Helmets

[vishnus]

Re: Helmets

Thanks a lot mate. I saw some ppl posted tht they got AGV for 7k.. Is it available in delhi for 7k??

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I think it should be the Mpa agv. But I didn't think its that much expensive. It can even be a fake one also. Got any pics of the lid...?

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[Sunnyside_up!]

Re: Helmets

Thanks a lot mate. I saw some ppl posted tht they got AGV for 7k.. Is it available in delhi for 7k??Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Delhi is awash with fake HJC, AGV, KBC and Sparx from unscrupulous traders in Karol Bagh. These in turn supply many other traders throughout the country. You cannot get a genuine AGV full face for 7k. The cheapest possible price for the K3 series if imported by a distributor for resale would be in the region of 12k. A more realistic price being sold in Delhi is Rs.18K, since the person is not a distributor but a reseller. The Indian made ones on the other hand are for not more than 5k and are often sold at around 3.4-4k.

Similarly, the entry level HJC and KBC cannot come in for less than 7k. Sparx could be slightly cheaper at 6k. If you are getting any of the above for less then you need to question ;

1. The authenticity of the product (obviously - the most common culprit is the product is fake. I have seen graphics on models of "AGV" which they themselves haven't!)
2. The validity of the warranty (in rarer cases, dealers import stocklots of old or defective stocks from manufacturer yards sold at throwaway auction prices and these are then underinvoiced and imported into third world countries like ours ).
3. Age of the stock (store may sell old stock at lower prices to clear inventory but more likely to be done by the distributor himself rather than the store)

The above input is based on my own working knowledge of the market and import of safety gear. Having exposure in the industry, I have had privileged access to distributor pricing of many brands, including all of the above. There is no way that the genuine products from the above brands could be sold for less in the Indian market if imported through a genuine licensed distributor and after paying the correct import duties.If you want a genuine product, contact the licensed distributor of the brand in India and check if your local store where you saw the product is his sub-agent or dealer before making your purchase.

Genuine imports and products will always have proper invoices and documents, which in turn will mean that you will be able to get a genuine warranty from the distributor backed by the manufacturer. Dealer promises or warranties are normally just "Bokwass" (I like this word! ), since they normally will not have the bandwidth to back a warranty. Disclaimer : Exceptions to the above do exist but are very, very rare.

[Sird]

Re: Helmets

Just for fun :




Safety follows you, what else you need

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Just for fun :




Safety follows you, what else you need

[Akki4134]

Re: Helmets

I went to Maha Laxmi in karol bagh once, baught 2 HjC, 1 sparx pawww and 1 SOL dragon with a friend who had to ship all 4 of them to his brother in agra. He charged us 3600 for 1 HJC, 3500 for sparx and 3000 for SOL, I was shocked to see the prices he had quote.
After one month he clled me up to tell me tht hez coming back to delhi to get those helmets replaced, all had some probs, visor hook broke, inner liner came out as it was pasted with some local adhesive.
Straps were made of some local nylon material wch had started to come out of the helmet.
We went to Maha Laxmi again and told him about all this, he refused to give us any warranty and told us that he imports it through different means and dont have any warranty. My friend went to the police station located nearby and told them the whole story.
The policewalas went with him to his shop and asked him what the whole issue was, after one hour my friend gave up and went back home as the police walas were trying to support the shopkeeper.
In the end he agreed to give him 4 LS2 helmets in return, so he took us to his secret shop that was located on the top of that building, mannn that guy had loads loads loads of fake helmets with no stickers on them and the stickers were lying on the floor. We asked him u gave us fake helmets? He replied, itne kam paise me what do u expexct me to give u?? We told him we want our money back after we saw all tht crap there, he said, paise nai milenge helmet chahiye toh le jao ( I wont return u the money, if u want ill give u new helmet's in return) I asked him what if these helmets are also fake? He replied, wwe dont fake LS2 as they are not so costly. We even saw some aftermarket exhaust system like Akrapovics, racefit and leovince wich were fake aswell.
Maha Laxmi Automobiles!! Guys please be careful, dont ever buy anything from his shop.

