Review of the Bell Eliminator retro motorcycle helmet.

Because Bell helmets began making car racing helmets, it’s no surprise they’ve raided their automotive heritage when looking to design their latest retro-inspired motorcycle helmet, the Bell Eliminator.

From a biker’s perspective, the Eliminator does look pretty unusual and is definitely very retro. But it also looks very cool, and along with the usual plain blacks and whites, there’s an increasing range of graphics and finishes that will suit a reasonable range of heritage gear and bikes.

That includes the full matt carbon fibre 6K weave helmets all the way through to the 70’s inspired Outlaws that you’ll see dotted up and down the page.

Retro helmets are usually retro in their construction and utility too. So they’re oftern a compromise: you look cool but you also forego some of the useful stuff you find in most modern helmets.

So, here’s the score with Bell’s Eliminator; what owners and riders both love or tolerate when riding in theirs.

• Retro full face helmet
• Full carbon and fibreglass versions
• SHARP 5 Star safety rated (maximum)
• Class 1 optically correct visor
• Tons of vent holes (permanently open)
• Bell ProVision antifog insert as standard
• 1.35Kg (3lbs) – Lightweight
• Double-d ring fastener
• Sizes XS-XXXL
• Expect to pay:
  • £200-£300 fibreglass
  • £500-£550 carbon fibre

Best places to buy a Bell Eliminator?

Please click below to visit the Bell Eliminator helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Bell Eliminator Forced Air

Before I go on, you may have noticed there’s a forced air version of the Bell Eliminator.

The forced air is simply a kit that can fit onto any Eliminator (or you can buy it with the kit already fitted) that allows you to connect the Eliminator up to a fresh air unit and push clean air into the helmet.

It’s not really something us bikers would ever need but if you’re a serious car racer or off roader where there’s a ton of dust and muck in the air that’s interfering with your breathing, then it might come in useful.

Adding the kit allows you to pipe clean air into the top vents and chin vents and the kit comes with a small peak that fits to the top of the helmet too.

In fact, some folks reckon adding the peak and removing the main visor and adding goggles turns the Eliminator into a decent adventure helmet.

Safety

 (more about helmet safety)

Bell Eliminators have been both ECE 22-05 tested/certified in Europe and are DOT in the US.

Overall, Bell has a solid reputation for making some great performing helmets.

In fact, since we’ve been reviewing helmets, they’ve never been out of the top 10 of our safest helmet brands list, with many of their tested helmets scoring maximum marks from SHARP.

And in the US, several of their helmets have been Snell tested and approved too.

And if you’re in the market for a retro helmet that’ll give excellent protection, the great news is that the helmet testing bods at SHARP have now got their hands on the Bell Eliminator and awarded it with a maximum 5 star safety rating.

Not only is that a fantastic score meaning that it will give you about as good protection as it’s possible to get in a full face helmet. But along with the Biltwell Lane Splitter, it’s also the highest scoring retro helmet we’ve come across. Excellent work Bell Helmets!

In addition to how well the Eliminator might protect you in a crash, it’s also got a wide and optically correct class A visor to give you good, clear all-round vision that’ll help keep you out of trouble in the first place.

And it’s secured using a double-d ring fastener which are relatively easy to use (arguably not as easy as micrometric fasteners tho) and mean you have to tighten the strap each time you wear the helmet. As long as you’re diligent when you do it, double-d rings are about as safe as helmet fasteners come.

The Eliminator is made in 3 helmet shell sizes which means the shell size and amount of polystyrene shock EPS absorbing liner should be right for your head/body size. Again, this is great for optimising safety.

And it’s a light weight helmet too with most sizes/versions weighing less than 1.4Kg. Not only does that mean it’ll be easier to live with, but a lighter helmet is only going to help during an accident too, reducing inertia and likelihood of neck injuries.

If you’re wanting the maximum amount of safety features in your next helmet, then you might want to buy a helmet with a drop down sun visor and probably EQRS.

The Eliminator doesn’t have either – but other than those, it seems to be pretty good and we’d expect it to offer good levels of rider protection.

Helmet Noise

(more about helmet noise)

There’s some decent padding inside the Eliminator and the helmet shell’s pretty round without too many bits and bobs protruding into the airflow – all of which is usually a good sign for making a pretty quiet helmet.

But unfortunately, the Eliminator’s got a load of always-open air vents in the helmet shell. And while they’re great for letting in air, they’re also good for letting in noise too.

