Well, after a number of delays and false starts, we now have a pair of very nice looking, pearl white Sy-Max 2 helmets with J&M headsets installed.
I ended up having to do some serious but not overly complicated surgery to get the headsets installed. The Sy-Max 2 has expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam between the side of the fiberglass shell and the cushioned cheek pads. This reduces the depth of the cheek pads, meaning if you just drop the speakers into the cheek pad cavities like you’d normally think, they’ll crush your ears. I had to remove the cheek pads, then remove the EPS side pads – fortunately, they are separate pieces that snap in and are secured with one screw on each side. Some X-Acto knife work made some nice cavities for the speakers. The mic boom exits between the front edge of the side module and the shell. All in all, they fit great and sound even better.
Lisa has plenty of room between her face and the chin bar, but mine was right up against my chin. Pretty annoying, and a non-starter for longer rides for sure. I knew I had to do something about that, and toyed with the idea of warming the chin bar to give it a little more pointed shape. Tonight I found I could remove the plastic inner shield behind the vent and latch; there’s a chunk of EPS about 3/4″ or so thick behind that. With the shield completely removed, I have plenty of room but the vent won’t do much good to keep the shield from fogging. I ended up trimming it to about 2/3 its original thigkness and re-installing it without the foam block. I may do some further modification, but as I type this I’m wearing the helmet and it’s not bad. It’s still contacting my chin, but I think I’ll let it break in before doing any more chopping.
All in all, they look great, feel great, and I find there seems to be a lot less wind noise – as I had hoped all along. I’d like to keep the intercom VOX from tripping in crosswinds and when passing semi trailers; we’ll see how it all shakes out this season. Hopefully between the new helmets and the new headsets, it will be a little more comfortable on the road.