The majority of the world’s population collects something. I happen to collect helmets. Specifically, I collect Arai helmets. I had always wanted an Arai helmet when I was younger but they’ve always been pretty expensive and it never really worked out. I remember playing with my dad’s old Arai back in the day, so that’s probably where my obsession started. I bought a couple of the old Arai models with removable chins a number of years ago to use working at the GNCCs. We use open-face helmets a lot as they’re just easier when you’re wearing a helmet all day long on a quad, but of course on a bike I still wear my full-face helmets. I bought a couple, then found a few more, then more and before I knew it I was totally obsessed with these old Arai’s, and of course I wanted to continue that into newer models.
Of course, the two-piece Arai’s are becoming harder and harder to find. Most people have ruined them or are hanging onto what they have, then the information on them is pretty much gone from the internet these days since they stopped making them back around 2006 or so. In that case, I figured I would add a page here to not only showcase what I’ve got but also hope that it helps out someone else who loves these helmets as much as I do.
It’s gotten pretty hard to find information on the older helmets, and you don’t see the modern day Arai dirt helmets get the kind of attention that other brands do. So, I decided to share my collection with the interwebs! Below you will see a gallery of each helmet in the collection, along with a little bit of information below each gallery. These are arranged in chronological order of how old they are.
I’m not necessarily in the market of selling any of these, but everything has it’s price and I could be persuaded if you’re really, really interested. Give me a shout at bolton@gnccracing.com if you ever wanted to make an offer, or if you have a helmet you think I might be interested in for a good price.
This is a long page full of helmets and photos, but I’ll start with a summary, sort of like a table of contents to let you know what’s on this page. You can click on any of the Model Name and Paint Jobs below to directly view the gallery, or keep scrolling to see each one in chronological order.
Not only do I have my current collection, I’ll also list anything I have for sale, and what has previously been sold from the collection.
The Current Collection
1988 Arai MX Pro – Pink/Silver
1990s Arai MX/E – US ISDE Team Helmet
1990s Arai MX/A – Jeff Stanton Replica
1990s Arai DS – First Dual Sport Helmet
1996 Arai MX/A – Cue Ball White
1996 Arai MX Pro – Mike Lafferty Championship Helmet
1998 Arai MX-III – Silver with US ISDE Replica Paint
1999 Arai MX-III – Shayne King Replica
2000 Arai MX-III – Epic Japanese Paint Job
2000 Arai MXC Pro – Scott Summers Replica
2002 Arai MXC Pro – Storm Orange
2006 Arai MXC Pro – Orange Barbed Wire Mike Lafferty Helmet
2006 Arai VX Pro 3 – Narita-3 Yellow
2007 Arai V Cross 3 – Akira Red
2007 Arai VX Pro 3 – US ISDE Team Replica
2007 Arai VX Pro 3 – Wingflame Green
2007 Arai VX Pro 3 – Wingflame Orange
2007 Arai VX Pro 3 – Orange Barbed Wire
2010 Arai VX Pro 3 – Osborne White
2018 Arai VX Pro 4 – US ISDE Team Helmet
2018 Arai VX Pro 4 – Bogle Orange
2019 Arai VX Pro 4 – Frost Black
FOR SALE
2007 Arai XD-3 – Silver
Gone But Not Forgotten
2003 Arai MXC Pro – Storm Silver
2007 Arai VX Pro 3 – Barbed Wire Silver
2011 Arai VX Pro 3 – Resolution Yellow
1987/88 Arai MX Pro
Pink/Silver
This was the helmet that started the entire collection. As mentioned earlier, I had always wanted an Arai helmet but just never could quite afford exactly what I wanted. Back around 2015, I had started looking for a new open face helmet to wear on my ATV while working at the GNCC events, but the problem I was running into is that, other than some trials helmets, it was really difficult to find a good open face helmet. I decided to get an old Arai MX or MXC Pro, and it turned into an obsession. I picked this one up on eBay and I’ve been at it ever since!
Early 1990s Arai MX/E
US ISDE Team Helmet
I came across this one on eBay and jumped all over the opportunity to buy it! The exact year is worn off, but it has an M1990 Snell rating, which puts it somewhere between 1990 and 1995. I would imagine it belonged to a Club Team rider at the 94 ISDE in Tulsa, but truthfully it could have been any year in that time frame.
