Shoei TZ-R Vogue Helmet Review

For some riders a weekend on the bike means an argument with the wife or girlfriend but the smart riders among us, choose our women carefully. Mine happens to love to not only ride but ride her OWN motorcycle so none of that dreary two up riding for us. She probably likes to ride as much as or even more than I do.

Womens Motorcycle Helmets

Sadly the world of motorcycles is still a mans world and much of the riding gear on the market is designed for men and men's physical attributes. The little bit of gear out there that is designed for women, was probably designed by a man for a woman. So for the ladies, I am sorry about that but what can you do. Women are one of the fastest growing segments of the motorcycle industry so maybe the manufacturers will smarten up soon.

My wife is kind of like me, she likes to try a lot of different things and changes up her gear pretty often. The helmet she is currently riding is a Shoei TZ-R Vogue motorcycle helmet and so far she loves it. It's only been about a month so we don't have any long term results but in the short term she really likes it, so let's discuss.

Now being the manly man that I am, I shouldn't find myself liking a girly helmet like the Shoei TZ-R Vogue. This helmet is decidedly girly but that's probably what makes it attractive to the women. The other thing that I wasn't a fan of was the top vent. It just looked awfully noisy, however my wife claims it to be one of the more quiet helmets she has ever owned.

Shoei TZ-R Vogue Helmet

If you aren't familiar with Shoei helmets then you should know that they are very well known in the cycle world for making some excellent quality helmets and I think you would be hard pressed to ever go wrong with a Shoei helmet. Even their low end stuff is better than some other brands top of the line helmets. The TZ-R is one of those helmets, it is on the low end of the Shoei price scale but is still an excellent quality helmet. Shoei does not sacrifice quality for price.

I know some helmet snobs will always think that no other helmet brand can stand up in comparison to Arai but I am not in that camp and nor should you be. Arai makes some great quality helmets but pound for pound I would take a Shoei any day of the week. Do not feel like you are sacrificing a thing compared to an Arai helmet because you aren't. I find far more issues with Arai helmets than I ever have with Shoei, at least that is my own personal experience.

Helmet Weight

Let's get into the meat and potatoes of the review. The Vogue is not what I would call a lightweight but certainly not a heavyweight either. It was simply decidedly average when it came to weight. Our scale was not working correctly when we wrote the review but we can confidently say that the TZ-R is very similar to other Shoei helmets we have ridden. The helmet has a good feel on her head and balances well, especially under speed.

Helmet weight is way overhyped anyways. I know a lot of riders want an ultra low weight helmet because they have been tricked into thinking that the lighter the better but that simply isn't the case. You want a helmet to be as light as it can be without sacrificing fit, comfort, noise or balance. These factors are what make a helmet a joy to ride, not being super lightweight.

Just light enough is more than adequate and the Shoei Vogue easily fits into that category. My wife can ride all day without reporting any fatigue that would be attributed to her helmet.

Shoei Vogue Comfort

The TZ-R has a super nice liner that is made out of a very comfortable feeling fabric. It's touches like this htat separate Shoei from some of the others. This is their lower end helmet but they still make sure to use quality materials that fit and feel great. Again, it is worth noting though, that Shoei's low end helmet is still a fairly expensive helmet compared to some brands. You get what you pay for, no question about it.

The comfort level of the helmet is reportedly kind of average other than the liner. My wife rides with a Shark Butterfly most of the time and she reported that other than a softer liner and that fresh new feeling, the Shoei Vogue was pretty similar. No real flaws but nothing that really WOW'd her either.

She does concede that again, it's a Shoei so you can expect it to be very comfortable. If it isn't then take comfort that the cheek pads are removeable and replaceable so you can tweak the sizing of it to customize it to your head.

Shoei Vogue Venting

I was skeptical of the top vent setup on the Shoei TZ-R as it just "looked" like it would be noisy but that did not prove to be true as I already mentioned. It's a very simple design and according to the wife, very functional and easy to operate. The vent has a sliding cover that opens and closes over two round vent holes. The cover is easy to operate with a bare or a gloved hand and opened and closed with ease.

The vent on the chin is a little different than most helmets that I have seen as it opens down. This forces the air to have to flow up and into the helmet and this is especially troublesome on a sport bike because you are hunched over at some tough angles sometimes.

I will say that the visor did not fog up on my wife at all, but again we've only been riding this helmet about 30 days. When the seasons change and the weather turns we may see more of that. I did a search on the net and found no complaints from owners of fogging.

The top vents blow onto the riders brow and provide a nice, unobstructed flow of air and a couple of molded channels in the liner allow air to flow over the top of the riders head as well. I found it odd that the TZ-R has no rear exhaust vents but admittedly my wife did not even notice that fact until we were looking it over to write this review.

We live in Georgia, where it gets really, really hot and while this helmet has adequate ventillation, we both lean towards the heavy side in our air flow requirements. It's a personal thing but for her, she would prefer a bit more air flow through the helmet.

Shoei Vogue Noise Levels

I noted above that the TZ-R is a pretty quiet helmet in comparison to some others we've road tested and I am surprised by that. The top mount vent just looks noisy but I also think that the lack of rear vents might contribute to the lack of noise as well. Combine that with Shoei quality construction and you have a very quiet helmet that goes down the road nicely.

It's amazing how different the riding experience can be when you go from a loud helmet to a quiet helmet and anyone that prefers their ride on the quiet side, will definitely be a fan of the Shoei Vogue helmet.

Shoei TZ-R Visor

Shoei quality is all over the visor and Shoei practically invented the quick release visor system. Shoei also adds a nice feature to the ratcheting mechanism that allows the first click to be just open enough to let cooling air in if you need a fresh breath or to defog a little bit.

Conclusion

To summarize, she loves this helmet and that is really all that matters. I love that the Shoei TZ-R meets DOT and Snell M2005 standards so it offers a high level of safety. I also love that she is riding a Shoei helmet because I have a lot of faith in that brand.

If you are looking for a quality built helmet from a premiere motorcycle helmet company and you want it to be girly, then look no further than the Shoei TZ-R Vogue. It's a great helmet and you should enjoy it for a long time.

It might be on the low end of the Shoei scale but you shouldn't confuse this with the cheap motorcycle helmets.