Review of the HJC FG-ST Helmet

Overview

The HJC FG-ST is one of our favourite “all-rounders”. It delivers everything you want from a helmet, and delivers it well. It received a 5 star safety rating from SHARP, which isn’t dished out easily. For us the added features like the pinlock ready visor and included pinlock anti-fog visor insert, integrated sun visor and the great airflow system that make this helmet stand out in the crowd.

HJC has been making helmets since 1950, and purely focussing their attention on motorbike helmets since 1971, and you might be surprised to hear that they are actually the worlds biggest helmet brand. Producing more helmets than any of the other brands, even Arai and Shoei.

If you’re after a helmet that delivers an outstanding level of protection, with a few trick features and comfort you won’t be let down by the HJC FG-ST. The FG-ST also comes in a huge range of colour options. So it’s one of the most versatile choices when it comes to styling.

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Price

Priced between £130 and £200 the FG-ST sits in the mid-range level of helmets. The average price of a helmet from our partner SportsBikeShop is around £140, and you’ll expect to pay approximately £170 for a HJC lid. With around 95 different helmet options available, HJC probably have the best range of choice. Especially when it comes to colours and style. Anyway back to the FG-ST, at £130+ we think HJC has really pulled out all the stops. Seeing as you’re paying middle of the range money for a 5 Star SHARP rated helmet. The average price of a 5 star SHARP rated helmet is £287, and the average price for a HJC 5 star helmet is £203, so you can see that you’re genuinely getting yourself a bargain if you’re in the market for a 5 star helmet.

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Quality and Safety

Here we’re going to look in a little more detail at the quality and the safety provided by the HJC FG-ST. Of course expectations are going to be high, because it’s a helmet by HJC, so let’s see what owners make of their FG-ST lid.

Quality

When it comes to quality, there are several elements that we tend to consider when we’re analysing a helmet. It’s features, the brand, the finish, the durability and overall feel. Wind noise is of course a huge factor too in deciding if a helmet is right for you, but we treat that separately and cover it in more detail in a moment.

The HJC FG-ST helmet seems to stand up well against customer scrutiny, with almost no bad customer reviews. For a helmet in the £100-£200 category it’s great to see that it features an advanced fibreglass shell, something you tend to only see on higher end helmets. I guess an advantage of buying HJC. Other great features help it to stand out from the crowd too, including the advanced ventilation system, pinlock visor and the built in sun visor. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that sets this helmet apart in terms of quality, it’s more the overall package provided makes it such a great buy. It isn’t the lightest helmet in class, weighing around 1.6 kg, but it’s by no means noticeably heavy.

We’ve picked out a few HJC FG-ST reviews from customers at SportsBikeShop to give you a flavour of their thoughts.

✅Koray – Aug 17 – “Really excellent build quality nice paint job and finish. Really for this money what more can you ask for.”

✅Thomas – Aug 17 – “Great quality, well built,”

✅Marco – July 17 – “Unbeatable price for quality. Sits well to my head, visors work well. Much less noisier than my other helmets”

✅Tony – Jly 17 – “Still a cutting edge race standard product, An excellent product that functions exactly as it should.”

standout features on the FG-ST

Features that stood out to us that are worth mentioning, include:

• Removable and washable lining. Great for commuters or bikers using their helmet day in day out. The SilverCool® moisture wicking liner is designed to absorb moisture and sweat, and the advanced airflow system will help to keep you cool all summer.
• UV resistant visor – the visor claims to stop 99% of UV rays, a great for those who worry about the harmful rays from the sun.
• Quick release visor – to be honest, I say it’s a stand out feature but in reality you expect this from a decent helmet. But either way, it’s good to know that the visor is easily removable.
• Integrated sun visor – great for when the sun catches you out on those straight blinding roads. It really does make all the difference to be able to flick the sun visor down.
• The visor as standard is treat to provide an anti-fog finish, but the added pinlock ready visor and free pinlock max vision anti-fog insert that you get with the helmet really makes the FG-ST a winner for us. Bearing in mind you’d pay around £30 for a pinlock visor insert.
• Great for glasses wearers – The FG-ST has a groove in the interior to make room for glasses, so it’s perfect for glasses wearing riders.
• Shell sizes – you’ll only really see different shell sizes in the higher end helmets, the FG-ST is available in 2 different shell sizes. This means you get a shell size to better suit your head.

The ventilation of the FG-ST has been designed to provide minimum levels of airflow, with multiple air intakes on the front and exhaust ports at the back to keep air flowing through freely.

Safety

I was about to write “Safety is where the FG-ST really shines” but I’ve already praised the helmet for being a great all-rounder. But if there is one area that really gives this helmet the edge it would be safety. As we said in the price section of this review, you can expect to pay nearly £290 on average for a 5 Star SHARP rated helmet, so to see it on a £130 to £200 lid is great.

I won’t bore you with the details of the SHARP test, by just know that 5 star helmets don’t come around often. Of the 434 helmets tested by SHARP there are only 62 that have achieved the 5 star rating. Just 14%. So keep the FG-ST in your list of helmets to consider buying.

