Well not really a battle, but a contest if you will. My first helmet was an HJC AC-11, and it fit decently, but was pretty loud, and not all that comfortable. I figured that was a sacrifice one made when paying less than $200 for a helmet. The prospect of potential passengers drove me to buy another helmet, for passenger use, but given that it wouldn’t be used often, I wasn’t willing to spend much – so I went w/ HJC again, in the form of their CL-15.

I figured I’d try the CL-15 on, just to see if the sub-$100 helmet fit the same as the AC-11 – it doesn’t. The CL-15 fits me better than the AC-11 does. Color me surprised. As far as noise goes, the CL-15 isn’t any louder than the AC-11, though it does flow more air through the bottom of the helmet. Where fit is concerned, the ear area is the most significantly different. The AC-11 smashes the tops of my ears into the earpieces of my glasses, making for some pretty steady pain after only a few miles. On the CL-15 I can actually comfortably wear my glasses and have no issues w/ my ears being smashed.

Looks to me like the CL-15 is now my helmet, and the AC-11 is the passenger helmet. Go figure.