I’ve got to come clean, and admit that I haven’t been using my Davida as much as I should have done, but that was entirely because I underestimated how much I would use the comms and camera that I put onto an old, almost sacrificial helmet.
I didn’t want to clutter up my best helmet with odd-looking tech, but that has now become so much a part of my riding life, that I bit the bullet recently and installed the second 20S to the Jet.
And while I immediately wished it had been a black unit, to merge in with the helmet better, I was staggered how well this tightest of tight-fitting helmets accommodated the earpieces.
When I say tight, I mean that it is by far the most secure open face I have even known – so much so, in fact, that I have often ridden away without fastening it and only realised when the untethered strap flicks against the side of the lid rather than being constrained by the double D–ring fastener.
And being tight, that keeps the wind noise down – and the engine noise and the exhaust noise – which is great for the intercom at speed: there is never a problem with people hearing you, but occasionally you can struggle to hear them above a noisy helmet.
I was delighted, however, to note that it didn’t kill the sound of the 2018 Indian.
The only criticism I’ve ever had of it, is that this older type snaps the arms of riding glasses.
The design has since been changed to provide a channel in the leather lined EPS for those arms, but the alternative is to wear Davida’s own “Seventy4” riding glasses. These interchangeable lens riding glasses have very thin and flexible arms – and convert into goggles using a strap in place of the arms – but unfortunately their flexibility is both a strength and a weakness, and they don’t cut it as a pair of sunglasses because they keep falling off your head.
Of course, some of you will be thinking that this must be getting on a bit now: shouldn’t I be considering replacing it? Shouldn’t you do that every five years?
I am considering a change but only because the newer Speedster 3 has a closer fitting outer shell, not because it has aged and Davidas age far better than most.
The outer shell is a fibreglass composite and is unaffected by UV – unlike Polycarbonate – the leather lining is showing no ill effects of age, and it still fit very snugly with no breakdown of the foam. And I haven’t dropped it or, with the exception of occasionally grazing the garage door, had an accident in it.