Arai XD-4 fitment and replacement liners

The Mountain

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
230
Location
MassiveTwoS#hits
I just replaced my 4 year old Shoei RF1200 with an XD-4, which should arrive today. I was right on the line between a Med and a Large, so I bought the large. I see that Arai sells different thicknesses of liner, and the Med comes with a 10mm and the Large with a 7mm, and both appear to have the same shell. Does anyone know if the size difference for the two is down to just the thickness of the liner it comes with? Where I'm going with this is, if the Large turns out to be too loose with the 7mm liner, and I buy the 10mm liner, did I convert to a Med, or is the EPS thickness also different? Additionally, if the thicker liner is not the only difference, how can I tell what thickness of liner to buy? There is also a 12mm liner available, so I can go with either a 10 or 12 to change the fit.
 

Cycledude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
3,999
Location
Rib lake wi
I haven’t looked lately but believe only the cheek pads are replaceable , I used to wear a large but one year at the International motorcycle show a Arai rep told me I should be wearing a medium and all I had to do was change cheek pads so that’s what I did.
At first the medium pads felt to tight but it didn’t take long to adapt, now when I try on a large it does seem a little bigger than I prefer so I guess he knew what he was talking about, he happened to be an Arai dealer based out of New Holland Pennsylvania . I’m on about my 5th Arai XD and at least 2 of them have been bought from him. He is definitely very knowledgeable about Arai helmets !
 

fac191

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2016
Messages
2,829
Location
London
Always a good idea to get it set up at the dealers if the pads are removable.
 

The Mountain

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
230
Location
MassiveTwoS#hits

Look at the sizing and fit tab.
Already found that chart on the Arai website. Per my OP, I know it has the 7mm liner as standard, and I can put either a 10mm or 12mm liner in. I received the helmet this afternoon. It unfortunately is rather large feeling, and does slide around on my head. I don't want to deal with a return/exchange; I think a thicker liner will help. Given how much room I have, I think I'm going to have to go with the 12mm liner.
 

Eville Rich

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
464
Location
Wisconsin, USA
I'm in the same position. Time to replace my XD-4. I went with a XXL version for my original and have come to the conclusion that it's just a tad large. My head is measures right at the top of the XL and bottom of XXL range. I remember trying the XL when I got my last one and really feeling squeezed, but primarily in the cheeks. My local shop hasn't received their shipment of new XD-4s yet, so I'm just going to wait until I can test fit and maybe play around with liners. I do like that this is an option with the XD-4. May end up w/ XXL and the thicker cheek pad liner.

For what it's worth, my Schuberth C3 Pro is also an XXL - no way I'd go down a size with that, but I'll probably be trying something new when it's time to replace. I wish I could stick my head in a laser measuring machine and just customize the interior thickness based on that. Hmmm.

Eville Rich
2016 S10
 

The Mountain

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
230
Location
MassiveTwoS#hits
12mm liner is on the way. With the internal padding pulled out, there is a sticker on the EPS marking the helmet as a Large (7 1/4 to 7 3/8). I would guess then that there are two versions of the EPS, with the Med having slightly thicker EPS than the Large does, because the M and L both share the same size code on the website, which I am interpreting to mean it's the same shell. The padding comes out by detaching 4 snaps on the inside.

One possible benefit that I just thought of for keeping the large helmet is that there will be more room for my rather thick Alpinestar balaclava hood under it; something I wasn't sure of with the Medium Shoei I had before.

Eville, it looks like there are at least 8 different cheek pad thicknesses, so you should have lots of flexibility.
 

The Mountain

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
230
Location
MassiveTwoS#hits
Expecting the liner today, so we'll see how much of a difference it makes.

As an aside, the XD4 is not the easiest helmet to mount GoPro stuff to. I did get a pretty good chin mount for the camera from a place called Ride Tech Moto up in Canada, but mounting the microphone adapter is tough due to all the sculpting on the sides of the chin bar. The design of the adapter doesn't really help, with that thick, inflexible cable and the angled plug head.
 

The Mountain

Active Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
230
Location
MassiveTwoS#hits
The liner seems to have done the trick. Interestingly, and in support of my theory about the shell size, the liner is marked as a size "M" on the tag, in addition to denoting the thickness. Once installed, the helmet fits much more snugly, and no longer slides around. I can still get movement if I really push or wrench on the outside of the shell, but under normal conditions, it feels about the way I'd expect a Med helmet to fit. So if you buy the XD4, it sure feels like the shell is the same for both sizes, with maybe the EPS inside varying in thickness. You can change a Med to a Large by swapping in a thinner padding liner (this might not feel all that comfortable if you really need the larger size), or a Large down to pretty close to a Med by changing the liner out. Plus, I can hang on to my 7mm "Large" liner for winter wear, so I can wear my nice thick insulating balaclava. The replacement liner costs about $50, which is tolerable especially since it essentially gives you two helmets of different sizes.

Luckily for me, the cheek pads feel pretty correct, so I am good there, but they are available in 6 thicknesses from 12mm up to 35mm. The price for the cheek pads is pretty close to the liner, which might be kind of steep, but I like that this helmet is really tunable in a way that a lot of other helmets aren't.
 

Bill_C

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 22, 2021
Messages
492
Location
Central Valley California
As an aside, the XD4 is not the easiest helmet to mount GoPro stuff to. I did get a pretty good chin mount for the camera from a place called Ride Tech Moto up in Canada, but mounting the microphone adapter is tough due to all the sculpting on the sides of the chin bar. The design of the adapter doesn't really help, with that thick, inflexible cable and the angled plug head.
I had this issue and I made a template of the contours and then filled with adhesive tape. Worked wonders. Some folks use Suguru to build up a flat base for the double sided adhesive to grip to. Pretty cheap and super useful stuff. Tim from FTA Adventures on YouTube did a video on it.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Top