Shoei RF1100 wind whistle = deal breaker - Ducati.ms

NorCalDuc996 · Jul 26th, 2011, 9:37 pm

I had an old AGV Q3. My wife and I had matching Anthony Gobert racer replicas (if you can remember back to the AMA superbike Vance and Hines days) with a grim reeper on the back. I loved the look but the Gobert not so much. Anyway, I guess my wife felt sorry for me since it was so old it was starting to deteriorate inside so she bought me a new Shoei RF 1100 for my birthday. The RF1100 was great in about every way except for the ridiculous wind whistle. It was like a great bowl of ice-cream with a teaspoon of shit sprinkled on top. The first one that I returned to the dealer would whistle at any speed above 50 and the second one was better but still whistled at anything above 70. In both cases it was really bad if I turned my head to the side. I'm pretty sure the whistle is coming from between the seal and the wind shield, and on the right side as viewed from inside the helmet. If you pushed the wind shield down it would temporarily stop the noise. The road noise was also very significantly louder than my old helmet which made my 996 sound kinda raspy compared to before which was fun, like a new girlfriend. Anyway, if you wear ear plugs it probably won't bother you, but I don't and it was too annoying for me. Maybe I'm just overly picky, but I'm pretty surprised that Shoei considers this as acceptable since I've since read other reviews that mention this whistle and it sounds like it is the same with all Shoei helmets of this model. I'm going to try the Joe Rocket carbon fiber, almost the same as the HJC carbon fiber instead. Hopefully it won't whistle.

Revelstoker · Jul 26th, 2011, 10:44 pm

The whistling is a common complaint and there are several posts on the matter. The fix involves messing with the visor screws. My Qwest did this new but after taking off the visor a couple times, the whistling is gone.

DuckMan · Jul 27th, 2011, 7:06 am

That's too bad it doesn't work for you because it's a great helmet. On me it is a bit noisy compared to my Arais but I don't get any whistling. I always ride with Etymotic 6i earphones in my ears so wind noise is of little concern.

pork burrito · Jul 30th, 2011, 10:14 pm

That's a ridiculous issue for such an expensive helmet.

snodgrass23 · Jul 31st, 2011, 9:43 pm

Mine whistles a little from the chin vent when open depending on the wind conditions. It also only whistles with my Multistrada. On my old sport bike, I didn't notice the whistle, so it depends on the way the wind hits it.