Originally Posted by
mysql
I think part of the price tag is exclusivity. There's simply no way a $700 helmet will sell as many units as a $150 one. You'd also have less sales to spread out your research and design to.
You also have to account for the midrange lineup slowly picking up features that used to be exclusive to the high end helmets.
I thought this was amusing:
We can't explain why it costs more.
Joking aside, the nice thing about Shoei is that you know it's actually made in Japan. Getting that last 20% is costly.
Each helmet is hand made, thats why they "cost so much".
Like ??? said, you can buy quality brand name helmets at good prices. Hell, I bought my Arain Tommy Gun for $250, and just about 6 months ago Barneys in Tampa had them on sale for $350. They can be found cheap, its not that hard. The only people who pay full price and an MSRP of $799 are people who dont know any better and shouldnt be riding a bike anyways. Hell, you spend $150 on that HJC, and you can go online and find an Arai, for $250-$450, maybe a little bit higher if its a replica, but i'd rather spend that extra money to know that in the unfortunate event that I go down, that the most important part of my body is as well protected as possible by the best equipment possible.