Vetter Bagman Helmet Bag
VETTER BAGMAN HELMET BAG
EVALUATIONS
FOR HELMETS, BEAUTY IS FLEECE-DEEP.
THERE'S ONLY ONE SURE WAY TO KEEP a helmet looking pristine and perfect: Leave it in the box it came in. Otherwise, once a helmet's in use and getting handled and carried around, it's practically guaranteed that the finish will become scratched and chipped. Invariably, helmets get dropped or bashed into doorways and furniture, mostly because they're as awkward as bowling balls to handle or carry. Yet whereas a bowling ball shrugs off such abuse, a helmet's less-durable finish yields up scratches and divots that make it look like it had been used for a game of tenpins.
Given that, the Vetter BagMan Helmet Bag might be the best alter native yet to keeping a helmet boxed forever. The oxford nylon bag opens via a dual-pull zipper, and inside it's lined with an acrylic fleece to help protect a helmet's finish from the in evitable pitfalls of being toted around. There's also a leather-rein forced slit in the bottom that allows the helmet strap to be poked through the bag so the whole works can be locked to a bike. In overall appear ance, though. the soft-sided bag looks decidedly light-duty.
Despite its low-key looks, the Helmet Bag performs well. First off, the fleece lining does yeoman duty, keeping the bumps and knocks of normal mishandling from showing up on the helmet inside. What's most impressive, though, is that the bag also can endure a six-foot fall onto a concrete floor, as well as several whacks from a 16-ounce claw ham mer, without allowing significant damage to the helmet's finish. In fact, only repeated, sharp hammer-blows to the same spot managed to crack the paint on an older Bell Star we used for destruction-testing.
Admittedly. other helmets with thinner, more brittle finishes might not fare as well: and sharp objects will puncture the bag easily. Even so, the Helmet Bag affords surprising protection, and is capable of with standing routine mistreatment and some shocking abuse. And ulti mately, it's a far more reasonable ap proach to helmet care than never tak ing a helmet out of its box.
BagMan's Helmet Bag is available in black only. from Vetter Products Inc., Rantoul, Illinois 61 866, or from your motorcycle dealer, for a sug gested retail price of$19.95.~