The fibreglass shell construction of the helmet will undoubtably be a contributor to it achieving the 5 star safety rating. The double-D chin strap will ensure a secure fit at all times.

It’s also good to know that you’re backed by a 1 year warranty, if any issues should arise.

 

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Size

We’ve already touched upon the fact that the HJC FG-ST comes with two different shell sizes, this will help to ensure that you’re not getting a shell unnecessarily bigger than it needs to be. XS S and M will all share one helmet shell size, whilst L XL and 2XL (where available) will share another shell size. In terms of the sizes available, being a HJC you’ll be able to get a broad spectrum of sizes including:

XS 53-54

S 55-56

M 57 – 58

L 59-60

XL 61-62

Some styles may also offer 2XS and 2XL.

Customer comments suggest that the helmets seem to fit as per the size guide given above, with no need to buy a bigger/smaller size.

✅Ashley – Feb 2017 “The helmet is a true to size fit and I found the padding adequate and comfortable.”

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Wind Noise

Ok so this is where HJC has really divided opinions, there doesn’t seem to be a general consensus on wind noise which is really unusual when we’re reviewing a helmet. There is almost a 50/50 split of people saying it’s great for wind noise, and others saying it’s not so good. There don’t seem to be any real complaints, i.e nobody saying it’s unbearable, but just a few saying you get some wind noise. See below for some key comments we picked out for the FG-ST wind noise.

Positive

✅John – Jan 17 – “Never had a comfier, high quality helmet in my life. There is a lot less wind noise and the material they use for the liners are top notch.”

✅Brian – Feb 17 – “After trying 3 other helmets this was far superior in quality, wind noise, visor operation and venting.”

✅Martin – Aug 17 – “This helmet however keeps the road, wind and exhaust noise down. For the price it’s a bargain.”

✅Anonymous – Aug 17 – “Very comfortable, lightweight, silent helmet with good sunvisor.”

Negative

❌Koray – Aug 17 – “When the visor closes most of the outside noise is cancelled (great) but there is quite a bit of wind rush noise past the helmet in 50+mph. Still quieter than all the other helmets I mentioned.”

❌Karl – July 17 – “Chin mesh fitted cuts down draughts, but still got wind noise at speed, but there again I ride a naked tourer.”

❌Dan – Sept 17 – “Good for the price, great airflow inside the helmet keeping your noggin cool. Visor is good as locks shut. Fair bit of wind noise though.”

❌Anonymous – Aug 17 – “This helmet very very noisy. With my old one never had to use ear plugs when riding. For this one ear plugs is must”

Talk about difference of opinion, one owner saying ear plugs are a must, with another describing it as “silent”. The problem is, wind noise is subjective, so we’ll leave it to you to make you call here based on the feedback and reviews from owners above.

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Visor

The visor has all the bells and whistles you expect from a HJC helmet, we’ve pretty much covered all there is to say above in the quality section so we’ll only give you a brief recap here. The visor on the FG-ST comes fitted with a quick release feature which means no tools are required for removal when you want to give it a quick clean before riding. It’s pinlock ready and comes included with a max vision pinlock visor insert which will dramatically reduce fogging. If you haven’t owned a pinlock visor before, give it a go they’re something you’ll really appreciate. The visor also protects you from UV for added peace of mind.

The FG-ST also benefits from the built-in sun visor, something becoming increasingly popular on helmets, and something I’m personally a huge fan of. The sun visor is operated by a very simple slider which puts a lot of other helmets to shame with its ease of use.

When you buy your helmet from SportsBikeShop, our recommended partner, you will get a clear visor. However there are some stunning looking tinted visors available, which won’t be road legal.

The helmet also features a retaining clip system which locks the visor down, which is great for keeping out the wind and reducing wind noise, whilst adding another great safety factor. It releases by simply pushing on the clip so it doesn’t cause any problems to open the visor whilst riding.

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Styling

The FG-ST helmet definitely doesn’t disappoint when it comes to styling. It has great looks even in the plain colours, but there’s also a massive choice of paint schemes available. Almost too many, how the hell do I choose which one I want. I feel like I’m in a restaurant with a never ending menu, which so much choice I just feel lost. We’ve covered some of the more popular colour options below, all of which are available to buy from SportsBikeShop. The helmet styling has a real fierce look thanks to the air intakes at the front. As well as the air outlet system at the back. So it has some real character.

 

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Summary

A brilliant 5 star rated helmet by HJC. Honestly almost unbelievable that they’ve priced this helmet so low. Given the fact that it’s 5 star rated, a fibreglass, pinlock ready (with anti-fog insert included). And it carries the extra features like the integrated sun visor. It’s just a shame the owner reviews are so inconclusive on how it handles wind noise. That said the helmet has received around 100 reviews scoring just under 5/5 on average, so overall owners are pretty impressed with the HJC FG-ST, as are we.

Buy HJC FG-ST at SportsBikeShop

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FG-ST Video

Below is a video review from YouTube