Most owners of the Bell Eliminator seem to agree that noise levels are fine if you’re cruising, but at motorway speeds, it turns into a bit of a noisy bugger.

Which is kinda what you’d probably guess by looking at it. But stick in some decent ear plugs and you should be fine for all but the most bonkers speeds.

Ventilation

(more about helmet ventilation)

There’s a stack of vents on the Bell Eliminator.

The most obvious vents are probably those 9 circular vents drilled through the forehead. They take air straight through the shell and EPS liner and through to the head.

There aren’t any channels inside the helmet to circulate air around the head, but because the venting’s unimpeded, they’re pretty effective.

In the chin bar, there’s four small vents covered in a metal grid. Again, they take air straight through the helmet shell and directly into the helmet.

That’s fine if you want the air just where the vents are – and you want it all the time. But as the helmet comes out the box, there’s no way to close off the vents. At all.

So if you live somewhere that’s mostly breezy or cold or rainy, you’re gonna spend quite a bit of your time with either a cold or wet head or both. So be warned.

Having said that, Bell does offer a clip-on external vent cover to block up the top holes if you need it. It doesn’t look too shabby either, making the helmet look more like a conventional full face with plastic vent cover.

So, the bottom line as far as the vents are concerned, are if you live somewhere that’s mostly warm and dry or you’re just going to use your Eliminator when the forecast’s good as a warm day cruising helmet, then it’s going to work for you.

But if you live somewhere cold and rainy for much of the year, you might be hard pressed to use the Eliminator as your daily helmet unless you buy the optional rain cover for the top vents.

Incidentally, at the time of writing, that rain cover is included if you buy the helmet from our recommended retailer below.

Visor

(more about visors)

Like the helmet, the visor on the Bell Eliminator is very old school – but with a new school twist.

It looks very much like visors on helmets from the 70’s. It’s a flat visor so it’s not particularly shaped in any way like many modern helmets. And it’s not quick release nor does it work on a ratchet to give you lots of different opening positions.

Nope, if you want to remove the visor, you’ll need a 6mm allen/hex key. And if you want to adjust how easily or tightly the visor opens/closes, you can do that but you’ll need another hex key – a 2.5mm – to tighten/loosen the other allen bolt.

All very fiddly and all authentically retro.

And if you want to lock it closed – and you probably will because, according to some owners it does have a tendency to catch the wind and fly open when you’re riding along – then there is a pin & hole lock at the bottom which will lock the visor closed.

Only, lots of owners reckon it’s less than easy to open the visor again once it’s locked. It’s definitely something that needs practice (and a strong left thumb!).

Sheesh, the things we do for style, eh?

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A couple of links you might find useful…

– The coolest helmets we’ve looked at –
– Heaps of other retro motorbike helmets –

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OK, I mentioned some new school stuff, right?

Because that visor’s very flat, that means Bell’s managed to make it class 1 optically correct so you should have any distorted vision.

And if you look closely, you’ll also see there’s a slight groove around the inside of the visor. That’s Bell’s ProVision antifog system which is basically like a Pinlock antifog without the Pins.

So the visor on the Bell Eliminator comes pre-fitted with this ProVision double glazing which gives you an antifog visor straight out of the box.

And Eliminator owners say it works incredibly well. One rider said he rode in the snow and couldn’t fog it up and another said they’ve ridden in all weathers and it’s never fogged up once.

That’s great news for European riders who pretty well always need an antifog visor solution on their helmets.

The visor on the Eliminator is also nice and wide too so you’ve got great peripheral vision in there to spot cars/bikes/pedestrians etc. though it’s not very deep because that chin bar’s fairly hefty.

But all in all, the visor system on the eliminator seems to strike a decent balance between retro look and modern convenience.

Comfort and Sizing

(more about comfort and sizing)

The Bell Eliminator is a medium oval head shaped helmet (that’s most of us – but look here if you need a longer oval helmet).

Check our fitting guide if you’re not sure how to measure yourself for a helmet – but if you do go to order an Eliminator, note that they can size a bit small. Which means if you’re looking to order one and you’re at the upper end of a size, you probably should order a size up.

Other than that and you buy the correct size, owners reckon it’s a very comfortable helmet.

The internal comfort lining is antimicrobial and fully removable and washable.

Bell offers the helmet in a couple of interiors – a Virus Cool Jade version where the interior has a bit of jade in it which apparently has a slight cooling effect on the head. Or there’s their X-Static XT2 liner which uses micro strands of silver to kill off microbes and keep your lid odour free.

