The Chop Shop: Bell Qualifier Legion

Recently got my hands on a Bell Qualifier with the Legion decals from a friend who has been using it for over a year. Since I had gotten Chaos (my R1 and yes I haven’t posted anything about that yet at this time), I was able to really test out my helmets. Realizing the LS2 was kinda bad at speeds above 140kmh where the helmet pushes back, vibrates and screws with my glasses so I can’t see, it was a real risk riding with it. As such, I stole my friends helmet for a few days to see what the differences would be.

Design:

Ever since the AGV Pista came out, everyone loves that hawkbill design. This isn’t very obvious in the bell helmet but it does have a slight curve to it. It has a few curves here and there but is more or less fairly round otherwise.

Ventilation:

It has 4 front facing vents and 2 rear passive vents for ehaust.

Visor:

This one came with the standard clear visor. Bell claims it has an anti fog coating on it and visibility is quite clear. It doesn’t skew the way you see things so, that’s always a plus. The visor has 2 flip positions, city mode and full open (I may be wrong but I usually aren’t.)

Additional Features:

The helmet comes with speaker pockets and indentation to support a speaker system at the sides. Read somewhere that there were supposed to be channels to support comms units but I didn’t see any when I stripped the liner (I had to because I pass out for 5 seconds every time I put on the helmet because it STANK!! So I washed it.)

The run down:

Fit:

The size of the helmet was a large, and upon wearing it, realized it was a perfect fit. It was snug but not tight. It squished your cheeks but not as badly till it hurt… it felt like having one of those face huggers from Alien on your face except ur not giving its tail a blow job. Sadly, I wear glasses full time, I’m as blind as a bat and have photosensitive eyes so I need my oakleys (actually, all my glasses are oaks and this was a good thing in this case). Just a brief about my glasses, at night, I wear slightly tinted monster dogs (night and indoors) and in the day, I wear Oakley Turbines. I say these are good things because these glasses have very thin stalks and are very helmet friendly. That said, squeezing my monster dogs into the helmet was a real pain (no, really, it was really painful). So, if you want a helmet that fits, either get contacts or get a file to file a channel.

This helmet (here anyway), comes with double d rings, so if you want to take this to the track, technically you can. if you are one of those losers (I won’t even say girly types because I know some girls who wear double d’s – on their helmets you pervs) who need the ratchet system, please don’t waste your time.

Vents:

The top vent system is easy to get at with a glove but I found the switch was loose and flicky… so no matter what you did, one side would open even if you flicked it shut. The front vents were hard to get at with a heavy glove. All in all, the helmet was very breezy and is a good thing for riders in my country (Malaysia if you didn’t already know). Riding around on an R1 in traffic is shit… yes you get some movement at times but with the wrong helmet, you feel like dying. This helmet did well. Moving at slow but constant speeds, the helmet with the “city position” on the visor gives you plenty of air so you don’t feel like you are roasting. Even with the visor fully closed (I know.. wtf was I thinking right?) in slow moving traffic I found there was air movement, so that was always a plus. Highway riding is a breeze (no really… there was a real breeze), the helmet channeled air everywhere and you felt cool and comfy all the way. As you start riding faster, you can feel the rear vent working as you can slowly start feeling the suction happening at the back of your head. Even with the head buff on (in malaysia we wear a head buff aka head sock tube instead of a balaclava)

Aerodynamics:

The issue I had with my LS2 was that at a certain speed, the helmet vibrates and I cant see and it feels like someone is shaking my head so badly my glasses go out of place… anything above 140 did that and it became worse (FYI Malaysian roads only allow a max speed of 110kmh on its fastest highways… speeds I’m quoting are tests done in a controlled environment, The Mad Chop Shop does not condone speeding).

On the Bell, the helmet held up quite well at 150 with just a little push back. Tucking properly eliminates that annoying push back. At 160, the helmet starts to lift from the back but its bearable especially if you do up the double D’s properly.

Noise:

Being a breezy helmet, it’s obvious the helmet is going to be noisy, nothing compared to the LS2 though. There was this very annoying whistle that came from the left side and if I covered the bottom of the helmet with my left hand, the sound went away. If you don’t like it wear ear plugs (don’t wear earphones like me.. you need to focus)

Nutshell:

Well, in a nutshell, the helmet was quite good. I was very impressed. As a rather expensive entry level helmet (by Malaysian standards), the bell did its job and I would say is worth its money. Im hoping something can be done by normal 4 eyed dorks (I’m a dork too so I can say this) because I know for a fact any other glasses would break if they were shoved in to that helmet (I once broke a 1 week old ray ban before). It’s a good buy and you can ride with confidence knowing it’s a Bell and it WILL (probably) save your life one day (or at least will keep your face pretty when you get dismembered – unless you have a face only a mother could love, then u may be better off with a screwed face).

Verdict: BUY IT!