Biltwell Hustler helmet

• Beautiful fit and finish
• Classic design with modern amenities
• Incredibly comfortable if you are a long-oval head type

• Chin strap about 2”-3” too long
• Flat black finish does show fingerprints (from you petting it)
• Only comes in 3 colors and no heavy glitter flake  The Hustler's now come in a variety of metal flake colors!
  

Lucky for me Bill at Biltwell, Inc. stepped-up to the plate, swung for the fences, and sent me two of Biltwell’s new DOT approved Hustler helmets – one medium in Flat Titanium and one large in Flat Black. Why two helmets you ask? Simple – I have a weird head that fell right between the medium and large on their size chart.

When the helmets arrived, I quickly took them out and started petting the Flat Black one. Seriously. The finish on this helmet is really cool; silky smooth to touch with a perfect flat finish. Everyone who has touched the Flat Black Hustler has commented on the finish. The Flat Titanium color is also smooth but without the silky feeling the black has.

Having recently reviewed a Bell Custom 500 I was curious to see how the Hustler stacked-up. Relatively little company against the company that created the modern helmet (sort of the same company); David vs. Goliath – or in this case Goliath’s step-grandson.

The Biltwell Hustler is built well. Haha….I crack myself up. Seriously though the Hustler is put together very nicely with no real fit and finish issues at all. The interior is made with a “synthetic suede” liner that doesn’t really feel much like suede to me but it is very soft and comfortable. The chin straps fit perfectly with the only complaint being that they are a bit long. When you have the helmet on your head and the chin-strap snap connected you are left with a large loop of strap dangling in the wind. The chin-strap on both the medium and large fit the same way and could be shortened by around 2”.

The outer shell is made from a seamless ABS shell that not only will survive a crash better than a multi-piece shell, but also looks better.
The quality of the helmet is easily as good as the Custom 500 from Bell which impressed me. The Hustler is designed a bit differently than the Custom 500 in that the bottom of the helmet is made flatter on the Hustler where on the Custom 500 the bottom is cut on more of a slant. Sitting on a flat surface gives the impression that the 500 is smaller but I don’t think that is the case when you are wearing the helmet. No matter what DOT ¾ helmet you go with there is going to be a bit of a “bobblehead” factor as the helmet needs to be more robust to meet the DOT certification standards. I personally think Biltwell did a good job keeping the Hustler as slim as possible.

Where the Custom 500 and the Hustler diverge greatly is in interior shape. The Custom 500 is built more for a round head shape while the Hustler is built more for a neutral to long-oval head shape. The Custom 500 in medium didn’t fit me very well front to back but was fine everywhere else so a large would have been too big. The large in the Biltwell Hustler was fine everywhere except around the crown of my head where it was a bit too big. This manifested itself mostly by getting some lift at highway speeds while wearing it on the Victory High Ball. 

The Hustler in medium is very snug to get on my head but fits like a glove once there. I’ll deal with my ears getting tugged at when removing a helmet as long as the fit, when on, is perfect and the Hustler in medium offered me that; it might be one of the most comfortable helmets of any type I have worn.

One last topic to cover is noise – or rather the lack thereof. Both the Hustler helmets proved to be quieter than any full face helmet I’ve worn (Arai, Shoei, Bell, Icon, HJC, KBC, AKUMA, and a few more I can’t remember) with the medium being a tad bit quieter due to fitting better.

If you are in the market for DOT ¾ helmet that looks good, isn’t bigger than it has to be, and is built to a standard that would make one of the “name brand” helmets proud, then Biltwell, Inc. has the helmet for you.  http://www.biltwellinc.com/helmets.php

Retail Price: $99.00

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Sean said:

	... Hey buddy, I read your review and am interested in this helmet. What size of hat (new era) do you wear? Also, sweet bike!
	report abuse vote down vote up

April 07, 2011
Votes: +0

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