Apparently this works well because a couple of owners commented how they used their helmets for full sweaty days of riding and found their helmets smelt box fresh after it.

Looks & Graphics

As you’d expect from a mean and moody retro helmet, there’s a few cool retro graphics along with the usual blacks and white versions.

Of the retros, there’s a really funky Outlaw graphic that mirrors some of the custom tank airbrushed graphics you’d see in the 70’s. And there’s a nod to the automotive with the Rally version.

There are a couple of specials too. That full carbon fibre version comes with a clear matt lacquer which looks mega, plus there’s a mirrored chrome version that’s unusual and super cool (with the right bike).

To see all these designs up close, we’d love you to click through to our recommended stores below where you’ll get better views and find any helmet deals that are around (from only properly great retailers who work hard not to mess you around).

Best places to buy a Bell Eliminator helmet?

Please click below to visit the Bell Eliminator helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Bell Eliminator Video

3m video looking round the Eliminator.

Other stuff – audio, weight, glasses, aero, buffeting, warranty

Audio/communicators

The Bell Eliminator has a couple of speaker pockets inside so it should be able to accommodate most bluetooth intercom sets. The bottom edge might be a bit thick for a clamp mount because there’s a thick rubber rim around it, but there’s plenty of surface for a sticky mount.

Glasses wearers

There’s a glasses groove inside the Eliminator so once you’ve got your helmet on, you should be fine for wearing your glasses without the arms pressing into your head.

Find other helmets that are great for glasses wearers here.

Aero/buffeting

The shell of the Eliminator is pretty round and smooth which is usually a good sign that a helmet has great aero properties. There’s also a small chin spoiler moulded into that bottom rubber gasket which is designed to help reduce lifting.

However there’s mixed reviews how well it all works – possibly as a result of the speed and type of bikes owners are riding.

Some find it buffets badly at motorway speeds while another reckoned the aero is fine with very little lift or buffeting even when doing shoulder checks – and better than other retro helmets they’ve owned.

Bell Eliminator warranty

All Bell helmets come with a 5 year warranty – that’s about as long as you’ll find from any helmet maker.

Overall/Summary

Like many retro helmets, you’re buying a cool looking helmet that doesn’t perform quite as well, in some respects, as a modern helmet. But then if you’re thinking of buying such a cool helmet as the Eliminator, do you really give a damn, because you’re probably buying it for that retro style, right?

Having said that, the Eliminator’s been tested by SHARP and been awarded their maximum 5 star rating. That’s just an amazing score and means it should give you just about the best protection you can buy – retro or not!

So protection’s taken care of – but it’s just the other stuff that makes a helmet easier to live with that’s gonna be a bit of a compromise with the Eliminator. Like needing hex keys to tighten your visor and getting wet inside your helmet if it rains.

Then again, you probably ride a retro Triumph or Duke in retro leathers in which case it’s all part of the fun. And having that Bell sticker on there is very fitting since they’ve been making helmets since not long after the war and are very much a part of that retro scene.

I mean, it probably wouldn’t be the same with an HJC, right?

So, as long as you know it’ll be a bit quirky and not quite as easy to live with as a modern helmet, then absolutely go for a Bell Eliminator – it’s sure to be a fab helmet for cruising and looking cool.

Crash Helmet Buying Guides & Top 10s

For (hopefully!) other useful information to help you when buying your next helmet, check our various Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guides - or have a look at our Top 10 best helmet lists where we've got the top 10 best rated helmets overall along with Top 10 Best Budget/Top 10 Safest/Top 10 Best Full Face/Top 10 Best Modular/Flip-up/ Top 10 Best Sportsbike/Track helmets.

Good Alternatives to the Bell Eliminator?

If you want a retro style helmet, then there’s some great alternatives out there.

First up, the Simpson Venom is another automotive retro styled helmet that’s actually not much of a compromise to style. It’s SHARP 4 star safety rated, has a drop down sun visor, has a Pinlock ready visor, is light weight and is a smidge cheaper than the Bell Eliminator (depending on whether you go for carbon or composite version.

The Shoei Ex-Zero looks cool as… and while it’s not been safety tested, it’s a Shoei AIM helmet so should be pretty good. It’s really really light too and comes with EQRS.

Or how about the Nexx X.G100 (or the X.G100R which is the same helmet with a proper visor) which are mega light helmets that are comfortable and relatively noise free.

And of course you can find lots more retro helmets on our retro helmets pages.

Best places to buy a Bell Eliminator?

Please click below to visit the Bell Eliminator helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Star Ratings