HJC CL-Max Flip-up Helmet

[chrissinc]

Ok well I mainly ride in urban areas for my daily commute to work so I decided to buy an HJC CL-Max Helmet(black) and give it a go. Initial impressions were good, it has decent paint on it and a crazy amount of padding inside. Putting on my glasses with this helmet is a major plus as well as doing anything like talking, drinking, smoking, etc. The latch is extremly easy to operate with one hand. Pushing down to get it to lock requires a little more force but this may be due to that it's so new and hasn't worked in yet. Warning: These helmets were made for small Korean heads so if you need a medium get a large. Even with one size up it takes a while for the padding to work into your head. With the chin bar down it's definatly a little more stable and secure so anything over 60 KPH I would recomend riding with the chinbar down. I basically keep it down for %90 of my riding anyway just to be safe. THe option of flipping it up when in stop and go hot weather riding is a major plus. The visor is easy to flip up and down, maybe a little too easy. If I put some force on it, sometimes it's a little hard to get it into the middle notches to have the windscreen open a notch or two. Not a biggie, it may be just me because I'm used to an HJC with the old ratcheting system that was notchy as hell. THis one is smooth as silk so maybe I'm just manhandling it too much.

I've only really ridden in the rain once with this helmet and it wasn't raining very hard but there were no leaks even with the visor open a bit. I'd say the visor clarity is good with no distortions and there is a huge area for your vison. It's one of those quick release jobbys that actually work. If I could improve it I would make it not so slick and easy to move up and down. Yes it's sounds weird but I'd like to have a more positve clicking in between the indents.


Ok now the biggest downfall in otherwise a very good helmet. THere is a whistling when the chin-bar is down and the visor is down on the right hand side of the helmet at certain speeds or wind directions. You have to be at least going highway speeds to have this occur. But it is a bit annoying at first. It completely goes away if you push in the right hand side of the visor so I think that the small gap there is producing the whistling. Funny, there is the same size gap on the left side and it's completely quiet. It may be due to the visor itself as I got a model that was sitting on the shelf with people trying it on and off so maybe it got warped or something? Considering a brand new visor is only $30 bucks at the end of this season I may spring for a new visor and see if it stops. Worse case example I could just go buy 10 bucks worth of weather stripping at the hardware store. But seriously if the helmet is like this even with a new visor it should have been fixed at the factory, or at least tested. The aerodynamics of this helmet are good and the padding is excellent, why screw it up on $5 worth of weather stripping? OH well only time will tell. Does anyone else have this helmet with the same sort of noise? It could be just my visor.


Edit: Oops I forgot another bonus of buying this helmet is it gives you an entire screw and plastic parts set as well as a nice helmet bag! Nice touch. Also I forgot to mention the venting which is excellent. THe anti-fog venting in the front look like it could handle a car window!!! I'll see if I freeze in the winter with it!


Here is a link, I got rid of that huge ass "HJC" sticker. It peels off easily thank god.

http://www.helmetcity.com/page/HC/PROD/flipup/clmaxblack

[Desolation Angel]

Thanks for this. I need to go flip-face for more protection and hopefully to quiet the road noise on the highway. Can't do standard full-coverage because the glasses on/off thing bugs the cr@p out of me.

[Planecrazy]

Appreciate the review, but I have a few notes based on my recent experience with my 1 1/2 year old Nolan N100e Flip Face.

The Nolan started giving me problems with raising and lowering the front piece, so I took it to Nolan to be corrected (Nolan's factory rep is coincidentally within half an hour of me -- nice extra after having bought the helmet). In any case, the Nolan guys were extemely cooperative and completely rebuilt the helmet with new parts in less than 20 minutes (no charge, of course, with the 5 year warranty). I learned several things, some of which I already knew.

First, anyone who has a Nolan N100e should be careful to either open it with both hands, or position your left hand so that when you open it with just the one hand you're lifting from the front center part of the helmet. This prevents the mechanism from being "tweaked" out of alignment by liftin only from one side.

They didn't say it, but I'm guessing that since the earlier version of this helmet required both hands to release it the mechanism really wasn't designed for one handed release, even though they modified it to allow for only one-handed use. Their newest model (available soon) has a center release which presumably eliminates the problem of misaligned mechanisms.

