fatbillybob

Who is making helmets in countries with good quality control like USA that can be purchased in USA? I was surprised to find out Simpsons are now made in china. Maybe that's old news.

Veloce Raptor

Stand 21 or Stilo.

Flying Finn

Bell Hats are made in USA (Illinois). some their bicycle stuff is made in France and also in China.

But there are as good helmets made in other countries, for example in Japan (Shoei, Arai etc.), Italy (Bieffe, Sparco) or the best of them all, Schuberth in Germany.

F1 guys use mostly Arai, Bell, Bieffe, Sparco and Schubert hats.

dotframe

I visited the Simpson factory a few months ago to buy a helmet and I was under the impression that only one helmet is outsourced. I think it was called the Voyager?

magnetic1

The Stilos are nice. But Italian. I just bought one.

paradisenb

Chinese helmets? Natural selection.

L8Apex

Not China but HJC is made in Korea. Take a look at the carbon fiber HX-10 II.

930man

just ordered My Stilo!!!

Bob Rouleau

Stilo, like the other euro helmets is BSI standard (FIA) and are good for ten years from the date of manufacture. I like this better than the darn Snell 2000, 2005, 2010 etc. The built in headsets are great for teaching too.

f1rocks

Love my new Stilo, the headsets work very well.

Clark at Apex

Circuit Motorsports

Bell Racing helmets are made in China. All the ones I have on the shelf are Made in China, designed in USA

That being said, the current crop of Bell Helmets are WAY better than the ones from 10+ years ago. The finish quality is better than any of my old Bell's that were made in places other than China.

fatbillybob

I hear you and find the "look" of the new simpsons and bells awesome to what I have in my SA2005 Stand21, but you see the problem with china is 1-they will never give up a deal, 2-they make stuff look awesome on the outside at the expense of what you can't see on the inside. I bet when Mattel made the deal for those infamous toys they asked if the chinese could do it for $02 cents less. Instead of rocking the boat the chinese probably said yes and then used cheaper lead paint thinking no one would check. And those toys looked great on the outside too. I could see accidentally on purpose improper grade of polystyrene foam or shortening the cure time in the autoclaves on the CF helmets...that kind of stuff. Sure that kind of thing can happen all over the world like the French company using industrial silicone in the breast implants but in china this happens everyday.

f1rocks

In this day and age, everyone buys components from everywhere.....you really think all your hardware was stamped in the US when you buy US belts?

It's hard to say where the autoclave is that actually cooked my helmet. Would like to think it was in Italy but wouldn't know unless I visit the factory. I guess to maintain "reputation" they are going to want great quality control. At least that is my hope....

930man

I used this today! Loved it built in ear muffs and mic .. And camel back

Flying Finn

That's interesting. i didn't bother going into my garage to check my Bell but went on their website and it says there that their helmets are made in USA (except for some bicycle helmets).

http://www.bellhelmets.eu/page_contenu/history.php

Since 1986, car racing helmets as well as bicycle helmets have been made in centrally located Rantoul, Illinois, USA. Some bicycle helmets are also manufactured in Euro-Bell's plant in France and in China. Over 20.000 car racing helmets and more than 4 million bicycle helmets are manufactured each year, making BELL the largest manufacturer in the world for both car racing helmets and bicycle helmets.

Although in that history bit a little later it says:

BELL now produces automobile racing helmets using the latest, state of the art, equipment and technologies which are available worldwide.

I guess that can be translated: Made In China... Pretty cheesy if you ask me.