revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Now i know what's likely to make the grade here, but i won't steal your thunder...

But, what's the iconic race rep helmet to you, arguably why too if you like.

I'm going with my favourite of all time, the Valentino Rossi Elements.

I'm not actually sure why, but i just absolutely love it.

this...



or this..



I had the latter on a Chaser, but it died at Cadwell

I like Rossi's 'donkey'. Sheene's Donald Duck. Phil Read's black / white design was classic.

But my all time fav was Nakano's eyes...



Every time I saw him blasting down a straight with those eyes peering over the top of the screen, I couldn't help but smile.

My mums favourite racer had eyes on his lid too...



...and he beat Ago at Mallory

There's a group of Japanese riders who all have eye's on their lids like Nakano's, it's something to do with them all coming from the same race school or something.

Okada's original Arai.

My first ever Arai was an Okada rep, but this one...

But do you like the paint scheme or the person wearing it?

I don't like fussy designs on a lid,they all look the same from a distance. This one always stood out.

Well, not 100% understanding the question, but if we're talking all time favourite racers helmet they worn than that's an easy one....

It's more about helmet design than the racer.... but obviously these at times go hand in hand.

Covid safe?

Not fussed about most race rep paint jobs but this one of Chris Walkers always stood out for me.

weeksy wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:35 am It's more about helmet design than the racer.... but obviously these at times go hand in hand.

Yeah,they do in my case. I've not even looked at other lids since my first Arai back in the early 80s. The current one is an RX-7 GP.

The AGV is a nice looking shape of helmet,but the busy colours aren't for me.

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:23 am

There's a group of Japanese riders who all have eye's on their lids like Nakano's, it's something to do with them all coming from the same race school or something.

They all used to race in Japan for a team run by or were sponsored by a tuning company called SP Tadeo whose founder Tadashi Suzuki was the first Japanese racer to use the mooneyes design. The racers saw it as a way of showing respect to him by having the mooneyes on their helmets.

After that it was assumed it was a Japanese origin but they copied the design from John Cooper

This belongs to my first biking idol, but always thought it a bit cheesy for the road. Only time I saw it not looking cheesy was when I saw it on a young lad at Donington with "Freddie" on the front




But this design was a bit less cheesy and had 2 of them

Yorick wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 12:10 pm

Inspiration for part of Mick Hemming's design :

McIntyre 500 - Mick Hemmings by Richard Crawford, on Flickr

KungFooBob wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:23 am My mums favourite racer had eyes on his lid too...

...and he beat Ago at Mallory

There's a group of Japanese riders who all have eye's on their lids like Nakano's, it's something to do with them all coming from the same race school or something.

John Mooneyes Cooper. I'd forgotten him, I confess

Skub wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:28 am I don't like fussy designs on a lid,they all look the same from a distance. This one always stood out.

I should have included that one.

You're right about the fussy designs. They look great in a close-up photo but no ruddy good trying to identify a rider from trackside in the midst of a pack! Steve Hislop was always easy to spot (pink!) and so was Stalker's orange / yellow lid.

Hi
For me it’s one of 3:
Blue and red Haga
Blue Kagayama
Blue Katoh

Sorry can’t seem to do pics
Cheers
Steve