Cheap Motorcycle Helmets

BELL Star Helmet Review

(17 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)

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Last reviewed: March 11, 2010
Our First Impressions

It is curious to note that after we were told that the Bell Star is sized slightly large, our large sized example appeared to be smaller than expected! We think it's about 1/2 to 1 size small, compared to other size large motorcycle helmets we've reviewed. Bell Star Motorcycle Helmet

The Bell Star we reviewed also has an internal fit that something between an "intermediate oval" and "long oval", in our opinion. It seems to have a round shaped crown and it's narrow on the sides. We were surprised at this rather unusual internal shape that varies from the more popular "neutral" shape. This, combined with the slightly smaller size and also a slightly shorter height, means that the helmet didn't quite fit any of our evaluators as expected.

We also found that the padding seems rather thin. There's a spot just above the ear pocket where the lining for the pocket fits under the thinly padded section that runs around the top of the helmet, above the rider's eyebrows and along the side of the head and around back.

The seam where the top of the ear pocket material runs under the brow padding can be felt, and the narrow "intermediate oval" sides of the helmet caused some pressure against this seam, making the helmet feel uncomfortable to all who tried it. We'll have to wait until we get a size XL to learn more.

Quality, Fit and Finish

Overall, we think the new Bell Star exhibits very high levels of quality, lots of attention to detail and perfectly applied paint and graphics.

But what is really impressive about this helmet is the way the features have been so artfully blended into the design.

The Bell engineers were very obviously working very closely together with the designers and stylists to create a beautiful-looking helmet that incorporates some new features so well and so smoothly that we think it actually has evolved motorcycle helmet design in general.

Thus, the new Bell Star not only looks great, it has a host of features that are unique. We can't wait to see how these features work during a ride.

Further impressions:

Chin Vent: The chin vent opens and closes with a slider switch -- down to open and up to close. There are four winged-shaped vent openings on either side of the slider, and the inside of the chin bar has air passages to allow the air to flow on to the rider's face.

Top Vents: The top vents on the Bell Star are also its coolest feature, if you'll pardon the pun. The vent slider opens a wide passage down into the helmet, and you can actually look down into the vent and see right through the bottom of the helmet!

The EPS foam liner has large air vent channels moulded right in, and we are anticipating that this helmet will have plenty of air flow. There are no other helmets we have reviewed where you can look down into a big, wide vent and see a direct passage down on to the rider's head. Bell Star Motorcycle Helmet

The back of each top vent has a small exhaust hole, and we think these are designed to either bleed off air at high speeds to prevent backpressure or to somehow enhance the ability of the vent in general. Again, this is something we have never seen before.

Brow Vent: The Bell Star also has a wide brow vent across the top of the visor, again something new and unique. This vent system opens with a centrally located slider, and it is backed by air channels through the EPS foam liner and padding to allow air to flow on to the rider's brow and head.

Rear Vents: At the rear of the helmet there are two vertical exhaust vents, and horizontal exhaust vents under the very cool-looking spoiler. I can't help but think that the Bell Star reminds me of something like a cross between Sonic the Hedgehog and the trailing edge exhaust ports of an F-117 Stealth bomber!

Weight: This Bell Star in size large weighs 1559 grams (3 lbs., 7 oz.), which makes it moderately light weight. It isn't the lightest helmet we've ever weighed but it sure feels that way!

Actually, the 1559 grams puts the size large Bell Star in the lowest 1/3 of helmet weights of all the helmets we have tried, which is excellent, especially considering the helmet meets both DOT and Snell 2005 safety standards!

And by the way, unlike most helmet manufacturers who list the smallest size helmet weight in their advertisement, at least Bell advertises the size large weight. These figures are meaningless anyway without knowing which helmet size they're referring to, but at least Bell is trying to be a bit more honest.

Visor: The clear visor release mechanism is designed to allow the visor to be cracked open about 6 mm or so for ventilation. The detents are very close together; "micro adjustments" is what I guess they could be called.

It works well and a metal lever on the left-hand side can be turned one way to pop the visor open to the first ventilation setting, then turned the other way to hold the visor closed for high-speed running, although the visor on our example could still be opened at the locked setting.

Visor Removal: The Bell Star has hands-down the easiest-to-use visor removal system we've ever tried. Ever. It's so simple, and works so well -- why haven't other helmet manufacturers thought of this? They should study Bell's design and copy it as closely as they can. Let's hope Bell didn't patent it -- they should have, and then licensed the design!

No broken fingernails here -- simply touch the lever and the visor pops right off. You don't even have to hold the visor with the other hand! See the demo in our video... The visor pops back in as easy as it comes out. Amazing. Beautiful. Bravo!

Liner: Here's the one chink in the Bell Star's armour. The padding feels unusually thin, as mentioned before, and this may be one of the reasons for the helmet's light weight. Bell Star Motorcycle Helmet

The cheek pads and chin curtain on ours were slightly loose; the strips of plastic that fit between the EPS foam and the helmet shell just don't have enough friction to adequately hold them, and both started coming loose. Let's hope this is due to teething problems on the first run and that this issue will be resolved soon.

Helmet Bag: The Bell Star is delivered inside one of the nicest helmet bags -- no, THE nicest helmet bag we've ever seen. It's very well made and even has an embroidered Bell logo on one end!

Chin Strap: The Bell Star uses the tried-and-true, classic, infinitely adjustable, no-moving-parts, simple, elegant and lightweight double D-ring.

Safety Standards: The Bell Star is labelled as meeting DOT and Snell 2005 safety standards.

Preliminary Conclusion

We've done everything but ride with the new Bell Star! The helmet looks, feels and works very well indeed, and it brings a refreshing new style and functionality to motorcycle helmet design. Whether this will translate to performance in real use remains to be seen.

See the available Bell Star Helmets on eBay: