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LS2 Helmets India - Genuine or Fake ..??
LS2 Helmets India - Genuine or Fake ..??
Of late, there has been a lot of talk about LS2 Helmets, that all or most of the LS2 Helmets available in India are genuine or fake. This has been discussed and sometimes hotly debated on "Helmets" thread and it has been discussed offline also. Since in our country, there are only a handful of imported helmet brands available in affordable range (Rupees 3000 to 5000) that claim to be better than local ones like Studds, Vega or Steelbird etc, in terms of -->
- Safety Certification (ISI / ECE / DOT etc.)
- Overall Quality
- Fit & Finish
- Ventilation
- Noise
- Graphics
So, i thought thats lets approach "LS2 Helmets" and the manufacturer - "MHR Helmets" for some clarifications regarding the same. Initial discussion was with Mr. Frank Qiu (Overseas Sales Dept.-- JiangMen PengCheng Helmets Ltd (MHR)) via several e-mails and then the discussion shifted to Mr. Anil Gupta of Laxmi Automobiles Pune, the Sole Distributor for LS2 in India.
The issue was also discussed with other xbhp friends in pune and based on various online and offline discussions, i prepared a list of questions for Mr. Anil Gupta and fixed an appointment with him and went to meet him yesterday.
These are pretty straight forward questions, kindly go through ->
Prince Sirohi (PS): LS2 Helmets India website is owned by you (Laxmi Automobiles)?
Mr. Anil Gupta (AG): Yes, and there is nothing to hide, because there is no content on ls2helmets.in , it simply redirects to Laxmi Automobiles - Authorised Distributors for LS2 Products in India, and laxmi Automobiles is the sole LS2 distributor for India. however laxmiautomobiles.com is not updated frequently so, its recommended to refer only LS2 Helmets.
PS: And LS2 Helmets is not owned by laxmi automobiles?
AG: No, it is owned by LS2.
PS: How many authorized LS2 shops are operating in India.
AG: Currently we have laxmi automobiles in pune (Nanapeth & JM Road), apart from this we have opened a showroom in Bangalore (080-41266800). we are planning to open few more in other cities also. right now we also ship to other shops like AH Helmets Mumbai.
PS: What about online selling?
AG: Buy Bike Accessories LS2 Helmets Sole Authorised India Online Partner - Acebiker Moto-deals is the only authorized online reseller in india.
PS: Why do we have price variation within India across various shops / cities for LS2 helmets?
AG: We actually do not have much control over the selling price of helemts sold by resellers because, depending on market condition and/or stock availability, reselling shops sometimes offer discounts or may even charge more. however this price variation should only be few hundred rupees and not more, unless somebody is doing stock clearance sale.
PS: Now comes the most important question, what about fake LS2 available in India or how genuine are the LS2 helmets sold in India.
AG: LS2 helmets sold in india by laxmi automobiles are 100% genuine and original. regarding fakes or duplicates, there are two things ->
- First is-- fake helmets manufactured in India, similar to 200-400 rupees helmets sold on road side and somebody puts an LS2 sticker. these ultra cheap and ultra low cost fakes should be easy to identify. however, i have not seen any such ultra cheap and ultra low cost duplicate LS2 till date in india.
- Second, and most important - Good quality fakes that appear to be of almost equal in quality to original LS2 sold through official channel. PLz note that -- there are different LS2 helmets manufactured for different markets (read countries) according to different safety standards. LS2 sold in india by us are manufactured specially for South Asia or Indian Market and are ECE certified, however, there is one more quality of LS2 helmets being manufactured for local sale in china, these are original LS2 but it does not meet DOT, ECE or any other international standards and are cheap and meant for local china sales only i.e. cheap helmets for local domestic sale. some indian shop owners, purchase these helmets from local china market and import to india and sell here as LS2. Please not that although these are not fake but original LS2, hence quality levels is acceptable, however these are not for sale in india officially and are non ECE certified.
PS: thats a valuable piece of information, so how do we identify these pseudo-fake LS2 (don't know what to call them) against ECE certified ones.
AG: there are various ways --
- Quality will be slightly lower to ECE certified ones.
- It may have a fake ISI sticker
- since these are not ECE certified, their outer shell will be thinner (and may be / may be not padding will be thinner) as compared to ECE certified ones.
- and since it has a thinner outer shell, it will be lighter than ECE certified ones.
- generally a full face LS2 helmet which is ECE certified weighs around 1250 -1350 grams as mentioned on the back of helmet (apart from moto or dirt bike type and carbon fibre ones), so the pseudo-fake will weigh less than this.
- since these pseudo-fakes are meant for sale in china only, they will have something written in Chinese language, like these ->
you can also check on LS2 Helmets whether that particular model is officially available in india, because there are only very few models which are common to indian and chinese market.
PS: There is also huge price variation between indian LS2 helmets and those sold in western countries, for example - LS2 FF396 CT2sold in india ( LS2 FF396 Carbon ) and that sold online on western websites ( LS2 FF396 CT2 Carbon Helmet - FC-Moto English ). Indian FF396 is sold at 10,000 rupees whereas on FC Moto it is sold at approx. 25,000 rupees. why and how?
AG: First of all transportation cost, taxes and profit margin is different for every country.
Second, the helmets sold in western countries like europe and USA are made differently with higher safety standards like DOT etc since according to market, ppl there have no problem in purchasing costly helmets, these helmets are also much heavier than Indian LS2 since they meet or exceed higher standard of safety. also profit margin is much higher in those countries.
PS: so basically there are 3 different qualities of LS2 helmets, --
- (1) for sale in china local market & carries no certification
- (2) affordable helmets with ECE certification for india.
- (3) highest quality helmets with highest safety standards for western countries and costly too.
AG: Yes ....
PS: ok, infact if we look at the pics in above two links for comparison, and if we look closely, they are slightly different. (this is my observation and added later on)
PS: ok, so you say that Indian LS2 helmets have ECE certification, can you show me the certificate.
AG: yes (he shows me a scanned copy on his PC)
PS: Did LS2 had any previous association with Vega?
AG: yes, i guess it was earlier sold by vega in india.
PS: why is ECE label a sticker and not embossed or permanently printed.
AG: In my opinion, it is not a big issue and does not make much of a difference, as long as the helmet is original, besides printing or embossing is costly, which in turn will increase the selling price further. however, we are now in talks with manufacturer and future helmets may have LS2 branding on all parts like even strap etc will come with LS2 label.
PS: thank you very much.
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reproduced in text format based on discussion with Mr. Anil Gupta with his permission.
Mr. Anil Gupta is available at (020)-26352350 or 9890012111 or [email protected] (Details also available at LS2 website)
Mr. Frank Qiu can be reached via e-mail [email protected]
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If moderators feel, they can shift the thread in some other section, if they want.
But seriously great job!
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