The narrative that surrounds the Bell helmet brand is a long and storied one, with some of the more interesting bits happening in just recent time, as the brand’s many different elements and organizations have finally come back together under one roof.
As such, Bell is keen on changing some of the perceptions of its products, especially in the motorcycle space, and has made great strides in doing so with its latest crop of Star helmets.
A full-featured race helmet, priced to undercut the top offerings from AGV, Arai, Shoei, et al, the Bell Star now sees its successor, the Bell Pro Star progeny coming to market.
We don’t talk a lot about gear here on Asphalt & Rubber, but that is slowing going to change in the coming months, and we wanted to give a nod to what Bell is up to with the Pro Star.
The biggest feature to talk about is Bell’s “Flex Impact Liner” which uses three different foam densities, which when combined offer better protection under a wider range of impact speeds.
Bell uses the example of a trophy truck, which uses different suspension elements for small, medium, and large-sized impacts, which is a pretty good metaphor for how the Pro Star absorbs the dynamic range of helmet impact speeds a rider can see during a crash.
Of note, it’s not always the big impacts that give motorcyclists concussions and brain damage.
In addition to this, Bell has also been working a great deal with rotational impacts – when helmets roll laterally on impact – innovating a solution to the issue on its Moto-9 Flex line.
The good vibes come through on Bell’s promo video for the Pro Star line, where Josh Herrin is giving the Yamaha YZF-R1 the beans during a gorgeous day at Thunderhill Raceway Park, but the part you should really pay attention to is the short clip where Bell’s employees walk into their helmet crash lab.
Bell is one of the very few helmet manufacturers have their own in-house helmet testing facility, a point we think few motorcyclists know about. We’ll just leave that there, as something to chew on.
We should be able to get our hands on the Bell Pro Star later this summer. We’ll be sure to let you know what we think, once we do.
Comments