Hi. This is Anthony, with RevZilla TV and in this video, we're going to take a deep dive into the Bell Vortex helmet. Now, the Bell Vortex is an everyday road riding helmet. This guy's not assigned for the track but it shares a lot of features with the big brother of this helmet, which would be the Bell Star, which is a pro-level, race-oriented track helmet.

So, you're going to notice a lot of different color ways here. It comes in solids. It comes in graphics. It even comes in this bad boy Roland Sands design, which is pretty pimp.

The price point on this guy is going to be $169 so, it's a middle price point helmet, but it's going to have a lot of features that you don't see at the $150, $160, $170 helmet levels. A lot of these features, you don't see on a ton of helmets under $300, for that matter.

So, to start out with, from a protective standpoint, this is a composite shell. It's developed at Bell's R&D facility in Santa Cruz, California. That's one of the reasons why the Bell helmets seem to be, from a feature standpoint, a little bit ahead of the game, when it comes to price point as compared to other brands. They test and prototype very quickly, here stateside, and they can develop a helmet that they can beat on, that they can wind tunnel test, that they can water tunnel test, for aerodynamics and airflow through the helmet, but they can do it here, without sending that spec overseas to get developed and then sent back. That's something that's huge for them. It's actually something that allowed them to incorporate the M 2010 Snell standard into this Vortex which, like I said, it's starting point is a $169 helmet.

So, you're going to see, the graphics that we have in front. Start with this guy. You're going to see that it's a basic helmet. It's an intermediate, oval head shape, and it's a medium oval. It's not one of these lollipop guys. It's really round, like some of the other brands we carry. This is going to be a nice aerodynamic shape.

From a protective standpoint, I talked about the composite makeup of the shell, here. It's not your full polycarbonate entry-level helmet. This guy's going to have additional elements in it, from a strength standpoint. Like I said it is Snell 2010.

When you get into stability, it is developed in-house. It's got nice exhaust ports that funnel in to a wing, here, onto the back. You're going to notice that there are some features, from an aerodynamic standpoint, that are going to help this guy stay stable at speed. It is something that Bell spends a lot of time on.

Now, when we go into creature comforts, this is where this guy really begins to shine because at $169, you're not used to seeing a ton of features. To start out with, from ventilation, we have our exhaust ports here on the back. You're going to have your top of the head vents here, that are open and close with a switch. You're going to have brow vents, which you don't usually see at this price point. You'll be open and shut here and you're also going to have a two-position chin vent system that's going to come down here. You're going to notice that when we pop the shield on this guy, that it's going to be your anti-fog, anti-scratch Shield and the shield is the same shield as the Bell Star helmet so, again, this is a race-level shield. It's polycarbonate.

It has a quick release system which is really nice but you get all the same colors and tints that they make for the Star, for this guy. So that's going to be your light smoke, dark smoke, iridium finishes. They actually make a photo chromatic shield, which features Transitions Lens technology, which will get dark in the sunlight and then become light as the sun goes away. That's something you're not seeing on any helmets, or even as an option on any helmets, under $200.

As we flip the helmet over, you have an anti-microbial lined comfort liner that is fully removable. You have cheek pads that are fully removable. These guys come with the different shell sizes, but you can swap them out. So, if you have a wide, or a narrow face, you can get cheek pads that fit. You can also get liners to fit. You can also completely remove anything inside this helmet, from a wash-ability standpoint.

So, I'm going to put this guy down and, actually, we have this one over here on the right that's semi-good. I want to show you, with the cheek pads out, what the inside of this helmet looks like. Okay, so I have this guy, with the cheek pads already out. I'm going to tilt down here. I'm going to show the liner here and you can see past, the neck roll's not removable but the full top liner absolutely is. So, there you go. There's your comfort liner, fully washable, fully removable.

Now, if I tilt it down slightly, here, you might be able to see it, if you come in tight. But, just like the Star, this one actually has cutaways that sit behind or around your pocket and you can actually install any type of speaker device, or headphones under this guy. We know a lot of people are riding with headphones these days. We know a lot of people are installing Bluetooth units into their helmets. So, what that is you're going to end up eventually snaking something into your helmet, that sits on the outside of your ear, that's going to communicate to you or have some type of audio channel. What you can do with this guy is you have a great place that's pre-built to nestle that speaker inside of.

So, another feature that you're going to notice, that the Vortex shares with the star, is going to be the magnetic strap keeper. People might laugh. It's very basic. But, you'd be very shocked at how many people complain about the extra material from the strap, after your chin strap's done flapping around. This guy goes here and when it's done, it pops through. It's going to snap right to that. I don't know if you can get in tight and see that, but you have a magnetic on both sides of this guy and it's going to keep it from flapping around at speed.

So, like I said, the Vortex is a lot of bang for your buck at $169. You can go up to $189 for the Roland Sand version but, really, this is an everyday helmet. You can wear this all over the place. This, actually, at this price point, can even be a great passenger helmet, but, the flip-side of that coin is it's Snell 2010, so you can bring this guy out at the track. So, if you're a new to the track rider, if you're not racing, if you're not spending days and days and days and a season on the track, to where you need some of those crazy top-end features, this could be a great helmet that you could pick up, take to the track with you. It's going to cover you. It's going to be completely up-to-date, from a safety standpoint and you're going to get some bang for the buck out of it, as well. That's why we're big fans of it.

If you have any questions about the Vortex, or how it compares to the Arrow, which is its baby brother, or the Star, which is it's granddad, beefed up for the track, give us a ring at RevZilla, 877-792-9455, or you can shoot us an email at CSRevzila@CSRevzila.com and we'll be able to compare and contrast this guy, compared to any other helmets you're looking at and let you know if you're picking the right helmet, for the right application.

Thanks for watching RevZilla TV, today. My name is Anthony. I'll see you next time.