The SS1500 helmet is a multi-functional sports helmet offered by Speed and Strength with a slightly aggressive look.
From first looks, it might not look anything out of a Michael Bay movie, but it does have some nice things going on for itself that justifies its price tag in the sub-premium category.
The helmet is DOT and ECE 22.05 certified, which means you get a standardized lid with all the regular features and a solid construction that you can find in a similar helmet.
We have worked closely with RevZilla, Amazon and 2Wheel over the years to provide our testers with products to review. They are all great partners and unique in their own ways, so make sure to check out their prices. Please don’t forget we may get a commission if you buy from them.
What Would You Love?
This helmet has a lot of little features that snowball into a big multi-functional monster.
The SS1500 Ratchet or Monolock system allows you to disarm the chin strap with one hand.
The Queen edition calls out the female demographic out there with multi colored graphics with skulls and flowers giving it a nice tribal vibe. The graphics are protected with triple layers of clear coat to prevent smudges and oily fingerprints.
A ‘pump it’ air fit system that balloons up two ballasts embedded in the cheek pads to make the fit as loose or snug as you can wish for. SS claims that it has an additional advantage of reduced wind noise.
The Top Features to Look Out For
A trendy helmet with multi colored graphics. Interested? Here are its features…
Shell
The shell is made of injection molded polycarbonate shell, which they call as Advanced Thermo Poly Alloy (ATPA), a fancy acronym. The shape of the helmet is intermediate oval, which should fit most people.
As for the weight, if you order it online, make sure that the measurements are exact. The weight of this helmet has been misreported on some sites as 4.5 pounds. Some other E-com websites specify the weight to be around 3.5 pounds. That’s a one-pound difference right there. Unless those sites are using different sizes, a 4.5-pound weight for an XS size helmet sounds fishy.
But SS does feel lightweight when you put it on and there are no complaints about the weight, so no problem.
We have worked closely with RevZilla, Amazon and 2Wheel over the years to provide our testers with products to review. They are all great partners and unique in their own ways, so make sure to check out their prices. Please don’t forget we may get a commission if you buy from them.
Visors
SS 1500 comes with a big face shield, which is fog free and clear. But there are more colors available which you can order and replace. The ‘lock ‘n’ load’ face shield removal mechanism looks simple enough but is actually a bit difficult to work with, and presents a risk of breaking some of the delicate parts.
The face shield is UV resistant, anti-scratch and optically correct face shield advertised under the ‘All Clear!’ banner.
The SS 1500 also comes with a spring loaded, anti-scratch, anti-fog, UV resistant inner sun visor. The system is cheekily named DVD, short for Drop Visor Design. Nothing but a fancy name for a standard feature, which is available in other helmets too. It comes down far enough to cover a lot of your upper face and almost touches the breath guard provided at the front.
Ventilation
SS calls their design an ‘Airstrike’ ventilation system. Two chimney vents on top can be adjusted with a slider that most of us riders are familiar with. The difference here is that the sliders operate in a lateral direction rather than the front-back direction that we are accustomed to. These connect to the air channels in the EPS and route the air to the exhaust.
However, you don’t immediately see the channels in the EPS as deep as some of the Schuberth ones, but rather a big concave depression.
The big Venturi exhaust vent resides at the back which is always on. Venturi exhausts work with the turbulence created at the back of the helmet and pull out the warm and moist air out of the helmet.
The chin vents are connected to some sort of channels that blow air directly on your face and on the inner surface of the face shield to provide some additional air flow and anti fogging.
Padding and Lining
The Coolmax interior consists of removable cheek pads and a comfort liner, which can be washed with cold water. The liner is meshed or perforated at the bottom instead of being smooth like micro fiber. It works well, but some people do not like the feel. The actual cheek pads are nice and smooth. They are comfortable and work properly in wicking up that sweat really quickly.
The comfort liner has some thickness so it cushions up impacts. But it is attached using a Velcro system at front which wears out over time. It would have been nice to see mount points at the brow to fit the liner at the front, just like it has at the rear.
The comfort liner has proper cut-aways for the ventilation system to work its magic and keep your scalp cool.
Customer Reviews
The helmet has been received very well and accrued 5 star reviews overall. Some did complain about the durability of the paint, but it is going to get scratched and bruised if you keep banging it around on the wall or on the tarmac.
We have worked closely with RevZilla, Amazon and 2Wheel over the years to provide our testers with products to review. They are all great partners and unique in their own ways, so make sure to check out their prices. Please don’t forget we may get a commission if you buy from them.
Bottom Line
Speed and Strength have thrown in a lot of acronyms for the systems and designs used in this helmet, but that is hardly any concern when buying one. It ticks all the default boxes well and the graphic is a big hit among the ladies, so you can be sure that your choice ain’t gonna be bad.