Modern Vespa

Made a trip to Mountain Adventure Motorsports in Conyers to get the new Scorpion EXO 900 helmet. They just received the Hi-Vis yellow this week. 70 mile ride home and I am impressed. I bought it based on positive reviews on line. Wanted flip up, hi-vis yellow color and internal sun visor. My previous 40,000 miles with a HJC Symax II.

I paid $250 which is less than I see it for on line.

Helmet is called a transformer because it will convert to open face. I am not really interested in using this feature. Would have preferred a discounted price.

Quiet. It amazes me how much quieter it is than my HJC Symax.

No Fogging: Riding up in cold wet weather my symax was fogging a bit having applied cat crap yesterday. Absolutely no fogging of Scorpion on the way home. My glasses did fog a little so the conditions were still there to cause fogging.

nice looking lid. scorpion does make a good helmet. maybe my next one when going to Daytona.

Quieter than the Symax II?? Dang - I might have to think about springing for one of those... I like my Symax II but I have this weird thing where the left side seems noisier than the right. I wonder if it'd be worth it to get some of the optional padding for that side to see if I can improve it.

ear plugs will fix it

That's a nice lid, that yellow is too cool, and you got a great price on it!

I tried one on a few months ago and the silver Transformer has been on my short list since, waiting for funds to amass. Really good to hear you think its quieter and not foggy, two of my biggest pet peeves with my current hat. Think I'll have at it and order one up.

Did you have sun and get a chance to use the flip down sun visor? Curious how well that works.

The sun visor appears to work fine and is darker than the one in the Symax, but weather was overcast with some drizle so didn't use it.

I'll get a better verification of antifog ability riding to work this week. It is a consistent high point in the reviews on line.

On other item of possible interest. There is a little cover on the lower left side. Salesman said Scorpion is coming out with a communication unit to go in it, but date he was originally given for it to be available is 6 months past. Vapor ware for the moment.

I have only had three helmets, and one was a 3/4 face that I didn't wear for long. My Scorpion is much quieter than my Icon, but the price of the noise reduction is there isn't as much air moving. Hence I wear the Scorpion all winter and the Icon all summer. How heavy is it? All the convertible ones I have tried on are noticeably heavier than the regular helmets. Mountain Motorsports is cool, great selection of gear. The 18 year old salesguys are a little pushy for my taste though.

I've had the Transformer for about six months now and have considered it a fairly decent helmet except for one thing: the GD pivot point! Twice now my helmet has fallen off of my scooter: The first time it was sitting on the floorboard and rolled off on to the pavement - the pivot point broke so that every time I fully opened the face shield it would pop off of the helmet. Took it back to the place where I bought it and they were great and replaced the entire face shield [it had some scratches from the fall]. Tonight, I set it on the MP3 seat and cranked the motor to warm up. Bam! The GD MP3 unlocks, tips over, my helmet hits the ground again [along with the scooter] and not only breaks the pivot point [other side this time] but now I have deep scratches on the helmet and lens.

Granted, I am at fault to a certain degree, but for about $250 I would like to see them come up with a better design. In a wreck of any magnitude, that face shield IS coming off.

Otherwise, I like the helmet though I don't find it to be very quiet, but that might be because my windscreen is a few inches too short and the wind is directed right at the helmet [rather than over it].

PS My wife finally received her Transformer in the glow yellow and loves it.

first leason NEVER sit helmet on scooters Always place them on the ground when starting scoot/motorcyle as Murphys law will take effect.

dup post Sorry

Last edited by old as dirt on Sun Feb 07, 2010 11:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

I thought I saw you at the gas station on the way back with your new lid!!

Fuzzy: "It's morphin' time!"

Never know where you'll be with your camera. I've been working out and lost some weight too.

I understand this to be the visor that broke so at least reasonable to replace. Not a good thing to happen though. Was the visor closed when it fell? Did it stay put and just come off when opened? Did it come off when just opening the visor or lifting the whole front of the helmet?Quiet is a relative term. No comparison to my HJC Symax II which is not nearly as quiet, but that is the only other helmet I have ever worn for reference. Reviews do give it a lot of comments on quiet which is part of what attracted me to it. Most dealers won't let you take a helmet for a test ride so reviews were only source of noise I had.

Yeah the helmet is definitely a better winter choice than the HJC. I am hoping it will be similar with the face shield cracked as I want the visibility I bought it for in the summer too.

As for weight it is about the same as the HJC. I don't notice any difference. Webbikewold comments on heavy weight for all flip ups, but I wouldn't wear anything else now that I am used to the convenience.

Sales guy wasn't too pushy this purchase. He helped me check out the helmet a couple weeks ago and at my request called me when the HiVis ones arrived last week. They give a pretty good discount if asked on lots of stuff. Price better than what I could find on line. (I wouldn't buy a helmet on line anyway as trying the fit is too important. I won't take advantage of a store trying on there to figure out what to buy on line.)

The part that broke is the part that keeps the whole flip-up piece connected to the main body of the helmet. If you take off the flip-up piece, it is the little round 'bushing' [about three-quarters of an inch across] with two tiny little 'fins' on opposite sides: It was one of these little fins that broke off [see photo].

As far as I remember, the helmet was closed and latched both times. Then once it hit the ground the flip-up piece was just kinda dangling, the little red latch [near the chin] popped open, too.

They are replaceable, but they are the weak link.

I wish somebody would tackle that guy and throw him in jail and never let him out.

Copy that, first week with my new helmet, I left it on the scoot and ofcourse Murphy was there, making sure it fell down on the pavement leaving a big ugly scrach.

I did have several opportunities to test the sun visor this week. It is much better than the one in the Symax. The optical clarity is great and it is a bit darker. The Symax tint is very light and thus limited value.

No riding in rain yet. It did rain but had stopped before I left work for home,

On another note: Murphy is an optimist.

I'm 10 years older than O.A.D. That quote thing is no challenge.

Last edited by Fuzzy on Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:10 am; edited 1 time in total

I love how OAD is apparently psychic. He quoted ssgt BEFORE ssgt even posted the quote! I guess when you get "old" you can guess what people are thinking

yup I knew what he was saying before he said it and it was exact too.

next I will predict........

Good to hear, fuzzy. I finally ordered my Transformer on Wednesday and got a killer deal on it since I know somebody that knows somebody...
I went for the silver and am anxious to get it, although we are in a heavy rain squall period that doesn't want to let up and I won't ride in the rain if I don't have to. But when I do and the sun breaks out between squalls the light reflecting off the wet streets is blinding - counting on the sun visor being a real help with that.

The new Hypersilver, size large Scorpion Transformer Exo-900 showed up yesterday, right on time for a test ride. Slightly more snug than I recall but overall a huge improvement over the Fulmer I had been using - quieter, for sure, a tad heavier, much larger. The sun shield as delivered is inadequate for driving into the sun but I believe darker ones are available; hoping for much less fogging issue now too but the weather is a little warmer right now. Ventilation is nice with three vents, and they pop open and closed easily. Chin bar works well.

I was pleased that the hiway wind buffeting is easier to take with the Scorpion than the Fulmer, perhaps because of the greater weight. All in all so far feels like a good choice!

Nice looking helmet there. I like Scorpion's stuff, but have never tried anything on. Apparently, I have "Shoei-head", so those fit me great. I had one of those Vemar CKQI things for about 5 minutes before I had to send it back because that thing just killed my head. How would you say the Scorp fits? Round? Narrow? Oblonged?

Just had another ride with it, two-up for about an hour, testing the new fuzzy warsher a little more . A little more noggin'' floggin' going on since the Xfrmr is a sizable lid and she stays close so we bump a bit; nothing that can't be handled tho. Felt good for the most part, quiet enough I didn't use earplugs like usual, and I wore shades inside - those and the flip down visor were just about right for driving into the sun.

Fit is a really subjective issue, for sure. I would say my head is relatively average shaped, as in not round and not narrow, but not small (no jokes now...). I was left with some minor impression marks on the forehead today and I am still getting used to the snug, all-over fit as compared to the Fulmer. A bit rough on the ears when removing but putting it on not bad and I am still developing the best routine procedure for both.

I do like the Transformer, think it was a good choice. And its almost as cool as my bespectacled 1930's pigskin-tossin' headgear!

As with any helmet ya gotta try it - like the CKQI... you know when its not right. Too bad for that one, it was cool looking.

BTW, dude yer looking younger than ever!

What about the point? Tell us about the pointy part!
LL75

This from a guy with a third eye in his forehead - but definitely NOT this guy... guys... whatever...

That's not an eye...it's the electron diagram of Hydrogen....

I have had the EXO-900 since last August or so. I agree it is so much quiter than the HJC I was using. The fit is very snug (XXL) and it leaves a lot of impresions on my bald head after riding for any time. I think the fit is one of the reasons it may be more quite.

I have added a Collett communications sytem to the helmet and found that I had to turn down the volume quite a bit so as not to be uncomfortable with the level.

Thanks! Vitamins.

Ummm, right. Cuz neither is that flashlight thingy...

I have an EXO-700 that I really like. Not too much noise, but I guess it would be nicer with that chin thing, but that has never mattered. My Scala Rider is loud enough with it at speed, but I had to do a better job of mounting the earphones.

I really like the 700, and the anti-fog coating is still working great. I would think the obvious catch is you don't use windex on it. I also have an EXO-100 for around town and while riding my missus' Vespa.

Since this is the last day of reasonable weather expected here for a while I rode into work today, in spite of the 29 degree temp per my gauge in the window outside... and also because I wanted to see if the no-fog statement Scorpion made with the Xfrmr helmet was true. Well I'm here to tell you it worked very, very well. When stopped I started getting fogging on my eyeglasses, even tho they were treated with Clarity NoFog just before leaving, but the faceshield looked clear - and I really like that! My ride was short, no more than fifteen minutes, but so far the faceshield no-fog is working as advertised!

A washer named after you and a hi-viz yellow lid! I'm impressed, Fuzzy.