Tested: Vemar Ghibli motorcycle helmet review

Date reviewed: July 2018 | Tested by: Simon Hancocks | Price: From £99.99 | www.tri-motive.com

The Vemar Ghibli is a relatively affordable full-face lid at £99.99 for plain colours and £119.99 for graphics. I’ve been using it for my 60mile commute on a Ducati Multistrada 1260S and a Harley Davidson Fat Bob…

Outer shell

This ‘Base Fluoro Yellow’ model has a lovely metallic finish to its thermoset resin shell and appears well put together, with an aggressive-looking rear spoiler.

Weight

At 1435g for this medium-sized lid, the Ghibli is a relatively light helmet by budget standards, and weighs less than some costing much more.

Ventilation

The chin vent is opened by slipping your finger up inside the back of the chin bar and between two pieces of the neoprene chin skirt; it’s quite hard to find, but once you get the hang of it it’s okay… I found it much easier to operate in thin summer gloves.

The top vents are opened and closed by two chunky and easy to find sliders, which make an audible click when engaged. I never had any problems using the vents, even in thick winter gloves.

The chin vents are directed back onto the visor and not directly to your face but they do help to move cool air around the interior, while the top vents make a more noticeable difference when opened, and do a good job of keeping you cool on a hot day.

The chin-skirt is very close fitting and keeps the interior very still. It’s made from a soft neoprene material and is comfortable next to my skin, even with five days of stubble.

Visor

There’s a lever on either side of the visor mechanism to release it for cleaning – there’s a bit of a knack to getting the angle correct to pop the visor off, so it’s not the easiest, but it’s okay.

The visor opens on a smooth, four-position ratchet and seals well – even in heavy rain, no water gets past the top edge seal.

Sadly the Ghibli doesn’t allow you to just crack the visor open – it goes straight to one third open. That said, the forward-facing jets from the chin vents do a good job of keeping the visor clear. A Pinlock anti-fog insert isn’t included, but can be fitted if you want one for about £18.

There’s no drop-down sunshield built into the Vemar, but I don’t tend to like them much, so this doesn’t bother me.

The lid has an aggressive, sporty profile that means the chin bar sits quite high in your view. It doesn’t obscure the road but to glance at the clocks you have to look down, as opposed to just moving your eyes. On the other hand, it gives a good view when on a sportsbike...

Lining

The lining is a little fiddlier than some to remove and refit, but it’s still not bad, and appears well made.

Fastening

The Vemar has a micrometric ratchet chin strap, which takes just a few minutes to set at first, then gives a secure fit every time, even with gloves on.

Fit

The interior of the Vemar is extremely plush and soft, but after about an hour of riding I begin to get a tension headache due to the front pushing into my forehead. Of course, this is down to my head shape, and a good reminder of why it’s so important to try any helmet on and feel for pressure points before buying. My wife tried it, and found it to be perfect.

Noise

I always use foam earplugs, and found the Ghibli to be no noisier than my Arai Chaser X.

Conclusion

The Vemar has some great features; some will miss the drop-down sunshield, but I prefer not to add more layers of plastic to look through, so it didn’t bother me.

Overall this is a good budget lid that’s well worth considering – like any helmet, just make sure you try it on first.