I have an older Vega II helmet that is XL and the new BILT Adventre Explorer that I bought is also XL and the fit is just a tad bit tighter. It is a really good helmet and it is quiet. Much happy with it.
I'm slightly snug in a Bell XL, just about right in a HJC XL, so after following this thread I purchased the Bilt Explorer in XXL. Glad I did as it just arrived and the XXL feels just about right for a new lid and it should break in nicely...
Price is great at $99. Actually a pretty nice looking helmet too. I like! Having trouble with myself on how much faith I put in the Bilt line of products though?? It's kinda like they just copy something else on the market and sell it for cheap!
they dont' even copy it. they just buy it and rebrand it. its the same helmet as some of the other cheap helmets like the fly
Has anybody else bought one of these that wear an HJC in a large? I would like to get one of these brain bucket's but am not sure which size to get. Anyone?
Thought I'd go try one on. My Shoei DS Hornet is a M and in this helmet a M also fit perfectly. Bought it to see how it performs. I do like the sunshades.
I just picked one up recently and the sizing is the same for me from the AFX FX-39 I have. A large in both fits nice and snug but not too tight. I wore it riding to work today for the first time. It was a 15 mile ride each way. It seems a tad bit quieter and does not move my glasses around as much as other DS helmets I've worn. For $99 it's a great helmet.
I was about to ask if anyone had tried to make extra room for the speakers. I put the SMH10 on both mine and my wife's Bilt Explorer helmets. The units attach fine to the side, but the placement of the speakers is tough. For both of us, the speakers are creating pressure points that get annoying and very uncomfortable after a while. I'm debating on just using my earbud mount instead of the speaker mount and see how that works. Plus you get better noise cancelling and a quieter ride with the ear buds.
My 2 cents, I have been waiting for this helmet to go on sale again so I could grab one at a low price. This weekend they went on sale again, so I raced out to snag one. When I got there, they only had two in xxl. (I wear an xxl HJC, but I have never been happy with the round fit) The first thing I noticed: this helmet runs small! I walked around the store with the helmet on for about 10 minutes and I couldn't take it anymore. It was super tight and I had a headache the rest of the night. The helmet looked great and the build was comparable to my HJC, but it was just too small. I ended up talking myself out of buying it, even though the sales guy said it will break-in with time.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> Nice looking helmet though, and you sure can't beat the price.
Just curious, which one did you try on? The Discovery (without the sun shield), or the Explorer (with the sun shield). They actually fit totally different. The Discovery IMOP is a less round helmet and fits closer to size of what other helmets are. It's visor though is its huge downfall. The Explorer though seems to fit closer to size for the Medium guys, but as you get larger, I don't think the helmet gets much bigger leaving guys like me that usually wear a L or XL in an XXL and someone like you in an XXL unable to fit. Going smaller though, its the opposite issue. My wife is usually a S, but even the XS is a tad "large" on her. So its almost like they just didn't don't change much from M as you size up or down.
I've had the Bilt Explorer helmet for about 5 months now. I picked it up for the $99 price the OP paid. I travel a lot and wanted a helmet I could take with me and not worry about being broken or stolen, cheap to replace. I wear a Medium and the one problem I had with it were the cheek pieces mashed my face too much. So my simple solution was to pull the cheeks out, cut the stitching, and pulled some of the padding out, then stitched it back up, it fits prefect now.
Just ordered two of these from cyclegear, a small in black for my wife, and a medium in silver for myself. My wife needed a new helmet, I really didn't (I've had the AFX DS-39 for 2 years, and really like it), but the retractable sunshield was enough enticement to go for it.
I just ordered the Hi-Viz Adventure Explorer to replace my 7 year old Caberg V2. They're back to $99 w/free shipping.
There has been some comparative comments about the lack of a quick release on the Bilt Explorer, and how nice the strap quick release is on the AFX-39 dual sport helmet. I have the AFX39 helmet and really like the quick release mechanism it incorporates. I am looking into replacing this helmet with the Bilt Explorer model as it seems more comfortable on my head. In searching about I found the exact quick release mechanism used on my AFX39 available from Stryker Helmets for about $11. Here is the link: http://www.strykerhelmets.com/Helmet-Strap-Quick-Release-Buckle_p_22.html