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[pratik.pat]

Re: Helmets

I went to Maha Laxmi in karol bagh once, baught 2 HjC, 1 sparx pawww and 1 SOL dragon with a friend who had to ship all 4 of them to his brother in agra. He charged us 3600 for 1 HJC, 3500 for sparx and 3000 for SOL, I was shocked to see the prices he had quote.
After one month he clled me up to tell me tht hez coming back to delhi to get those helmets replaced, all had some probs, visor hook broke, inner liner came out as it was pasted with some local adhesive.
Straps were made of some local nylon material wch had started to come out of the helmet.
We went to Maha Laxmi again and told him about all this, he refused to give us any warranty and told us that he imports it through different means and dont have any warranty. My friend went to the police station located nearby and told them the whole story.
The policewalas went with him to his shop and asked him what the whole issue was, after one hour my friend gave up and went back home as the police walas were trying to support the shopkeeper.
In the end he agreed to give him 4 LS2 helmets in return, so he took us to his secret shop that was located on the top of that building, mannn that guy had loads loads loads of fake helmets with no stickers on them and the stickers were lying on the floor. We asked him u gave us fake helmets? He replied, itne kam paise me what do u expexct me to give u?? We told him we want our money back after we saw all tht crap there, he said, paise nai milenge helmet chahiye toh le jao ( I wont return u the money, if u want ill give u new helmet's in return) I asked him what if these helmets are also fake? He replied, wwe dont fake LS2 as they are not so costly. We even saw some aftermarket exhaust system like Akrapovics, racefit and leovince wich were fake aswell.
Maha Laxmi Automobiles!! Guys please be careful, dont ever buy anything from his shop.

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+1 to that, and thought i bought mine from chapra's i still don't trust them. They'll quote unreasonable prices and then the haggle of bargaining. They sure would get to a low, a very low price and follow any tactic to sell you the stuff, make false tall claims with inaccurate facts just so that they make a sale! .
And I'm not saying this because I was ripped off by them but because i had a totally different experience at meandering India. Firstly you know what you'll be paying for and don't have to compare prices everywhere and believe me the difference you pay for a SOL, it is worth it. At least you go back home happy without the worry and insecurity of owning a fake or a steeply priced helmet and mind you a faint smile too. plus you can get a good after sales service and a warranty that you can claim, and yes an invoice too.

I for one have been shopping at places where there are price tags and you know what you are paying for. Unlike here, where you have no clue what you'll end up with!!

P.s.- i already regret buying a ls2 iron, for i could have saved a little bit more and could have gone for a SOL. No i don't doubt the quality of iron, the built is top notch but i fear the after sales. Plus I'll admit with sunny sir around the block it feels more secure and trustable to buy stuff from SPG, he has been a very good representative/face of SPG here with constant support to its customers. [MENTION=1]Sunnyside_up[/MENTION] sir- can we do a trade off with a reasonable difference amount. just kidding!!

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[vishnus]

Re: Helmets

I went to Maha Laxmi in karol bagh once, baught 2 HjC, 1 sparx pawww and 1 SOL dragon with a friend who had to ship all 4 of them to his brother in agra. He charged us 3600 for 1 HJC, 3500 for sparx and 3000 for SOL, I was shocked to see the prices he had quote.
After one month he clled me up to tell me tht hez coming back to delhi to get those helmets replaced, all had some probs, visor hook broke, inner liner came out as it was pasted with some local adhesive.
Straps were made of some local nylon material wch had started to come out of the helmet.
We went to Maha Laxmi again and told him about all this, he refused to give us any warranty and told us that he imports it through different means and dont have any warranty. My friend went to the police station located nearby and told them the whole story.
The policewalas went with him to his shop and asked him what the whole issue was, after one hour my friend gave up and went back home as the police walas were trying to support the shopkeeper.
In the end he agreed to give him 4 LS2 helmets in return, so he took us to his secret shop that was located on the top of that building, mannn that guy had loads loads loads of fake helmets with no stickers on them and the stickers were lying on the floor. We asked him u gave us fake helmets? He replied, itne kam paise me what do u expexct me to give u?? We told him we want our money back after we saw all tht crap there, he said, paise nai milenge helmet chahiye toh le jao ( I wont return u the money, if u want ill give u new helmet's in return) I asked him what if these helmets are also fake? He replied, wwe dont fake LS2 as they are not so costly. We even saw some aftermarket exhaust system like Akrapovics, racefit and leovince wich were fake aswell.
Maha Laxmi Automobiles!! Guys please be careful, dont ever buy anything from his shop.

