I have a penchant for motorcycle helmets and I will be the first to admit I have too many of them. I have 5 times as many helmets as I do motorcycles. It’s ridiculous, but it beats collecting stamps. This, of course, means I’m always keen to give a new helmet a try, especially those designed to appeal to the retro and custom crowd. Enter stage right, the Heroine helmet from England’s Hedon Workshop.
The Hedon Heroine helmet is firmly targeted at the custom and classic crowd, especially those with a taste for high-end quality. With the design of the Heroine, Hedon clearly set out to challenge the dominance of Bell’s Bullitt and to fill the gap left after the demise of French “luxury” helmet brand, Ruby.
In terms of styling, the Heroine easily ousts the Bullitt. Rather than looking like a Lego astronaut’s lid, the Heroine has the appearance of a 1970s racing helmet thanks to its broader chin bar and shorter profile. As for quality and level of finish, the Heroine is top-notch. The paint finish on my ‘Signature Black’ example was flawless and the contrasting brass accents add an air of refinement that no other helmet in my collection has. The quality continues to the interior where you’ll find natural calf leather paired with Merlin anti-bac material that is akin to suede.
I generally go for a large helmet size and have an intermediate oval head shape. The Heroine sizing was accurate with no noticeable pressure points on my skull. It was especially comfortable on the back of my head where it felt well-padded and fit snugly. My big ears had plenty of space around them and although it is still a bit tight I am confident it will loosen over time.
Unfortunately, the Heroine seemed to want to roll forward on my temple. This gave me the sensation of having my brow pushed down onto my eyes. Nothing overly dramatic, but it was enough to be noticeable. I have not experienced this in my other helmets and once again hope it improves with use.
My Hedon Heroine came with both a clear visor and a ‘Sunset’ orange alternative. Swapping the visor involves applying pressure to the CNC fasteners on the sides of the helmet and unscrewing them. Sadly, despite my best efforts, I am yet to be able to remove either screw to do so. After admitting the fact to my friends they all also lacked the strength to loosen the little buggers. A simple slit in the fasteners for a coin or flat-head screwdriver would fix this problem, but after reading other reviews the problem seems to be unique to my helmet (go figure!).
As for the visor itself, it seals very well around the opening of the helmet and its anti-fog attributes tested well. Around the outer edge of the visor, the angled lip creates a bit of distortion, but not enough to affect visibility.
At 1430 grams the Heroine is 300 grams lighter than my Bell Carbon Star and Nexx’s latest X.G100 R. Wind noise on this style of helmet is generally an issue, but the density of the padding around my ears and the close fit of the visor did a good job of keeping it at an acceptable level. A removable chin guard would be a nice addition.
The high-priced Heroine isn’t without its flaws. Riding on a warm 30+ degree day (celsius) the ventilation (those 3 small studs above the visor) did little to keep my head cool. On other helmets, the visor can usually be opened a small amount to allow the breeze in. The Heroine visor only has 2 positions, fully closed or fully open. So, by the end of my ride, I had sweat beading on my head and the inside of the helmet was left damp. Over time this would prove an issue since the lining isn’t removable and we all know how good stale sweat can smell.
In the world of motorcycle apparel, there aren’t many of what I would classify as luxury brands, but Hedon is definitely positioning itself as one. The full-faced Heroine helmet is priced at $915 USD which is close to 3 times the price of the Bell Bullitt, one of this helmet’s major competitors. Despite its quality construction and materials, the Heroine failed to impress as much as I had hoped. A few small tweaks would have me considering otherwise, but for now, it’ll be losing out to the other helmets in my collection.
I purchased a Hedon Heroine helmet online. I sized up based on reviews and it’s still tight. My chin rubs against the chin guard padding. I modified it to fit. As it’s still tight. I mostly use it as a spare for a pillion. A year after purchase one of the screws holding the visor in place ejected while riding and is not to be found. Contacted Hedon who gave me a link to buy a replacement. $97 USD plus shipping seems like a bit of a money grab to replace one screw which should not have come undone in the first place. Oh well, it looks great… sitting on a shelf in my garage.
I also had trouble removing one of the CNC fasteners for the visor, I needed to tap it with sharp metal pin using a hammer. A small hole in each would allow one to do this easier; or a slot as you say. My visor does stay open slightly ajar, but I haven’t used it like this over 60 Kph. I have the Amber visor and the coffee haze for my Molten ash coloured helmet. Both look good but the Amber looks especially good and gives a nice bright image.