I am seriously blind w/o my contacts. And I had the exact same problem you had when I bought an Icon helmet instead of an expensive Shoei.

I don't know how much you want to spend, but I have an Shoei X11 (now they're X12s) and I LOVE it. My eyes never get dry, the windshield is completely wind tight and I don't hear much noise at all. They are eff-ing expensive though. However, I think they're worth it. It is your head and vision, right?

There's more vents on the Shoei X12 than any other helmet I've ever seen, and even with ALL the vents open, the wind goes over the top of my head. There's a vent by your mouth (and if you look inside the helmet, you'll see that it directs the wind down), two right above the faceshield two around where my forehead meets my hair - more on the hair part, and two more vents on the back of my helmet, right over the "spoiler" part of the helmet. You don't have to open the vents all the way either, if you don't want to.

I've never had to put a chin piece on the helmet - cuz I've never had any issues with wind or cold - or hot actually. Once my helmet wears out, I'm going to buy another Shoei X12. I saw mono - color ones on bikebandit for $613 (but you'd get like $200 in bandit bucks for whatever you want to by next time).

If I were you, go to a cycle gear and just try on helmets and then buy one (because they have a 7 day return policy). You can then test out various helmets w/o needing to worry about wasting money. So if it's more expensive at Cycle Gear, then online - then you now know the model and size. Also the Shoei X12 is the top of the line racing helmet made by Shoei. If you want graphics, the price jumps to $755 on bike bandit.

Icon helmet -

My eyes dried out so much that one of my contacts almost fell out - I rode blind for a few seconds at night - scariest moment of my LIFE!! I completely thought I was going to die. I couldn't see anything cuz my other contact was all dry and shifted in my eye. Luckily, I was able to blink and fake yawn (to get tears) and my contacts went back into place and I could see again. I NEVER WORE THAT HELMET AGAIN (I'm not an Icon fan at all - they charge too much for not good enough quality). I wore my OLD Shoei helmet to cycle gear to get a new helmet.

After that "OMG - I survived!" moment, I then bought my "standard" helmet, meaning what I always buy... Shoei RF1000 (they're RF1100s now) - it was fine, I was used to it... But not enough vents - my head used to always get hot - that was always a prob with the RF1000 series for me. So I went back to cycle gear and brought back the RF1000 and bought the X11 - my life was never the same again. I'm not exaggerating - I didn't have ANY probs at all with being hot or cold or not enough wind passing to cool me off - and NO DRY EYES!! And I'm not at all on top of the whole - "change your contacts every month". I wear mine till they feel way old, which on average is about two months or maybe longer - scary, I know.

I've been wearing contacts and Shoei's for over 22 years now - yeah, my profile pic makes me look young, but I'm really not.

Also - I'm Chinese, so you know I'm cheap when it comes to buying stuff. LOL! Shoei is made in Japan, and the quality is great.

But truly, go to Cycle Gear, try on multiple helmets, see which one fits you the best, and then try it out, you have NOTHING to lose. Just don't by a crappy $50 Bilt helmet. Those things scare me.

- Peggy (fishrscary)

This is awesome! Does anyone else have experience with the Shoei X-12 in terms of dried eyes? Because if this is the case, I will buy it in a heart beat.

My current helmet flows air (way too) well to the point where my eyes are miserable.

Haven't seen many stores carry the X-12 but I wonder if I can order it from an online vendor with a return policy or something...

Damn that's a son of a bitch not being able to use something you just dropped that much dough on.
GLWS and hope the next one works better for you.

I have an Arai Q and it seems to work fine with contacts. Make sure the gasket between the lid and the visor is clean. Also I wear Oasys contacts. The lens may make a difference too.

I was in error..now that I checked at home I use 1 Day Acuvue Moist...

What is your lens prescription? I Bought a ton I might be able to send you one or two so you can try them out?

The lens may make a difference too.