Other things to note, and this applies to ANY flip face helmet: You should NEVER ride with it flipped up, because flip faced designs only give you full protection when the front part is latched ... protection is severely compromised if you ride with it up. Unlike a three quarter style helmet, which is designed to give reliable protection without a chin bar, flip faced helmets MUST have the front down or they'll fail in an accident. Notice how much flex any flip faced helmet has when you put it on versus how solid it is once the chin bar is latched and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Now, as an aside, I mentioned to the Nolan guys that I had purchased an HJC Symax flip faced for my wife because she found the identical Nolan I originally got for her uncomfortable. In comparing the two products they offered up that the HJC uses plastics in a number of places that they (Nolan) use metal, and while I expected them to speak more kindly about their own product I did find it interesting to hear specifics about where they claimed the Nolan was a superior product to the Symax. The CL-Max is supposedly a less expensive alternative to the Symax, but I don't know exactly what the differences are supposed to be -- I think it may have to do with the makeup of the shell itself. I'm happy with both the Nolan AND the Symax to date, although I personally think the Symax is the more comfortable of the two. The Nolan guys, of course, claimed that the people they talked to most often chose the Nolan over the HJC.

Oh one more thing, regarding the whistling noise you're getting ... if it's a new purchase (shelf demo or not), I would insist that the store replace the offending part at no cost. Bottom line: It should work properly from day one, whether other people tried it on or not.

Good Luck!!
Steve 8)

PS I know a guy (BradleyMaynar) who wouldn't be walking around today if his Nolan N100 (previous version of what I have) hadn't worked as advertised and saved his life. As many of you know, Brad T-boned a Honda Accord that pulled out in front of him a year ago as he was heading home from my place. He was doing between 40 and 50 when he went flying over the car and woke up in the hospital. The Nolan took a beating (just as it was designed to do) so that Brad could live to ride another day! He, of course, replaced it with another Nolan...

[chrissinc]

Good review I always liked Nolan helmets. Maybe the padding is less crazy. Mine is now broken in(finally) but even with a large is was a bit of a tight fit initially. As far as the shield is concerned I'll see I already have a few scratches in it and I may buy a different shield anyway. Thanks for the tips. My favorite Nolan helmet is an ugly orange 70's motorcross helmet I have. It's still more confortable than other helmets out there and that 70's disco look can't be beat!! Especially when I rode my friends '76 Can Am 250!! I felt like snoopy!!:-)

[jeneralist]

I've used a full-face until now, but I'm getting annoyed with doing the "glasses dance", so it may be time for a flip. (Or a helmet with speakers in it. I'm not sure.)

How is the weight on your helmet? The biggest complaint I have with the Shoei I have now is that after a few hours of riding, my neck gets tired.

[Jethro]

The CL-Max is supposedly a less expensive alternative to the Symax, but I don't know exactly what the differences are supposed to be -- I think it may have to do with the makeup of the shell itself.

The CL Max is an all thermoplastic shell (regardless of what various resellers claim- I found thier descriptions eroneous, even Dennis Kirk), the SY Max shell is fiberglass and kevlar which means it's lighter. The weight is minimal however, barely a factor.

I love my SY Max, almost want to buy a spare now in case they change the design.

[Planecrazy]

I've used a full-face until now, but I'm getting annoyed with doing the "glasses dance", so it may be time for a flip. (Or a helmet with speakers in it. I'm not sure.)

How is the weight on your helmet? The biggest complaint I have with the Shoei I have now is that after a few hours of riding, my neck gets tired.

I've been happy with the Nolan's weight, even after riding all day in it, and I have neck problems for whatever it's worth. I haven't ridden in my wife's Symax enough to be able to comment on it. Perhaps in the next few weeks I'll take it out and do a serious comparison.

Steve 8)

[chrissinc]

My CL-MAX is lighter than my CL-12 if that helps you. The Symax is noticably lighter but harder to get in my neck of the woods without ordering it and I wanted one right away. I'd say it's slightly lighter than a "normal" full face but not by much.