Early 1990s Arai MX/A
Jeff Stanton Replica
I had been searching for a Stanton Replica Arai for quite some time, and after talking to my buddy Bob Pistole at Loretta Lynn’s MX about it several years ago, he ended up digging one out of his barn and donated it to my collection. Big thanks to Bob Pistole from Sunset Ridge MX in Illinois for hooking it up, and if you’re ever in western Illinois looking for a really nice moto track to ride, be sure to check out Sunset Ridge!
Early 1990s Arai DS
Arai’s First Dual Sport Model
This Arai DS model was the first dual sport helmet Arai began producing. Not sure of the exact year, but it would fall somewhere in the early 1990s.
1996 Arai MX/A
Classic Cue Ball White!
Jeff Russell spent a weekend out at his parent’s place in Ohio in early 2020. They did some cleaning and Jeff brought this back for me. He had gotten it for his dad, Howard, back in the 90s and Howard hasn’t used it in a number of years so they decided to donate to the collection. Thanks Jeff and Howard!
1996 Arai MX Pro
Mike Lafferty Championship Helmet With Jerry Bernardo Paint Job
A few years ago Mike Lafferty did some spring cleaning and found out he had somewhere around 100 Arai helmets he had amassed throughout his career. He offered to donate to my collection as well. In early 2019, I was moving around some helmets including a helmet I had from Jeff Russell at the time. I posted a photo on Instagram and Kailub Russell commented asking if I’d trade him his dad’s helmet for a Mike Lafferty helmet. I was in, and thats how I ended up with two Mike Lafferty helmets (second one coming up later on this page)
It actually wasn’t until some time later that someone shared a photo on Facebook from a National Enduro event in late 1997, saying it was the day Mike wrapped up his first of a record tying eight National Enduro titles. When I looked at the photo I saw that Mike was wearing this helmet on that day! Pretty cool!
1998 Arai MX-III
Silver Cue Ball from Japan
I got this helmet from an online auction site that acts as a broker for Japanese auction sites. It was originally silver but I thought it would be cool to attempt to put a late 90s-early 2000s US ISDE Team replica paint job on it. I’m TERRIBLE at painting, so it turned out like crap but looks okay on the wall in my basement.
This helmet is an MX-III model, which was the Asian and European version of what we called the MXC Pro here in United States. The MX-III and MXC Pros were the last models produced with the removable chins.
1999 Arai MX-III
Shayne King Replica from Spain
This Arai MX-III came from Spain, but doesn’t have any other really cool story behind it. This is just a really cool paint job that was a replica of World Motocross Champ, Shayne King.
2000 Arai MX-III
Epic Paint Job From Japan
This is arguably the coolest paint job in the collection, and one of my personal favorites. This is not a custom paint job, it’s actually a model that Arai produced back in the early 2000s. This came all the way from Japan, from a Japanese auction website. I’ve seen a couple other helmets in this same paint job on that site since, but I’ve never been able to find any other information on this, and as far as I know this particular paint job was never available outside of Japan.
2000 Arai MXC Pro
Scott Summers Replica in Black
In the late 90s and early 2000s, Arai produced a couple of replica helmets for Five Time GNCC Champion, Scott Summers. This black/orange version still looks awesome, even by modern standards and is one of my favorites in the collection. I still hope to add the red/white/blue version of this paint job to the collection!
2003 Arai MXC Pro
Storm Orange
I found this one using a website which searches all of Craigslist. It came from a gentleman in Florida, and it came with that awesome Mullet Hunter sticker on the end of the visor.
2006 Arai MXC Pro
Orange Barbed Wire Mike Lafferty Helmet
This is the second helmet from Mike Lafferty in my collection, and this was one of the “Most Wanted” on my list from the get-go. This barbed wire orange paint job was one of the last MXC Pro models ever produced. Basically, this signifies the end of an era and it’s a bit of a shame Arai had to discontinue this model as folks still talk about how much they loved these helmets.
2006 Arai VX Pro 3
Yellow Narita-3
My buddy George Pollard, who helps out the FMF/KTM Factory Racing Team at some of the GNCC events donated this helmet to my collection. Arai did a number of replica paint jobs from Japanese Motocross legend, Akira Narita, and this was one of them.
2007 Arai V Cross 3
Akira Red
This is yet another Akira Narita replica paint job, this time coming from 2007. This helmet actually came from Japan as well, thus the different model name. In Asia and Europe, this model was known as the Arai V Cross 3, while it was called the VX Pro 3 here in the United States.