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Shocked to hear this and a shop at kerala is offering sparx pow for 4.9k. Guess it is fake also. Guess its the same story for riding gears and accessories like exhausts, jackets etc.

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[prateek2210]

Re: Helmets

@Akki4134 : I thought you went through my last post directed to your query. I mentioned the official dealer of SOL.
If still you and your friend went to Karol Bagh thinking that you would get original stuff there. I feel sorry then

[Akki4134]

Re: Helmets

Bro m in kanpur right now, this hapnd almost a year back, yes I saw the SOL official dealers site but its not responding. Did I offend u in any way?? Sorry if I did..

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[prateek2210]

Re: Helmets

Bro m in kanpur right now, this hapnd almost a year back, yes I saw the SOL official dealers site but its not responding. Did I offend u in any way?? Sorry if I did..

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Chill. Its not mentioned that it happened an year ago, so I thought this happened after you posted your query.
Call on the number provided of Meandring India, if the mobile is not answered, then the owner must be touring somewhere. or call on the landline.

[Akki4134]

Re: Helmets

SOL and Sparx, which ones better??


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[DukeDey]

Re: Helmets

SOL and Sparx, which ones better??


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The ventilation is better on the sol and also the leds look eye catchy to a few but Fit and finish wise I find the sparx better.

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[Akki4134]

Re: Helmets

Ill go in for SOL then..

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[Sunnyside_up!]

Re: Helmets

Shocked to hear this and a shop at kerala is offering sparx pow for 4.9k. Guess it is fake also. Guess its the same story for riding gears and accessories like exhausts, jackets etc.

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Guys - lets not get carried away here. And its not fair to brand everyone a cheat either or carry out a witch-hunt. The problem in an unregulated industry like the accessories business is that many of the dealers are unwitting accomplices. Since most of them are just traders with little knowledge beyond basics, they do often get taken for a ride themselves when offered good "deals" by uncrupulous con-men.

There are basically two kinds of fakes -

1. Fake labels - the most common fraud - simply labelling products with the name of a famous or reputed brand.
2. Engineered fakes - much more difficult to spot - actually making and selling goods which are similar to the original.

The most common is the fake label, where some basic product simply has a famous brand label pasted or stitched on. This is quite easy to spot and the easiest defence against falling for this is to simply familiarise yourself first with the features and appearance of the original product. So a low end and locally made helmet or jacket labelled with "HJC" or "AlpineStars" should be easy to spot. However, there are still many who fall for this, simply out of ignorance, including traders. A storekeeper once contacted SPG for SOL helmets asking for a model that doesn't exist! He had bought a few helmets from a "stockist" in Delhi who had sent him some cheap low-end helmets labelled SOL and he had been taking them thinking they were genuine. He had only contacted SPG because the guy who sold him the original lot had disappeared when he wanted more stocks! I have personally seen "HJC" and "KBC" labelled helmets which fall in the same category. Likewise, there was a guy on the riding gears thread recently who proudly displayed his "AlpineStars" jacket thinking it was genuine, simply because it was labelled so, only to have it pointed out to him that it was fake. These kinds of fakes are very easy to spot and should be no problem for most members of this forum.

