Customer Rating:  
Summary: Looks nice, but that's about all it's good for.
Comment: It looks VERY nice (in my opinion), the red lights on the back work VERY well, and the helmet passes the roll-off test.
I have to say though.... the thing feels CHEAP, as in badly constructed. Certain things feel flimsy and easily breakable, like the entire venting system that is glued on the top, and the valves themselves which seem like they wouldn't stay closed at highway speeds. All of this is overshadowed by the HORRIBLE shield retention system.
I'm sure we've all heard how people hate the way Arai shields work.... well, I have an Arai (which I got after I discovered how much this one sucked) and I have to say this one is MUCH worse.
At first it seems fairly simple to use (and it is), however it's very stiff to operate (in opening and closing the shield, OR when trying to take the shield off or put it back on), and even MORE highly breakable.
The shield depends almost exclusively on a small "L" shaped piece for retention.
It's that L piece that slides into a grove on the helmet which keeps the shield attached to the helmet. the problem is that this "L" piece is very small (only a few mm wide, and even fewer in thickness) and snaps off entirely too easily. Part of this is because of what the shield is made of I suspect. I don't know the exact substance but it's far more brittle than the plastics used in other manufacturers shields. Another part is because of how tight the tolerances are on the helmet (they are TOO tight in fact). You have to darn near force the L peg to go into it's grove, and that's how my clear shield lost one of it's pegs, rendering the helmet unusable at night (it did come with a tinted shield you can use in the day, assuming you can get it on without breaking it), and there by rendering the lights on the back useless (the lights being one of the main reasons I got the helmet).
I never did a ride with this helmet to know how noisy it is. For the record though, noise level (or lack of it) has more to do with getting a proper fit to your particular head shape than it does to the design of the helmet.
Well, I use to believe that you didn't need a $[...] helmet to be safe and comfy. My first helmet (an HJC CL-SP) was not much more than I payed for this GMAX GM68, but the HJC was leaps and bounds above in quality and usability.
I got this helmet after reading the review done by WebBikeWrold, which names the GM68 the #1 helmet of 2007. They must have gotten a precision made hand picked one, because the one I got was crap. I should likely just toss it in the trash for how crappy I think it is, but I figure for what I paid I might as well stick it in a cabinet and save it in case I ever need a spare for someone I don't like, maybe for shooting practice... I dunno.
At any rate I'm sticking to the more mainstream name brand helmets for now on. Might be more money, but worth it in my opinion for the lack of grief.
As a side note, this helmet has a ROUND "EARTH" shape. I have more of an intermediate oval head myself and found there to be a bit of pressure in the forehead. Remember, head shape and inner helmet shape are very important in getting a proper fit.
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