A ‘Smart Helmet’ Finally Done Right: Forcite MK1S Motorcycle Helmet Review

For many riders, their full-face motorcycle helmet is more than a key bit of safety gear, it is also somewhat of a respite from the world. Put one on and you’re suddenly anonymous, enclosed in a bubble of calm as you pilot your steed through city traffic or across continents. Outside of the motorbike itself, a helmet is often one of purchases riders agonize over the most.

When touring motorcycles like the Honda Goldwing began to mature tech-wise in the early 1980s, helmets began to see some tech as well, usually in the form of in-helmet speakers for chatting between rider and passenger or other riders via CB radio (remember those?). And with audio systems appearing on top-end tourers, you could also pipe some tunes into your hat, which made long stretches across boring countryside a bit more tolerable.

Once portable music players like the venerable Sony Walkman hit the scene, riders like myself who could not afford a spendy touring bike or OEM hard-wired helmets DIYed our own setups; I made mine by cannibalizing some old headphones for music and wiring up a rudimentary mic for my battery-powered CB. It worked... most of the time. When smartphones appeared, the quest for a more high-tech helmet got more serious, and helmets with built-in Bluetooth began to appear. As microelectronics and display tech got ever more micro, the idea of putting a display in a helmet - for better or worse - became viable.

In the early days of crowdfunding, the SKULLY “smart helmet” combined a head-up display (HUD), audio, built-in computer and smartphone linking to great effect - in theory - and raised millions of dollars. Problem was, the tech still had a way to go and the money raised allegedly went to things unrelated to helmet development, and the whole thing came crashing down with very few $1,500 helmets making it to riders’ heads.

Other efforts to put a HUD in a helmet came and went as well, but recently, an Australian startup took the “smart helmet” idea in a smarter direction. Called Forcite (from “foresight”), the initial Forcite MK1 smart helmet included the expected audio speakers and phone ops, but dispensed with the head up display idea in favor of a more subtle and frankly safer visual warning system.

Instead of a head-up display in the rider’s line of vision, Forcite CEO Alfred Boyadgis and designer Julian Chow embedded simple multi-colored LED strips on the top rail of the full face helmet’s chin bar.

Coupled with GPS audio guidance via the Forcite app, riders get turn-by-turn route previews from a moving arc of LEDs ahead of a turn (above). This gives riders both a subtle and non-intrusive visual warning for a turn ahead, and since the Forcite GPS info is based on continually updated databases like Waze, there are also color and motion-coded warnings about construction, traffic, police activity, speed cameras, red light cameras and more.

Forcite also very cleanly embedded a 60fps HD video camera into the chin of the helmet so riders can record their journeys (or anything that happens in front of the helmet). A triangular bar-mounted remote control linked to the rider’s phone and the helmet gives control over camera ops, music, volume, phone ops and more.

If that all sounds like “a lot” for a helmet, it is, and I was admittedly skeptical, given the sordid history of “smart helmets.” But Forcite was kind enough to send Forbes.com their latest iteration of the helmet, the Forcite MK1S, for review even though at the time, it was not available in the United States. That just changed, and U.S. riders can now order their own MK1S helmet for $1,099.

I put the helmet to use immediately and was impressed with the way it worked, especially while on assignment recently in India for another publication. While riding with a group in a rural area, I got separated and was on my own in a country where I don’t read or speak the language. But I knew my destination, and when I typed it into the Forcite app, I was guided accurately to my rendezvous point. Along the way, I captured video of my travels (a still is below) I would not have been able to get with my phone or most add-on helmet cameras. While not 4K, the video is still quite sharp and clear.

I half-expected the Forcite MK1S to be a sort of cobbled-together mix of helmet materials and tech parts, but the MK1S is a strikingly streamlined helmet with a sleek carbon-fiber shell, a dark built-in sun shade (which did not make it into the U.S. version, unfortunately), harman/kardon speakers and dual microphones for clear phone calls while riding. It was all-day comfortable to wear and considering the embedded tech, surprisingly light.

The tech is located in a “pod” in the chin of the helmet (exploded view, above), and if the helmet is somehow damaged, Forcite says they can transplant the tech bundle into another helmet shell for far less than full replacement cost. The front HD camera sits behind a small transparent shield, so suicidal bugs don’t muck up the lens.

As it sits right now, there is no helmet-to-helmet intercom system built into the Forcite MK1S, a feature riders using Cardo and Sena comms systems have come to enjoy. But that will likely change in the near future. I talked with CEO Boyadgis at length after my India trip, and he told Forbes.com that the company is talking with a well-known action camera maker and a comms maker about partnerships that will bring 4K video and intercom features to the next version of the Forcite helmet. Boyadgis, a fan of high-resolution audio, also said he’s talking with headphone maker Master & Dynamic about upgrading the audio quality - significantly - of the in-helmet speakers.

Perhaps the best news about the Forcite helmet is that is isn’t vapor. Forcite claims they have now shipped thousands of helmets and are growing a Forcite community and owners groups around the world. I used an EU production-series helmet and had no problems with it, even abroad, save my forgetfulness to turn it off after a ride, which resulted in a dead battery on occasion. The helmets meet EU and US DOT safety standards.

Boyadgis says that eventually, he would like to see riders inform other riders nearby of motorcycle-specific hazards out on the roads in real time through tech that works like a sort of turbocharged Waze system. Considering the success so far, Forcite’s U.S. market expansion and the impressive performance of the MK1S that I was able to experience, I’d say theres a good chance that will eventually happen.

Highly recommended.

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