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Long Term Review Of The RST D-Zign Helmet - By Ren Withnell
Long Term Review Of The RST D-Zign Helmet
I keep on telling everyone, it's not the cost or the style or the fancy vents that make a helmet suitable. Nor is it the brand name. It's the fit that matters. Fit is everything. About 3 years ago now I was looking for an new helmet and I'd set myself a budget of £150 and I'd tried on countless makes, models and styles. I'd always bought AGV, they fitted well and seemed solid enough, but all the AGV's at that time just did not fit right. As with many of the other helmets I found the chin section came very close to my face, even touching it in some cases. I like a good gap between my mouth and the helmet as this lets air circulate which reduces misting on the visor.
I tried on the RST, expecting much the same. Nope, there was a nice gap betwixt my lips and the chin section...so far so good. How did the rest of it fit? No tight spots...OK, no vacant areas with nothing but air...OK, good squeeze against my cheeks...good and it's not rattling around on my bonce...perfect. The price was good too, around the 90 or 100 quid mark if memory serves me well. A decision was made and I left with my purchase.
It has been a very good helmet, but like other RST items I've had, not perfect. One feature is that it has removable chin pads, this allows them to be cleaned to remove those tears, dead flies, dried on snot and any other nastiness that occurs whilst riding. Being a real biker though, I've never cleaned mine. Eeeeuugh. Noise seems to be a concern of most helmet reviewers, not something I've worried about much. I've not noticed it to be particularly noisy and there's no whistles or whines that some helmets create. The visor is quick release, something I've been wary of after an AGV quick release visor. The mechanism soon wore such that the visor would barely remain open at a standstill, let alone at speed. The RST system seems to be just fine after probably 20,000 or 30,000 miles of use. It's easy enough to get the visor off and on.
The only real complaint I have with this lid was found after I purchased my Fazer. The Fazer is the first bike I've owned that has a fairing. This fairing places the wind blast in such a way that when wearing the RST that air is forced inside the helmet making my eyes water at speed. Piling into a fast bend with streaming eyes is not healthy and as such for fast rides I now use another helmet. I am NOT blaming the helmet for this, it's a random combination of factors coming together badly. If I were a little taller or shorter, the screen a little longer or if I sat differently I doubt I'd ever have this issue. The chin strap has a habit of coming loose as the weeks pass by and needs occasional re-adjustment, but it hardly an issue.
You can tell it's a budget helmet in other ways. The vents don't do much at all and the metal gauze that stops flies getting in have rusted!. It is fiberglass, ACU approved gold standard and meets all the EU requirements. I've not tested it and I pray that I never do. As the years have rolled by it's becoming a little loose now but again that's normal and I think it's lasted very well all things considered.
Reader's Comments
mim neill said :-
Hi there...I have one of these helmets from a friend and have no chin padding at all, just a couple of breather holes in plastic mould. plus the little pointed sliding piece that allows the visor to be held in place mid way or sliding it the other way allows fully up visor...on my helmet it has broken off at the point and therefore it i push up the visortoo far the visor peg pops out and im stuck...Do you know if i can buy this sliding piece as it compromises the whole helmet....? Youre help would be appreciated.Mim.
mimneill@hotmail.com
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Chris Burns said :-
Your right about this helmet being cheap but not nasty. Yeah the metal bits rust and it's a bit flaky, but what can you expect for the price?
For someone like me who's hacking to work and back and leaves his helmet in a damp room at the back of a shop then it's ideal. I jsut wish my local shop could get a new visor for it , it's getting very scratched and hard to see through.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Jasmin said :-
Hi there,
I have recently bought one of these helmets to get me first started, but i cant seem to remove the visor as it needs a clean and cant find and videos anywhere to help. Have you got any ideas??
24/03/2019 14:29:59 UTC
Ian Soady said :-
I'm not familiar with it but I'd start by removing the cross-head screws which form the pivot. I would expect the visor to come away with a careful bit of wangling.
If that doesn't work then maybe the lower screw visible in the photo?
24/03/2019 16:41:32 UTC
Upt'North said :-
I suspect you just need to put pressure on that black plastic lever. Push it down and the visor should wiggle out OK. Same for refitting, press lever down, push visor in and release pressure. I'm only guessing, I would try that first.
Good luck.
Upt'North.
24/03/2019 16:49:35 UTC
Upt'North said :-
P.S. WHERE DID YOU PUT THE MANUAL, SOMEWHERE SAFE I BET.
UPT'NORTH.
24/03/2019 16:51:05 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
It's been a very long time since I had that helmet... But.
Note the lever. If you push the lever to the rear of the helmet it pivots. The opposite end open a slot in the curve. This slot allows a tang of the visor to come out and the visor to come off.
25/03/2019 10:19:52 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
The circled part of the visor has an "L" shaped tang that holds the visor in the curved slot. The lever opens a section of the slot to allow removal
25/03/2019 10:22:01 UTC
Phil Gibbs said :-
Are replacement visors available for the D-ZIGN helmet?
Thanks, Phil
19/03/2023 05:13:01 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It's been a good while since I had this helmet Phil so I'm afraid I can't help.
20/03/2023 20:03:22 UTC
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