This has been one of the most popularly used and highly rated go-to racing helmets for years. Only recently, it has been challenged by a few others in its class, but overall the Shoei RF 1200 is one of the most widely and popularly used racing helmets on the market. This is a great choice for experienced riders who are looking for a comfortable, nice, and high-performance helmet that they can take to the track, or out for a leisurely ride around town.
Shoei added some fun and functional features to this helmet that make it enjoyable and comfortable to wear, while giving you added protection to keep you safe. Shoei made it a top priority with this helmet to block as much noise as possible to make for a quieter ride.
Ratings
Comfort:
Visibility:
Ventilation:
Quietness:
Specifications
Outer shell material : Advanced Integrated Matrix (AIM)
Shell size : XS,S,M,L,XL,XXL
Liner : 3D Max-Dry System II
Weight : 1.6 kl
Pinlock : Ready
Strap System : Emergency Quick Release System (EQRS)
Safety Ratings
DOT : Yes
ECE : Yes
SNELL : Yes
SHARP : not tested
93% of impacts the faceguard remained fully locked
Shape and materials
The construction of the Shoei RF 1200 makes it both lightweight and surprisingly durable. This tough helmet uses a six-ply matrix for the exterior of the helmet, providing the protection and the support that you need while riding. It utilizes an expanded polystyrene (EPS) liner which gives it an increased level of impact absorption so that you have better protection.
The shield is made out of clear, high impact materials that give you clear visibility while also giving your eyes protection from the sun and your face protection from debris or in the event of an accident. The fiberglass and organic fiber makeup of the bucket makes it light and also impressively durable. The helmet has removable nylon-based cheek pads that are comfortable, breathable, and easy to remove or change out. If the stock padding doesn’t fit your face well, you can purchase and swap them out for pads that fit your face and head better, which is a nice feature.
Shoei also added piped rubber gaskets to the helmet to prevent any deformation or warping of the visor. A nice feature for keeping your visor solid in high winds or at high speeds. A cool and unique feature of this visor is that it has a racers neckline, which is something that you don’t always see with helmets in this category.
Things I liked
Things I don’t like
Overall Comfort
The general consensus on this helmet is that it is far more comfortable for long and narrow heads than it is for round ones. Shoei’s known for having helmets that are meant for narrower heads, but that doesn’t mean that this design won’t fit or work for you. The design of this helmet gives you the ability to change out the cheek pads on it to improve the fit of the helmet and the comfort that it provides.
Another feature that we like about this helmet is that it is designed to keep your head and face dry, even in the hottest and most humid conditions. The liner in this helmet has a 3D Max-Dry System II installed for keeping you both comfortable and cooler. The additional padding gives you a nice comfort boost while the 3D lining wicks away sweat to keep you cooler in hot weather conditions. The nylon construction of the liner not only wicks sweat from your face and head, but also dries you more than twice as fast as other, more traditional paddings and liner materials.
The liner parts are removable and machine washable. They are incredibly easy to pop out of the helmet and clean so that the inside of your helmet doesn’t start to smell like an old gym locker.
Visibility
The visibility of the Shoei RF 1200 is also pretty solid, giving the rider an ample amount of visibility across the glass in the horizontal plane while giving the rider a fair amount of vertical visibility as well. The optically clear plastic gives you a marked amount of clarity and visibility out of the shield, while also providing 99% protection from harmful UV rays. The shield does an excellent job at keeping your sights clear while deflecting any dust and debris from the road.
Quietness
One of the biggest reasons that people love this helmet is that it is quiet. When compared to other helmets in its class, this helmet is excellent at distributing and eliminating noise. It is a high cut racer style helmet, which when looking at other helmets of this style, tend to increase the amount of noise that you take in through your helmet. Shoei has done a wonderful job of incorporating this lovely cut and shape of the helmet without subjecting the wearer to excessive amounts of noise when riding.
- Tightened visor shutter
- More soundproofing over the years
- Ridged rig on the shield
- Rubber gasket on top and sides
- Locks out wind noise and rain better than most other helmets
Ventilation
In comparison to other helmets in its class, the ventilation on this helmet is lack-luster. One of the sacrifices that you get with the reduced noise that you get with this helmet is that the ventilation on this helmet isn’t that great. It might get a little uncomfortably hot on warm days when you are out riding.
When you are riding at high speeds and out on the highway, you might not notice that this is much of a problem. When you will start to notice this is when you are taking a casual ride around town. Though the padding and the inner liner of the helmet incorporate breathable materials that will help wick sweat in hot weather and riding conditions, the lack of ventilation on this helmet is a bit of a drawback. This is something that you may want to consider if this is going to be the helmet you use when taking your bike around town.
Safety
When you are shopping for the right helmet for you, safety should always be one of your highest priorities. In the worst-case scenario that you would get into an accident, that helmet is going to be your primary source of protection, and it is definitely worth investing more for a helmet that is going to keep you safe.
The Shoei RF 1200 has a few different safety features that make it both unique and exceptional in keeping riders safe. As we mentioned earlier, this helmet utilizes a six-ply design which gives your head ample amounts of protection, while using lightweight fiberglass and organic fibers to keep your helmet both light and incredibly durable.
The outermost layer of the helmet is designed to absorb the sharp force of an impact and distribute that out over a larger surface area of the helmet. This dulls the blow of an accident by distributing the force more evenly across a greater number of protective fibers and layers in the helmet. It provides plentiful protection against acute strikes on isolated or specific areas of the helmet as well. Shoei even claims that their AIM+ shell on the helmet is so strong that the only thing that can cut through the surface is a laser.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quiet, comfortable, safe, and high-performance helmet, you won’t be disappointed by the Shoei RF 1200. One of the biggest recommendations that we can make is that this helmet might not be the most comfortable for round-headed riders, as Shoei tends to have narrower helmets than other race helmets in this category.
It offers a lot of nice features in terms of both comfort and performance, with lots of great features and customization points within the interior padding and lining of the bucket (Bluetooth cover padding, cheek padding, etc.).
Where to buy this helmet :