Arai saved my life. Five years ago, a car ran me over while I was riding on the streets, and even though years have gone by, I still remember everything like it was yesterday. This 18-year old kid driving a white Toyota Tercel was running late to pick up his father from the airport and ran a stop sign to my right. He was turning left as I was crossing the intersection, and being relatively new to riding, I fixated on the car and freaked out. My natural newbie reaction was to grab the front brake, causing me to low-side and slide towards the car, which ultimately sucked me completely underneath. My entire body was pinned beneath the car. I didn’t have any crazy life-flashbacks, which I hear is a common phenomenon that occurs during near-death experiences, but what did go through my mind, in this actual order was:
- Holy sh*t, am I really underneath a car right now?
- …so this is what underneath a car looks like…
- Wait. Am I even alive?
- Okay, I can’t move…I think I’m stuck…
- Omg if I’m stuck underneath a car, how badly hurt am I?
- I can’t feel anything… are all my limbs attached?!
- …Am I actually still alive???
The accident itself happened so fast, but every moment after that, time seemed to move slower than normal. Instead of getting out of the car to help pull me out from under, which is what he should have done IMO, I could hear the driver change gears. He actually proceeded to slowly reverse the car off of me. As he was slowly backing up (a.k.a. re-running me over), I figured that it would be best not to move too much, because if he’d already ran a part of me over (e.g. my leg), then he’d just re-run that part over as opposed to me panicking and moving around for him to potentially run over something new.
I didn’t know at the time, but miraculously none of the tires actually ran me over- my body happened to end up underneath, somewhere in the middle. I did have to shift my body towards the direction that the car was moving, because my helmet was acting as a spacer between the car and the asphalt, and the motion of the car in reverse was causing my head and neck to twist in an awkward position. If I hadn’t forcefully twisted my body to stay in alignment with my head, I would’ve broken my neck. It was a painful transition, because I wasn’t wearing proper gear (I didn’t make wise decisions that day) and I basically had to give myself more road rash. Long story short, I was rushed to the ER in an ambulance for the first time in my life. I’m just so incredibly thankful to be alive and healthy. It could’ve been much worse, but my Angels were watching over me.
(Actual photos of the helmet that saved my life. Click for larger view.)
I learned that lesson the hard way and have battle wounds to remind me of the painful consequences. If it weren’t for my RX-7 Corsair Arai helmet, I would not be here today to happily write this review for Arai’s new 2017 model- the beautifully constructed Signet-X Place helmet.
Even though I was wearing one of Arai’s older models during my horrific accident, I can only imagine how many iterations and improvements they’ve gone through regarding the safety of their helmets.
Each of these helmets are individually hand-built and thoroughly inspected before being signed-off by an Arai expert. What I respect most about Arai is that they work hard towards building helmets with their own standards that exceed DOT and Snell safety standards. Ones that they believe are made for the real world, where fixed objects, distracted drivers, and sharp angles exist.
The craftsmanship of this 3 lb 9 oz helmet is second to none and is one of the most comfortable helmets I’ve ever worn. It has a soft liner material that feels amazing against your skin and you can even adjust the temple padding to achieve a more customized fit. The Signet-X has an intermediate to long oval shape, tailored for people such as myself who have a longer shaped face. The Quantum-X is the same exact model as the Signet-X, but is made for people who have a more round to neutral shaped face.
It also has a fully removable interior liner system made from Eco Pure material. This antimicrobial material helps maintain neutral acidity levels close to human skin, so I don’t have to worry about remnants of my makeup, sweat, or other bacteria getting trapped inside the padding as much as I do with other helmets. It stays fresh longer, and happy skin leads to a happy Mizziel. ( :
The removable neck roll inside of the helmet comes with additional exhaust channels to release any built-up heat, so your head doesn’t roast during the warmer temperatures, but keeps it nice and warm during cooler temperatures. In the event of a crash, the cheek pads have emergency release tabs to prevent any strain or force when the helmet is removed. This would’ve been nice to have on my RX-7 Corsair, but regardless I’m happy that they added this updated feature to their new models.
The Signet-X has an improved ventilation system with more adjustments and better flow through performance. All this considered, it’s still relatively quiet and is perfect for everyday use. As if it doesn’t get any better, it includes a clear Pinlock insert, ready to install for those pesky fog build-up moments that can critically impair vision while riding.
Arai has been known to deliver both performance and affordability. The price of this particular helmet is on the higher-end ranging from $750-850, but they do offer lower-cost helmets that meet equal safety standards. Out of all my gear, I’ve always invested the most money into my helmets, because I know through personal experience that it is the fundamental piece of gear that can actually save your life. Just ask yourself, “How much do I value my head?”
Arai’s mentality is, “improve on what works,” and they’ve been very consistent with that mindset- improving their helmets without compromising any of the existing functional features that I know will properly do its job during an accident.
There is, however, one feature that I believe can be a bit more user-friendly. It took me some time to build familiarity with the new visor locking mechanism. This design is safer and more secure, which is always great, but I’ve had a few struggles here and there and even reached some points where I just said, “FAKK IT…I’m keeping the visor closed for now.” It only gets awkward when it’s not worth removing my helmet at the time, but I have to briefly talk to people with my helmet and Mirrored Silver VAS-V Mirrored Face Shield. lol
Overall, I can personally and confidently say that my RX-7 Corsair Arai helmet maintained its integrity all throughout, not only after being run over by a car twice (forward and backward), but even after the entire weight of the car was bearing down on it for some time. I expect no less from the Signet-X. I am a living, breathing, walking testimonial that an Arai helmet can properly protect your head in the event of a crash. That in itself should be good enough reason to look into investing in one. Life, as beautiful and delicate as it is, offers good choices and bad choices. The day of my unforeseen accident, I made bad ones by skipping out on wearing all my other gear and grabbing the front brake, but made good ones by investing in an Arai helmet and wearing it. Thanks to Arai, I’ve still got a good head on my shoulders! Their quality helmet saved my life and I’m forever grateful.