The more devious and difficult to spot are the engineered fakes. These are basically replicas of the original and were manufactured using cheap and low end materials to appear like the original but at a fraction of the manufacturing cost. In products like helmets, these can be very difficult to spot, because of the existence of third party manufacturers. Many big time international brands contract their low end helmets to third party manufacturers in China to bring down costs. Unfortunately, this also means that the same factory can now make identical looking products for much less by compromising on their component and structural quality, which the parent brand would not allow.

So imagine a Big Brand company ABC asking Company X to make a certain model for them conforming to DOT/ECE standards. This would mean that Company X now has to make a solid product that would have to pass the scrutiny of the big brand's quality norms which are very stringent, so it makes a genuinely high quality item. Now after the production run of 20000 helmets, a small time trader in Shanghai asks the same Company X to run off another 2000 shells off the same production line but at 1/4 the price. Company X likes to keep production going and since it has the technical knowhow anyway agrees - but how do they do this at such a reduced cost? Obviously, the only way is to change the original construction of the helmet. The simplest is to reduce the shell thickness so that it would not pass any genuine tests but can visibly pass a customer's inspection.

Thats why I have in repeated posts advised that the quickest way to determine a genuine product is the heft of the helmet. True DOT/ECE helmets made of ABS/PC/FibreGlass would have to have a certain shell thickness and therefore weigh in at approximately 1500 gms +/- 200gms. SNELL rated helmets are even heavier. Only expensive, specialty helmets made of carbon fibre can be lighter, so if you pick up a low priced helmet that is unusually light, look closer! I recently demonstrated this difference at an offline G2G in Chennai where two LS2 helmets (same model) owned by XBhp brothers, one bought three years ago and one bought a few months ago weighed completely different and the construction too was completely different. The older version was much sturdier and solidly built and therefore also heavier.

A second quick giveaway is the ratchet mechanism and visor of the helmet. Most big brands use high quality ratchets and visors manufactured again from third party specialist manufacturers, which are quite costly. So the fakers often have to use more cheaply and easily sourced alternatives. This means that the ratchets and visors themselves may be different from the original. If you see a ratchet and visor combo that is different from the known standard, beware!

Apparel can also be faked similarly but errors can be spotted by the astute observer. An interesting case recently was when a friend pointed out how his first AStars jacket which he bought in Singapore had the liner as a separate removable piece, whereas the second which he bought in India to replace the first (after a crash) had the rain liner sewn inside. The AStars website also shows the liner as removable for this model, so obviously a fake. Now remember, this guy already knows how the original is supposed to be because he owned it. Yet the second one (the fake) was so well done that he bought it before closely inspecting the jacket.

Basically what I'm trying to say is - be informed and beware!

[AK3D]

Re: Helmets

Thats why I have in repeated posts advised that the quickest way to determine a genuine product is the heft of the helmet. True DOT/ECE helmets made of ABS/PC/FibreGlass would have to have a certain shell thickness and therefore weigh in at approximately 1500 gms +/- 200gms. SNELL rated helmets are even heavier. Only expensive, specialty helmets made of carbon fibre can be lighter, so if you pick up a low priced helmet that is unusually light, look closer! I recently demonstrated this difference at an offline G2G in Chennai where two LS2 helmets (same model) owned by XBhp brothers, one bought three years ago and one bought a few months ago weighed completely different and the construction too was completely different. The older version was much sturdier and solidly built and therefore also heavier.

Basically what I'm trying to say is - be informed and beware!

This is exactly what I said a few pages earlier. People are pushing LS2 like it's the best, but I wrote that they should compare. There is a world of difference between the construction of the older LS2 vs the newer ones.
If you see a 2 year old LS2 and compare it with the newer model side by side, you'll immediately notice the difference! A Studds Scorpion feels 'better' and safer than the fake LS2's.
People will keep buying the new LS2's thinking they are as safe, but they are not.

[JayD]

Re: Helmets

[MENTION=52772]AK3D[/MENTION]