Why Buy Arai?
So, by reading this blog we can only assume that you are a fine gentleman, gentlelady or even gentlesquid looking for a fine helmet to keep you safe for all your street Rossi needs. If that’s the case then let’s delve into the rabbit hole of why you should consider an Arai.
If by any chance you’re interested in the history of Arai helmets I’ll leave a section down at the bottom explaining the philosophy of Arai. Nothing worse than searching the internet for what you want, finally finding an article that seems like it’s exactly what you need, only to find out that the writer leaves all the important/relevant information right at the end forcing you to skim read through all the rubbish and wasting your precious 2 wheel, rubber burning, knee draggin’ time.
Pros to buying an Arai:
- Arguably the safest helmet brand on the market (the choice of many racers and F1 drivers).
- Arai offer a custom fit service so the rider doesn’t need a certain head shape to feel safe and comfortable.
- Their motto is to make the safest helmets and they don’t have shareholders in the company meaning they don’t have to use cheaper materials to maximise profits.
- Each helmet is 100% hand made
Cons to buying an Arai:
- A little on the heavier side.
- Don’t offer internal sun visors or "flip fronts".
- Some claim them to be noisier, but as we all know, sound is subjective.
- Not so accessible for the people who are restricted to a budget lower than £300
Now, if you’re still not sold on one of these helmets please watch the videos down below. Just be warned that they do involve serious crashes. They will prove to you that your head is in safe hands when you buy an Arai.
Philosophy of Arai:
Earlier, I mentioned that I’d go into the philosophy of Arai. Some of us, unfortunately me included are a marketer’s dream and are sold on a story. Arai are a family run business and have no shareholders in the business which means they don’t have to make anyone pressuring them to maximise profit which is really good for the consumer because it means we know that we will always get helmets with the best possible materials and no corners will be cut short.
Hirotake Arai was a hat maker back in his day and is the original founder of the brand. Originally he made helmets for himself and a select few friends before deciding to make them commercially for the public. He also designed his own testing standards because there were no legal requirements or testing standards. Hirotake Arai’s intentions were never to start a commercial business but to create helmets that were to protect his fellow riders and this is still Arai’s drive to this day. Mitch Arai (Hirotake’s son) decided in 1976 that he was going to make Arai even better, but not just better but to be the number 1 safest helmet in the world.
One of Arai’s biggest innovations was the Advanced Shield Installation System (AdSis) which allowed an easy visor change without the need for tools. As the needs of riders and racers continued to change, so did Arai. In 2005, when carbon fibre helmets became mandatory in Formula 1, Arai introduced the GP-5 Racing Carbon, which quickly evolved to feature a Peripherally-Belted Structural Net Composite (PB-SnC), which was then included in the RX-7 GP in 2008, along with a wide view visor and SAI Visor mechanism. Ther to bike helmet is now the RX7 V and RC their full, carbon version.
In 2010 50% of the Formula One grid wore Arai, including World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who’s Red Bull Racing team selected Arai helmets for use in their motorsport programme because of their aerodynamic performance.
