6/10:
I try to do as many racing-related activities as possible, including getting to the local go-kart tracks and occasionally racing in my own car during autocross events. I finally got a little tired of borrowing/renting helmets that who-knows-how-many people had worn before me, putting up with scratched shields that didn't stay in place, and generally not feeling very cool and decided to buy my own helmet. Considering how much I like racing, this was a pretty big deal.I did a little poking around and found out that there really aren't too many places around Cambridge to buy racing helmets. Fortunately there are many different places online ranging from the helmet manufacturers themselves (www.simpsonraceproducts.com, www.bellracing.com) to Herb's Helmet Hut of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Comparing prices of various helmets across these options revealed minimal differences, so I opted to go straight to the manufacturer as I thought cutting the middleman would be a good idea. My first choice was a Simpson Avenger (the link was good as of this writing), which I thought was a great deal: a decent helmet from a well-known manufacturer for only about $220, where other apparently comparable helmets cost at least $40 more (and some were $1000 more). I eagerly ordered one up the Monday before Memorial Day. Two days later I got a phone call from Simpson: apparently they don't have any of those helmets left in stock, and in fact they don't even make them anymore. I'm not sure why you can still add one to your cart on their website, but the helpful customer service lady seemed pretty unconcerned about it. Unfortunately, their next-cheapest option was $300, so I moved on to Bell Racing. Their website offered, among others, the Bell Sport which again is a decent helmet from a well-known manufacturer for about $260. Supposing I'd forget about the $40, and not finding any sweeter deals elsewhere, I added the Bell, size large to my shopping cart. As an aside, I had tried on a few helmets in the pro shop of the go-kart track, and the mediums were rather small: my chin poked prominently out from the bottom and the padding was borderline-uncomfortable. I added a helmet bag to my order (I'll need something to carry it around in, after all), and a pair of karting gloves, also size large, to round out my accessories.
Clicking "Buy Online" didn't quite do what I thought it would: I was brought to the site of something called "Shopatron," which to me is essentially Spanish for "what the hell is this?" A little poking around revealed that Shopatron (seriously? What, was Shop-O-Matic already taken?) is a company that facilitates online merchandise purchases, and Bell Racing has outsourced their online store to them. It appears to be legit, but it also appears to be either something straight out of '98, Bush League, or both. Regardless, all of Bell Racing products were there, and my cart seemed to be accurate, so off it went.
The following morning, Thursday, I got an e-mail from Shopatron letting me know my order had been submitted and would be shipped shortly. Of course by "shortly" they meant the next morning, when I got another e-mail, this time from North American Race Gear (wait, who?), letting me know my order had shipped. I was a little miffed that I had deliberately gone to the manufacturer to get the helmet straight from them and had been piped through a middle man regardless, but there was little I could do about it at that point. I had chosen the cheapest shipping option ($17.90 for "3 to 5 days" via USPS), and considering it was just before Memorial Day weekend and the USPS takes Sundays off anyway, I expected everything to arrive sometime between Wednesday and Friday of the following week. Of course my shipping option didn't include online tracking, but I honestly wasn't concerned about it.
Yet.
Of course Wednesday and Thursday come and go without any deliveries. I was still holding out hope for Friday, but I got yet another e-mail Friday morning, this time from Bell Racing. It was a product satisfaction survey, as they wanted to know how much I was enjoying my new helmet. When I clicked the "I don't know, I don't frigging have it yet" button, I got a message to the effect of "You should have gotten it by now, we'll look into it." Here's a tip: if you want someone to think something is wrong, tell them something is wrong. It worked like a champ on me. I would have loved to have checked the online tracking to see where my $350 of stuff was, but as noted above that wasn't an option. I helpfully mentioned this in the "Do you have any other comments?" section...
Fortunately the doorbell rang Friday evening, and Amanda came back from answering it holding a helmet-sized box. With a UPS sticker on it. Hmm. It would have been nice if they had sent over the tracking number once they decided to forget about the USPS and send it via big brown truck, but whatever, it was here. I popped open the box and the gloves were sitting on top. I pulled them on and they fit like gloves. They were just barely big enough without being too small. I rightly figured that a few races would break them in and they'd be awesome. Under the gloves was the helmet bag, and under the bag was the helmet. In a bag. Turns out Bell Racing helmets come with bags. It would be helpful if they mentioned that on their website so you didn't go spending $20 on an extra one, but I guess that's what I get for accessorizing. Finally, I pulled on the helmet, and of course it was massive. I could almost spin it around my head. It was big enough that with it on I could fit my hands up in it and waggle my fingers in front of my face. I didn't think I had an unusual hand-to-head ratio, but apparently my hands are a size large and my head is somewhat smaller.
I kicked an e-mail to North American Race Gear (specifically Chris, who had sent the shipment confirmation message) letting him know I had selected the wrong size helmet and could I possibly exchange it, and oh I bought myself an extra bag and if there was anything he could do about it that would be awesome. Fortunately for me, Chris and North American Race Gear shoot pretty straight, and he let me know all I had to do was send the helmet and both bags back, and he'd send me what I needed. It took me until Wednesday after work to get to the UPS store to send the helmet back. The nice UPS man charged me $10 and said it would be there on Friday, two days later. Turns out he was extra-right, as (according to the online tracking) it got there early Friday morning, about 36 hours after I had dropped it off. While that was awesome on the surface, and while my math skills aren't stellar, it was also half the shipping cost to cover the same distance in a quarter of the time, with online tracking. Hmm. I had sent Chris the tracking number the morning after I sent the package, and he assured me he was preparing my new shipment. Unfortunately all I can do now is wait and hope that everything is as it should be when it gets here, probably sometime next week...
In the meantime, if you're considering buying a helmet, go find a local race gear shop to buy one from, even if "local" means an hour or two away. You'll likely get to talk to someone who can help you find one that is appropriate for what you're going to use it for (although you'll probably feel like you don't know what you're talking about), you'll get to try on as many as you need to find one that fits nice, and you'll take it home that day for just about the same price as you'd pay online before shipping (either one-way or several round-trips). Now you know.
Update 6/17:
Last weekend passed without any sign of any packages being left for me, so Sunday night I e-mailed my pal Chris at North American Race Gear looking for an ETA. I didn't hear anything back by mid-day Monday, so I gave him a ring... and had to leave a voicemail. I got to work today (Tuesday) still without any word at all, so I gave Chris another ring and finally managed to catch him. It turns out that the helmet was back-ordered when he went looking for a medium to send me. Apparently they're due to get them sometime in the next day or two, after which he said he'd "ship it immediately and e-mail or call me with the tracking number." What a peach.
Update 6/23:
Finally.
After one failed attempt to deliver the helmet while nobody was home, UPS managed to catch Amanda this afternoon. Well, barely. She had to run down the street in a bathrobe to catch the departing UPS guy, as he had rung the doorbell while she was in the shower. She knew who it was and what he was delivering, and since she is amazing she ran him down for me.
Fortunately for everyone involved, this helmet fits and I'm pretty excited to get it out on the track.
Moral of the story:
DON'T BUY HELMETS ONLINE. It's enough of a pain in the ass to get one; you sure as heck don't want to have to try to get another if the first isn't exactly what you need. Seriously, just go to a local race gear shop, even if "local" means an hour or two away. You'll likely get to talk to someone who can help you find one that is appropriate for what you're going to use it for (although you'll probably feel like you don't know what you're talking about), you'll get to try on as many as you need to find one that fits nice, and you'll take it home that day for just about the same price as you'd pay online before shipping (either one-way or several round-trips). I've said it twice for a reason. Now you know.
