Thoughts On Ruroc Atlas 2 Helmets

I ordered two new Ruroc Atlas 2.0 helmets for the wife and I last week. Watching a vlog review this weekend it hit me that with no D ring to secure the helmets to the bike I might have to get creative. Are there any Ruroc helmet owners out there that have fit something to your bike to secure your lid? I did see one (non) Ruroc video where someone had a firearm safety lock with heavy wire cable that they would run through passenger foot pegs and then through open visor and around chin bar. That would work but I'm going to miss my D ring lock for simplicity.

 

Heck, we can use this same thread and consolidate Ruroc info. I did a search of the forums and it looks like this might be the first reference.

For the record I bought the Core in medium for my wife and the XXL Mercury with Blue lens for myself. Both my wife and I were on just on the edge for our sizes so I'm hoping that they will not be too large on our heads but I would rather go a bit big than a bit small. My wife is upgrading from her Sena Momentum with built in bluetooth and I'm upgrading from my Shoie RF-1200 with Sena 30k. We also went ahead and bought the Cardo Bold duo pack to go along with the new helmets. My wife's helmet should ship in the next week but the Mercury doesn't have a scheduled ship until 18 June so it might be awhile before I can give a good review.

I certainly loved the Shoie RF-1200 but my wife's helmet is only DOT. I wish I had noticed that before buying it last year. The Rurocs are ECE at least but I would prefer better. The Sena comm equipment I'm happy to leave behind. We get so much road and wind noise from those and I can't be sure if it's something from my helmet, hers or both. Watching YouTube vlog reviews of the Cardo it sounds like they are a far superior solution for comm/mesh communications.

I'll follow up here once we receive and can put a few miles on them. In the mean time I hope someone will come along that has one or some experience with them.

 

I reached out to Ruroc asking if they had any suggestions for securing the helmet to your bike and received the below response. More to follow as I wait to receive our new helmets.

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Hello Tom!
Thanks for your message! I hope you and your wife are well and safe!
Thank you for ordering two of our helmets. I'm sorry but we don't have any recommendations on this one. I have asked around but without success. I'm very sorry that I can't help you guys with this.

But if there is anything else that you'd like to know, just give me a shout.
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I just received notification that my 5 May order of my Mercury and Blue Visor has shipped via DHL 2 day shipping. However I don't think my wife's Core shipped. I hope to have photos with impressions to report back to this forum next week.

 

I haven't seen the clip up close but its some sort of magnet locking system instead of a seatbelt clip. I'll have it in my hands soon and can validate what it looks like soon.

 

The Ruroc showed up today, too bad I'm unlikely to have any time to head out on the road today. Initial impression on the helmet, super lightweight for a XXL lid to fit over my enormous head. The fit and finish on this feels really top quality. I guess I need to get used to the fidlock chin strap, I'm finding that my beard is getting in the way a bit. From the sizing of the lid, according to Ruroc's sizing guide I was just on the cusp of the XXL size. I find the helmet snug but a bit looser than my Shoei RF1200 XXL, hopefully after the pads break in it will not be too loose. I still have to install my new Cardo BOLD and more to come on the biggest complaint people online have, wind noise.

 

I got the Cardo installed this morning. It was a very straight forward process and there were no issues or drama with cable management to get speakers or mic fitted. I was able to pop out between work calls for lunch and did a quick 15 mile loop around my area, this consisted of slow speed neighborhoods as well as 60+mph short highway run.

From the very first twist of the throttle there was no question that this helmet is less insulated than my Shoei RF1200 or Sena Momentum, neither of which is carbon fiber I’ll add since I’m sure that contriubutes to the elevated wind noise. Typically, I ride with ear plugs but for this ride I wanted to get the full range of sound so I left my ears unplugged. Pulling out of my neighborhood I was able to open it up and there is certainly some wind noise. I didn't have any whistling or super annoying blowing I just heard more of the outside world so I’ll go ahead and say my biggest concern has been alleviated.

Being on a naked Scrambler 1200XE with the Triumph fly screen I'm getting full wind on my upper body and helmet all the time. When maintaining a straight line and looking forward the helmet was very stable with no feeling of being pushed or pulled by the smooth air from the bike. When turning my head above 50 MPH there was a bit of a sharp pull as a turned my head but nothing too aggressive, this could be significant at higher speeds but that's TBD. But the weight saving of this helmet while only a couple of pounds felt noticeably lighter for my short run. Being on a naked bike that would be a big impact on longer rides from having head and shoulder fatigue.

