Chinese Helmet - Good Quality Ones

[ZMC888]

So I decided to get the HJC Lorenzo. In the end the Taobao seller decided it was better to go to the trouble of providing spare visors in order to make a sale.

According to my Chinese friends helmets in China break down like this.....
1. Imported. Made elsewhere in the world, helmets are expensive, and may even be fake, new visors will cost a a lot of money 400 yuan plus if you can find them.
2. Quite a few high end brands are made in China...HJC and AGP are amongst them. Much less likely to be fake than imported brands because those companies hate small timers trampling on their territory, and will send in the mafia. Also visor prices are held down to a reasonable 150 yuan level, DOT ratings etc.
3. Lower priced helmets made in the same factory, for example HJC has a junior brand Cirus or non exported not DOT rated helmets, visor prices for an even more reasonable 40-45 yuan.
4. Other cheaper helmets.

Clearly just because a helmet is 300 yuan doesn't mean it's any less safe that a 1200 yuan helmet. It may well be made in the same factory from the same or similar materials or even be the same shape. The cheaper helmets won't be DOT or CE rated, but that isn't any indication those helmets are unsafe, just that domestic models haven't been tested by those organizations.

One reason I'm buying an exported HJC is because I want the possibility of doing track days and having test rides back home.