Just as we keep banging on about how good stealth riding gear is, it’s worth noting that an increasing amount of other riding gear – the kind of stuff that you can’t pass off as anything else, be it gloves, boots or helmets – has got way cooler, too.
This Airflite is a case in point.
I spotted it on the Parts Europe stand at The Bike Shed show in May, and was immediately attracted to it, and that was a hell of an achievement as the last full face helmet I wore was a first generation Arai Dual Sport and twenty-five years ago, perhaps longer.
It was in this hand-finished ‘Quicksilver’ colour with a tinted visor – as was the Variant Pro – and it looked like nothing else that I’d ever seen. In fairness, so did the Variant Pro with its weird plastic quiff, but that was more obviously a dual sport and I couldn’t see that looking right on anything that I was likely to throw a leg over.
The Airflite was a different matter though: a modern aggressive look that would sit really well with a number of new Softails – particularly the new Fat Bob, and possibly even the Fat Boy, picking up on the massive amount of aluminium in those new wheels.
The tinted visor certainly played a significant part: the clear one it comes with is far more practical – especially as the drop-down sun-visor visor inside is in dark smoke too – but it doesn’t have the same impact.
It’s worth mentioning what Icon’s Quicksilver finish is, because as far as I can tell, it is unique. It looks like aluminium but only because it has a texture about it that results from hand distressing – Icon calls it antiquing – a silver paint before sealing it. Quite apart from every one being different, it gives it a tonal richness combined with a weird iridescence that conjures up metal to me, and it looks worn in, which is in sympathy with my self-image.
It’s very odd getting use to a full face again after so many years in a Jet, not least taking it off, having forgotten that the trick is to lift a full face helmet vertically off your head, to avoid ripping your ears off, but I’ve learned that again now.
And inside it, the world is a different place. Quieter in terms of wind, and the brightness of a stunning summer completely muted by a visor in a way that sunglasses can’t manage, and in this case with the added benefit of being able to drop a second sun shield down inside and ride straight into a setting sun.
It’s not quite so clever once the sun has dropped below the horizon, however, which is when it’s still useful to carry a the clear visor in a bag secreted about your person – they can be replaced very quickly without the use of tools – or else a pair of clear riding glasses.
I’ve got to confess that there were times on the last couple of days riding in baking heat across Germany and the Czech republic when I wished I’d been wearing my open face lid – which had gone ahead with my luggage – because it was so damned hot, but the last fifty miles into Prague gave me plenty of time to fully appreciate the benefit of the full face shield as we rode through a monsoon. The water just ran in torrents off the visor to the right and left without the pain of ‘aquapuncture’ on my forehead between sunglasses and helmet, regretting not wearing a second tube or having to reposition the one that I was wearing – to take more of the impact of heavy rain at speed off those bits of my face not protected by beard.
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n fairness to the helmet, the venting within the shell does a good job of getting air flow up inside the visor using a two-stage switch, as well as to your forehead via an additional pair of switchable fresh intakes, before being drawn out through the exhaust ports at the back. And if you can’t get enough cool air in, the Airflite’s removable moisture-wicking HydraDry lining keeps any dampness to a minimum.
I have yet to fit the Sena 20S to it – which shouldn’t be too tough as there are pockets for the earpieces – but that will be the first job after I get back from the FDXR launch, for which it will be the perfect choice.