2007 Arai VX Pro 3
Another Paint Job I Attempted
This was actually the first paint job I attempted, and it’s even worse than the one earlier on this page. I REALLY suck at it!
2007 Arai VX Pro 3
Wingflame Green
This one was added to the collection several years ago and came from my buddy Tyler Hampton. I grew up racing the North Carolina Hare Scrambles with Tyler for many years, but I swear I really don’t remember him wearing this helmet. Anyway, I’m not sure if I ever paid him the $40 price tag we agreed upon for this particular helmet, so to make up for it check out Tyler’s store; Hampton’s Men’s Clothing.
2007 Arai VX Pro 3
Wingflame Orange
This is another one I picked up from eBay. Nothing crazy, I just managed to get a great price on this helmet.
2007 Arai VX Pro 3
Barbed Wire Orange
The Barbed Wire Paint Jobs were really awesome. I wasn’t crazy about the pieces of barbed wire themselves inside the paint job, but the other shapes and colors together looked great.
2010 Arai VX Pro 3
Osborne White
This is a really cool paint job too. This was a Zach Osborne replica back when ZachO was racing MXGP over in Europe. It reminds me of a bit of a mashup of something Evel Knievel would wear mixed with a US ISDE Team helmet!
2018 Arai VX Pro 4
Authentic US ISDE Team Helmet
This helmet was meant for someone to use in the 2018 edition of the ISDE, but it was never worn. I’m not positive who it was intended for, but I came across it on eBay and HAD to have it. I spent more on this one helmet than the majority of the others combined, but it was well worth it and it’s the pride of my collection!
2018 Arai VX Pro 4
Bogle Orange
Apparently Justin Bogle wore Arai helmets for a bit and ended up with this really cool replica paint job. This is the first matte helmet I’ve ever owned the one I currently wear riding. I’ve been happy with this one! It’s comfortable, looks good and has held up to some abuse in a short period of time!
2019 Arai VX Pro 4
Frost Black
Nothing super special here, I just picked this up at a good price online. Might keep it, or I might flip it and let it go. We’ll see!
FOR SALE
Below are some helmets I’m looking to sale. Take a look at them and if you’re interest just drop me a line at bolton@gnccracing.com and let’s make a deal!
2007 Arai XD-3
Silver
Size XL Arai XD3 – $160
Used, Fair shape with some scratches but still a good dual sport helmet. I bought this used several years ago but have never ended up using it.
The Good:
New Cheek Pads
New Liner
New Face Shield
Vents all work as they should
The Bad: Quite a few scratches, however they pretty small and you can tell it’s never had a very hard hit.
Missing left side pressure plate for visor/shield
Has 2 small holes drilled on right side for some sort of mount.
This is the previous XD model as they are now on the XD4, but it’s still a good helmet and perfect for someone looking for a quality helmet on a budget. Willing to negotiate on price, and will ship for additional $20.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
This section shows the helmets that have passed on through my collection and moved on… Some of these I wish I would have hung onto. DOH!
2003 Arai MXC Pro
Storm Silver
I didn’t really intend to lose this one. I didn’t sell it either… This one came to me from my buddy Tom Leacu with FAHQ Racing. I gave it to a helmet painter in early 2016 who was going to do a killer paint job for me. Well, it never happened. Time rolled on and on and on and I never heard anything. Finally, sometime in 2017 I got a message saying he was sorry, life had gotten in the way and he would return the helmet to me the next week… Well, here we are three years after that and four years after initially giving him the helmet and I haven’t seen it since.
It sucks because Tom really did me a solid by giving me this helmet back when I was beginning the collection, and I spent like $50 on the visor…
2007 Arai VX Pro 3
Barbed Wire Silver
I bought this one off my buddy Jacob Beck for next to nothing. I ended up selling it and made a few bucks on it, but I’ve had a great deal of seller’s remorse ever since. I hope to get one of these back in the collection.
2011 Arai VX Pro 3
Resolution Yellow
This was a nice helmet and I kind of hated to let it go too, but I wanted to move on and buy something that fit me better.
That’s the collection for now! I hope you’ve enjoyed checking it out and if you have any questions or have a helmet I might be interested in, drop me a line at bolton@gnccracing.com!
Bolton Adventures 