"But you've only got one head..."

    Some time ago I perplexed a non-motorcycling friend by turning up to our favourite watering-hole on three consecutive days wearing a different helmet on each occasion. "How many do helmets do you have? Every time I see you you've got a different one!" I replied that a chap has to have some variety in life, and that it's a good thing to have a different lid for different occasions. "Fair enough", he said, "But you've only got one head..."

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse dropped by for tea

Photo © Marc M./The Thruxtonian, Dec. 2010

    I was reminded of my friend's comment a couple of days ago as I tidied and cleaned my collection of riding gear (oh yes, I have several jackets, trousers, pairs of boots and gloves, too...), and began sorting and cleaning my crash helmets. I should point out that the above photograph is only part of my collection of lids. But why do I have so many?

    Well, as I said to my friend, in part it is because I like to have a helmet for each occasion. For example, the lid that is second from left, a Scorpion Exo 900, is the one that I use for long-distance touring; it's a flip-front helmet that can be turned into an open face helmet, and is equipped with a Cardo Scala G4 intercom/bluetooth unit. But others were impulse buys, such as the X-Lite X801-R in its splendid Mike Hailwood replica livery. I saw that one in the shop, thought "Oh, shiny! Must have," and parted with a ridiculously large amount of money for it. I say "ridiculously large" because it is not as ergonomically brilliant as its 500-plus Euro price tag would have one believe. I certainly won't be buying another X-Lite any time soon...

    And which one is my favourite, I hear you ask? Without a doubt I'll go for the Airborn (the open face helmet in the photo, fetchingly coiffed with a pair of T1 Aviator Goggles by Léon Jeantet), because - despite being an open-face lid - it is surprisingly quiet, and it's just as good as a Davida but for half the price. And of course it goes so well with my bike!

    Now, let's see... I really have to find a helmet to go with that Armani suit I bought the other day...