Doing 300 miles a week on motorway, mostly on a naked bike with a small flyscreen, and I'm coming home with my ears ringing. I'm in a mid-range full face that's fine everywhere except noise. Budget could stretch to about EUR 600 if the difference is real. I already wear earplugs, so I'm asking about what's left after that, not whether I should wear plugs.
Schuberth is the answer people give and it's defensible. Their own figure for the C5 is 85 dB at 62 mph, and independent testers consistently put it near the top even though it's a flip-front, which normally costs you noise. Manufacturer numbers aren't comparable across brands though, because nobody measures it the same way.
They also do a version with active noise cancellation now, claiming around 10 dB of damping in the low-to-mid band at motorway speed. Whether that beats better earplugs for the money is a personal call.
Neck roll and chin curtain do a surprising amount of the work. Mine came with both and I nearly binned them because they look like packaging. Putting them back in was a bigger change than my last helmet upgrade was.
You already wear plugs, which puts you ahead of most riders, but check you're actually rolling and inserting them properly. Most people wear foam plugs half-inserted and get a fraction of the rated attenuation. Custom moulded ones cost about what a cheap helmet does and last for years.
Custom moulded keeps coming up. That's probably a better EUR 150 than EUR 600 on a new lid.
Adding a comm unit made mine louder, but not the way I expected. The speakers are fine, it's the boom mic wire breaking the seal along the cheek pad that did it. Route it under the liner rather than over and most of that goes away.
300 motorway miles a week is a lot of hours in one position. Whatever you buy, buy for noise and neck weight rather than graphics, because both of those compound over a year.
@stealth_park_stu · 4d ago · 3 replies
Before you spend EUR 600: on a naked bike with a small flyscreen, the screen is producing most of your noise. Turbulence off the lip hitting the bottom of the helmet is the loud part, and a different screen height, or removing it entirely, can change more than a helmet swap will. I got quieter by taking the screen off, which is counterintuitive and cost nothing.
Reply
Report
@nightbus_nina · 2d ago
Genuinely hadn't considered that removing it could be quieter. Trying that this weekend before I spend anything.
Reply
Report
@chainwax_chloe · 3d ago
It's a real effect. The worst noise comes from dirty air just above the screen lip arriving at head height. You want the airflow either well below the helmet or well above it, never level with it.
Reply
Report