Shark S800

I bought this S800 Hurricane while on vacation in Ireland. This Helmet is not available in my home Country of Canada so I couldn't resist (right down to the Union Jack graphics). The helmet fits well, is extremely light, but the noise/vents are poop. I really like this helmet as none of my Canadian buddies have it.

Cheers.

I've long since owned a Shoei helmet, had a Raid for 7+yrs, and then a Shoei Xr1000. Raid was perfect for me, tho misted up badly and and the vents broke, i still have it btw. Then i bought a Shoei Xr1000, good quality, vents worked great, pinlock worked great, but i just couldn't get on with its restricted field of vision, the upper edge restricted how far up the road i could see when riding my motorbike(suzuki Sv), so i bought a secondhand Shark S800 due to reviews and i am very impressed. It had an aftermarket black visor and standard clear-this has a thin stick-on film when you view closely and stops it misting up. As effective as the Shoei pinlock system but instead of an insert the whole visor has this film applied so none of it mists up. I have a medium and a tad under 59cm size head, it fits nice and snug, med is 57-58cm, large is 59-60cm, so i'm inbetween, and as the xr1000 wqas large and felt too loose i opted for the medium on the shark.

Vents work ok at speed,(the top one more so) ie at 70mph or more, but do little below this, and the chin vent is actually detrimental at slow speed with the visor closed as it seems to blow your breath up into the helmet and promotes more misting than if you have the chin vent closed and naturally breath down. Nose guard helps deflect breath well, the lower chin piece stops any draft coming up into the helmet too. So both are a practical addition.

The standard visor when closed sits lightly touching the rubber seal all the way around the top and sides, but there's a tiny(less than 0.5mm) gap along the bottom edge, the dark aftermarket visor has a tiny gap most the way round so isn't as good a fit as the standrad one-something to be wary of if purchasing non-genuine visors), The dark one actually let rain run down inside during a torrential rain/hail/thunderstorm but seeing as i was soaked to the skin and to the point of lifting my hands up to pour water out my gloves! i doubt even the standard visor would have held up to this weather!

Fit of the helmet is great, i found the xr1000 would press against the back of my neck alot when holding my head up to view further up the road but the shark has none of this problem, i think the bottom of the helmet sits slightly higher than a Shoei does.

Wind noise is there, its a never ending debate-which helmet is quieter-use ear plugs etc, its all pointless to me as no-one can agree on anything! but my opinion is if i'm not exceeding 60/70mph then i don't use ear plugs on my journey as long as its not like half hr or more riding at those speeds, if i'm going for a weekend blast then earplugs in, no debate. Its no noisy than my other 2 helmets, i'd go as far to say its better than alot of others. Its probably mid level. And there's no buffering from wind either.

Forward vison is great, much better than the 2 Shoei's i have, the upper edge is higher so your not cranking your neck back to see up the road, side vision is also good if not better than my Shoei's. Vents push in to open, and a switch nect to them pops them closed when you push it. But gimmicky but so far been trouble-free. Finish is definetely impressive, Mine is red on the sides with white and black swirl pattern and its spotless, vent fit is excellent, the removeable pads inside are still 'as new', and support against your face is spot on.

I wasn't expecting this helmet to be this good, and i originally bought mine as a test one to see if it fitted ok, then i'd spend the money and buy a new one if it did, but i love this helmet so much that i've decided to keep it rather than buy a new one.

The visor removeal rivals the best makes, literally a couple of seconds to remove, another few seconds to fit another. Just push each side in and slide the visor forward, its a very basic yet effective method Shark have got but it works great.

I've nothing but praise for this helmet, it may be discontinued now for a later model but i'd buy it again for sure.

The Shark S800 is a great helmet for the price. It makes my other helmet (Lazer LZ6) look like cheap tat. It has loads of features from higher priced helmets. The breath deflector works and looks really good, but on my helmet it's about 3mm off centre, which made me think my nose was off centre! It's a small niggle but I keep looking down at it because it's not symmetrical.

The finish all round is awesome, really nice paint job, looks really well crafted, no stray bits of plastic or material anywhere. The visor is great, less distortion than my LZ6 and it feels a lot more solid. The closing action is great, there is no question when it's locked in the down position. Only thing i would say is it doesn't open as high as the LZ6. The push button removal is brilliant, can take it off and replace it in seconds. The anti-fogging works well too, although I haven't taken it out on a really wet day yet.

The chin strap clip is one of the low points, it's tough to click together and there isn't a "click" feedback you would expect from this type of buckle.

Now, the thing that annoyed me most about this helmet is it's actually almost a size bigger than it says! I got a medium which should fit me but it's not snug round my whole head, seems a little wider but the length is fine. As a result I get wind rushing round my ears making it actually noisier than the much cheaper LZ6. HOWEVER! I found this noise is due to air rushing up under the helmet, so I've learned to tuck my hoodie under it which eliminates all the noise and makes it much quieter than the LZ6. But this is a real hassle and I keep needing to readjust. My shemagh doesn't do the job but I'm sure some neck wind breaker will work...

Overall it's a great helmet and looks the mutt's nutz, feels very solid with loads of high end features.