Suomy Extreme Chin Vent
The chin vent on the Suomy is rather pedestrian. It works via a simple latch that opens and closes the vent. Quite frankly, we’ve seen better quality vents on helmets costing 70% less than the Extreme.
That said, the vent does work, and like the AGV Ti-Tech, the chin vent directs air through the back of the chin guard and directly on to the rider’s face. There is no air filter behind the vent, so dust and dirt can blow on to the rider’s mouth. There are also two small vent holes inside the chin guard, located above the chin vent and below the breath guard.
The rest of the air is directed on to the back of the visor through a series of holes in front of the breath guard. Notice the poor fit of the breath guard at the outer edges on our helmet.
Suomy Extreme Paint and Graphics Close-up
Suomy has some of the most decorative and coolest graphics of any motorcycle helmet manufacturer in the world. Our example uses the Michael Fabrizio design. Unfortunately, the helmet is about Fabrizio’s only claim to fame at this point, as his motorcycle racing career has suffered.
It was hard to choose among the fantastic graphics available on the Suomy Extreme and Spec-1R helmets, but we really liked the combination of colors and metalflake on the Fabrizio design.
Suomy Extreme Top Vents
AGV claims “titanium technology” in their description of the helmet shell for the Ti-Tech helmet line. I’m not sure where the titanium is used, other than as decorative items on the top vents, the top rear exhaust vents and on the two exhaust vents on the lower rear section of the helmet. The use of titanium for these parts must be a marketing gimmick — we can see no other purpose for it, because surely a plastic part would be just as light weight in this application.
The titanium “scoops” have a positive acting lever on top that swing a cover over a hole in the helmet to allow air to flow. The levers are shown in the open position in this photograph. The air is directed in to the top of the helmet through channels in the foam lining and down to the rider’s head through the mesh fabric in the top of the liner.
Suomy Extreme Visor Latch
The Suomy visor has a safety latch on the side, similar to the latch used on Arai helmets. This one is easier to use because it has enough grip to hold the visor but doesn’t require the greater force of the Arai system. Pulling on the Arai latch moves the entire helmet and is annoying.
The breath guard on the Suomy Extreme fits more precisely than the breath guard on the AGV Ti-Tech, but it still doesn’t fit perfectly at the outer edges, as seen in the photo. This is a disappointment on a helmet costing as much as the Extreme. Unfortunately, we have yet to see a breath guard that fits correctly on any full-face helmet at any price.
