with out at speed) It's damn near perfect.  Very stable, looks great, comfortable etc..
I bought 2 garas on this deal - one for me, one for my daughter.

The internal shield is adjustable -
When flipped down, if the shield doesn't go down far enough, it just needs a minor adjustment.
Just follow the instructions for removing the internal shield but instead of removing the retaining screw, just loosen it up and adjust the shield for the maximum travel you want and retighten the screw.

For sizing, they are typical.  I wear an xl in Nolan, Caberg and HJC..

If you don't care for the "gara" (short for garish IMO) just paint it!

[crispiegee1]

If you wear ear plugs (which you should no matter what helmet you wear - you actually hear better with them than with out at speed) It's damn near perfect.  

I've heard this from people defending loud helmets for years.  I do wear earplugs, but I don't consider that a substitute for having an overly loud helmet.  For a long trip, I have no choice to wear my Shoei RF800.

And for short trips, I think it's ridiculous to have to wear earplugs to counteract the incredible wind roar. To say "just wear ear plugs" and "it's only a $69 helmet" is to defend an obvious design flaw.  (Remember when we used to defend the American auto industry when their products were obviously subpar?)

Anyway, I don't think it's a TERRIBLE helmet, but we need to be honest with potential buyers.  It's far from perfect.

[RBEmerson]

[...]
If you don't care for the "gara" (short for garish IMO) just paint it!

You shot that?  Kewl!  How about more views?  Wanna do more?  

[RBEmerson]

Although this is nearly topic drift, I'll speak to the plugs issue.  At the moment I own two Schuberths (C-1, S-1), the Gara, and an HJC (can't remember the model), and I've gone through a bunch more.  None of them are, IMHO, inherently quiet enough to not warrant wearing plugs.  It's probably a mix of helmet-induced noise and bike-induced noise (air flow mostly, as opposed to loud pipes) but running at anything above "in town" speeds is noisy enough to warrant ear plugs.  My hearing is bad enough that I could qualify for a hearing aid for the left ear and the right isn't too far behind.  Nonetheless, a set of foam plugs (the day-glo orange or purple ones sold at Lowes) reduces the wind noise to the point where road and traffic noise isn't overwhelmed and, more importantly, I don't get off the bike at the end of a ride with my ears ringing.  I don't view the need for plugs as a flaw in any helmet design, just a reality of riding at speeds above about 40 MPH.  YMMV.  

[zam70]

I agree with RBEmerson  -  I've had a bunch of helemets and none were quiet...nothing is at speed, not even a car (with its windows cracked)
First thing I noticed when wearing plugs was how much better I COULD HEAR things - they remove all the roar
and, out of all my helmets, the Caberg is actually the quietest



RBEmerson:  I did not paint it but a friend of mine/guy I work with did (he paints for a bunch of ARCA teams and has just landed a few contracts with some NASCAR teams *ching*$$$$)
I told him I wanted it to look like and old P51 war plane...
It's a little pricey probably around 250 - 300 (that's actually cheap if you price custom paint and negates the money savings on this closeout but, The solo was my preferred helmet anyway)
a few more pics:

[crispiegee1]

Hi Guys,

It wasn't my intention to divert us from the subject of the Caberg helmet.  My point was that it is extremely loud and - regardless of the fact that I wear earplugs most of the time anyway - I wish it was quieter in the first place. In other words, if you're counting on your earplugs to reduce sound levels by around 28 decibels, wouldn't you like to maximize the benefit by starting with a quieter helmet?  I would.

Anyway, my point is not to talk about earplugs, only to say that after wearing the Caberg, I've discovered that it is light, comfortable and nice looking. But on the down side, I will continue to wear my Shoei until I can find another helmet that gives me the same sense of peace and calm in my cranial cavity.  

Chris

[RBEmerson]

Nice paint but a little spendy for me.  Oh, well...  

[Craigart14]

I've been wearing the Caberg solo for about 3 years now - my favorite helmet

If you wear ear plugs (which you should no matter what helmet you wear - you actually hear better with them than with out at speed) It's damn near perfect.  Very stable, looks great, comfortable etc..
I bought 2 garas on this deal - one for me, one for my daughter.

The internal shield is adjustable -
When flipped down, if the shield doesn't go down far enough, it just needs a minor adjustment.
Just follow the instructions for removing the internal shield but instead of removing the retaining screw, just loosen it up and adjust the shield for the maximum travel you want and retighten the screw.

For sizing, they are typical.  I wear an xl in Nolan, Caberg and HJC..

If you don't care for the "gara" (short for garish IMO) just paint it!

I don't seem to have any instructions re: the inner shield.  How do you remove it?  (If I know that, then I can adjust it.)

Craig

[zam70]

lift the outer visor up
The grey triangular release button in the center rear of the visor pivot area releases the outer visor/shield, if you trigger the smaller lower one, that lets the whole visor mount pop off the helmet (don't freak - it'ssupposed to do that).

Release the LEFT side visor/shield pivot mount (lower release, leave the outer visor attached).  When you pop that out, you will see a phillips screw...this is the retaining screw for the inner visor (there is only the one on the left)
You can loosen theat screw and adjust the max down for the inner visor.

snap the outer visor pivot back into place when done.