The blue tinted visor with pinlock fitted was crystal clear with no distortions or the rainbow effects I have with my RF1200 pinlock visor. It was like putting on a nice pair of sunglasses after wearing a cheap disposable pair. What a great optic for that visor, LOVE it. I'll throw on the clear and tinted at some point the future just to try them out. The range of visibility on this helmet is also spectacular. I am so used to having to twist my head halfway around to see over my shoulders but with the Atlas 2.0 a quick glance and I was able to see almost 180 degrees from left to right. This visor is just an absolute delight.

One thing that lots of people talk about is air flow and they are not exaggerating by my reckoning. I ride with my visor cracked or opened all the time but for my lunch time first ride it was mid 80's f (about 29c) and even sitting at a red light I felt no need to flip open my visor to catch a breeze. While moving you can feel the air moving through your hair, well in my case across my scalp and through my beard. This will be without doubt my go to lid April - October. I'm a bit concerned what it will be like in colder weather but being in the South East US we only have a couple of "cold" months and I have a tube and head sleeve for that.

The fidlock chin strap is dead simple to close and open once I got my beard out of the way. I'll have to trust the propaganda for how this holds up in an emergency situation but I'll trust that ECE (and to a lesser degree DOT) ratings unless I hear otherwise.

Now, for some of the negatives. The visor is either opened or closed for the most part. The opening locks are either half way open, three quarters open or fully open. If I tried to just pop it open a crack for "city" riding it would snap shut or near enough that there was little airflow coming in. Being that the lid has such great airflow I'll think I'll be less worried about this in hot weather riding.

One of the singing praises by Ruroc and initial reviewers is that it has a tool free visor install. Maybe I just haven't seen many helmets but this seems like a pretty standard thing and isn't anything to brag about but something that they fixed that was wrong. The way they fitted this I still feel is a swing and a miss. When I went to remove the clear lens that shipped with the lid I twisted the locking pin and it promptly sprung out of my hand and rolled across the floor which I had to fight away from my dog before it was swallowed. Now knowing that this could happen I removed the other side and the same damn thing happened. While my Shoei is more difficult to swap visors while still being toolless, at least I don't have to worry about losing a bit that would leave my helmet unusable. I think I'll go ahead and order some backup pins to have in my bag just in case.

After installing my Cardo I felt that the pads inside the helmet will not stand up to much removing and reinserting them. The holders and snaps felt very much like cheap plastic and I'm not thinking they will hold up over time. Now how often will you be removing and reinserting them. Being in a hot weather riding area I like to wash my helmet pads a few times a season (once a month give or take). I don't think they will hold up to long term wear but I would enjoy being proven wrong.

At the end of the day this is a really nice helmet and my initial reaction is it’s worth the price of admission (and current shipping delays). My wife’s medium Core hasn’t shipped yet so I’ll look forward to getting that in the next couple of weeks so we have a another data point for review and comparison.

Any questions or photo request just let me know.

EDIT: P.S., that turned out to be a long winded review

 

I measured my dome at 63cm so I was just on the line for the XXL size. It is certainly looser than my Shoei that is also a XXL. I'm a little worried that when the pads break in a bit that it will be looser than I would like it to be but for right now it fills snug without being tight and I'm confident enough in the way it feels to have not worries about riding in it.

The Cardo flat out sounds far superior to my Sena 30 or the Momentum helmet as far as music went. I was going to try and place a phone call to a buddy of mine but just didn't have the time to try it out on my short run. Between my wife and I with our Sena units we never had an issue with ear plugs and comms so certainly don't expect any here either.

As far as the voice commands go the Sena was horrible, either not working or worse, working incorrectly. I'm optimistic about the Cardo voice commands but it still remains to be seen. I also didn't get to play with the iPhone Cardo app during my ride but they have a very over simplified layout that allows for simple phone, music skip and comm options. I never really used the Sena app as there was a giant button on the side of the comm unit to answer calls and I just sort of had to slap the side of my helmet with a gloved mitten and I could answer calls with no nuances. And I listen to a lot of audio books so not a lot of need to skip around while ridding. Hopefully the Cardo will be just as simple.

EDIT: my head is 63cm so changed post to reflect that.

 

My wife's medium Core Ruroc finally showed up. Only word of warning is the Cardo 3M adhesive doesn't fit cleanly on the side of the helmet in the groove where I mounted mine. I pressed it in and it is only about 2/3 touching the side of the helmet. Not sure I want to pry it off, cut it down and try sticking it back on. It does feel snug just has a gap at the top of the mount.

I also order two ElecGear wall helmet mounts, just need to find something decorative to hang between them. Then I'll get some helmet mounts to put above them for our old helmets.