Shoei X-11

These things can be had pretty cheap now! I picked one up yesterday at my local Cycle Gear for $324 OTD. Dark Grey solid, looks pretty good.

Now the issue:
Man it's tight!! Please tell me it will loosen up. I love all the features and it does move the air through, which is important down here in TX.

Anybody else had one of these? Anybody else had experience where their helmet has loosened up?

BTW, I bought a Large, I wear a 7 3/8 hat.

It should loosen up over time, if not,change to the next size smaller cheekpads.
If you pull off one of your cheekpads, there is a number in millimeters such as
35 or 37, order the next size smaller. Another thing to try is to wear your helmet around the house to speed up the break-in time.

I just replaced the cheek pads in my early X-11 because one of them was torn. The standard replacement size that comes with size Large helmets is the 35MM size. I'm not sure of the increments, but you would want the next smaller number (33MM?). With those your helmet would be a little roomier around your cheeks and jaw.

My BMW dealer special ordered the cheekpad set from his non-BMW supplier, so I guess nearly any dealer who sells Shoei could do the same. The price was $47/set and it took two days to arrive.

Rod - I looked into this a little further. The next smaller size is 31MM and the Shoei replacement part number is 01-457.

I've had the X-11 for about a year now. Cheek pads were uncomfortably tight, they were the 35s. I went the next size lower and now way to loose and wobbly. Put the originals back in after hearing a helmet should "make your cheeks pucker" to fit correctly. I can't really say if that is correct or not. But, now after a year my helmet is comfortable and anything that does not make my cheeks pucker feels loose and unsafe. So, I guess I'm saying over time mine either loosened a bit or I became used to the fit. Either way I'm now happy, comfortable and would not switch back.

I struggled with helmet fitment for years, and I know all about not being able to pull it off, that they loosen up a little with wear, etc. The Shoei fitment chart, measuring my head diameter, says I should wear a small. No way in the world to get my head into one. Bought a large for me and my wife. Both of us got headaches, and she began to fall asleep, after about an hour of wear. Now we both have XL Shoei RF1000s (picked another one up for $307 this weekend). They are very comfortable, our headsets for the sound system fit in nicely, and all is well. Bottom line, ignore the fitment chart and the young squid giving you advice in the store, and get a helmet that is comfortable. I believe that is better than not wearing one, popping aspirin for constant headaches, or falling asleep while riding. YMMV.

I've worn an X-11 (size XL) for a little over four years and ~50,000 miles. I'll retire it next spring for a new RF1100 or X-12. About a year ago I replaced the cheek pads because they were falling apart. The printing of the size of the old cheek pads was obliterated from years of Texas sweat, so I just asked the guy at my dealership to order a pair of the stock size for an XL. When I put the new ones in I was surprised at how tight the helmet was! Not uncomfortably tight, but securely snug. When I compared the two pair of pads, my years of wear had literally flattened the old cheek pads to around 3/4 of their original width!

I'm not sure of my hat size, but if I were to guess I'd say around 7 3/8 to 7 5/8 depending on the hat.


EDIT: One thought. If you buy an X-11 and you intend to wear it a lot for four or five years, you may want to purchase the replacement pads and lining ASAP, because I've heard that Shoei has already stopped making them.

Good info guys, thanks!

I have an X-11 that I bought last summer and I'll confirm the fact that they are (When fitted correctly!) a tight fit!

The good parts of the X-11 are that the vent system lets in a lot of air and the pin-lock shield system works very well indeed but the down sides are that the tight fit makes putting on a pair of glasses or pulling on the helmet with audio earplugs in your ears can be excruciatingly painful and the pinlock inserts scratch easily and replacing them is not exactly cheap.

I noticed that the new RF-1100 has channels for glasses and that will probably be enough to have me "trading down" to the less expensive helmet next year or going to a flip-up. By-the-way... I paid just over $500 for my helmet and I doubt that I'd spend that much again. These days similar protection can be had at a much more reasonable price.

Eye glass channels or a modular? you can get both with the newer Shoei
Mulitec. Paid $348 for mine 2 months ago. Very Happy with it.

mymindsok said:

I have an X-11 that I bought last summer and I'll confirm the fact that they are (When fitted correctly!) a tight fit!

The good parts of the X-11 are that the vent system lets in a lot of air and the pin-lock shield system works very well indeed but the down sides are that the tight fit makes putting on a pair of glasses or pulling on the helmet with audio earplugs in your ears can be excruciatingly painful and the pinlock inserts scratch easily and replacing them is not exactly cheap.

I noticed that the new RF-1100 has channels for glasses and that will probably be enough to have me "trading down" to the less expensive helmet next year or going to a flip-up. By-the-way... I paid just over $500 for my helmet and I doubt that I'd spend that much again. These days similar protection can be had at a much more reasonable price.

Click to expand...

My wife and I both wear glasses with our RF1000s. In addition, we have Honda headsets for our Wing's systems. If you pop off the cheek pads, then gently remove the front liner section of the helmet (the whole thing comes right out), you can cut small wells in the foam for helmet mounted speakers, which leaves you some room for your ears. That's what we have done. Very good system, and very comfortable for all day wear.

Couple of weeks with my new helmet....Perfect fit now! Not sure if it's loosened up or I got used to it??
I wear in ear speakers/buds and i've had no issue whatsover with getting the helmet over them. I used to use an Under Armour helmet liner to help hold my speakers in my ear, but it's not needed with the X-11.
I do agree with the frustrations with glasses though! haven't found a solution yet, but other than this, I love the helmet!

hlothery said:

My wife and I both wear glasses with our RF1000s. In addition, we have Honda headsets for our Wing's systems. If you pop off the cheek pads, then gently remove the front liner section of the helmet (the whole thing comes right out), you can cut small wells in the foam for helmet mounted speakers, which leaves you some room for your ears. That's what we have done. Very good system, and very comfortable for all day wear.

Click to expand...

When you say gently remove the front liner section of the helmet, can you explain this further?

What about the chin bar liner?

Atomicman said:

When you say gently remove the front liner section of the helmet, can you explain this further?

What about the chin bar liner?

Click to expand...

Remove the cheek pads, they snap out. Then, gently pull up and inward on each ear protection area. They will come up and toward the center of the helmet. Then you can slide the entire thing up and out of the chin bar...it's all one unit. We cut small (1/2inch deep) round holes in the earpieces, and mounted the speakers in them via velcro. The speaker wires slip through the slits for the chin straps. The mic is velcro'd to the chin bar, and the wire is run under that padding. Reinstall in the opposite order....gently put the padding for the chin bar back in place, then slide the earpieces back into place with gentle pressure. Reinstall the cheek pads, which then help to hold the speakers in place, and you're done. You have to run the wire for one speaker around the back, using a screwdriver to push it between the helmet and the padding (or over the top if you prefer).