I finally found an Antares helmet to buy, travelling up to our friendly northern neighbours in Ontario to get the very last small-sized one at a saddlery near Toronto. It looked a bit dirty, since it was the last one on the shelf, but I was told it was just dusty and would wipe right off. I contacted the friendly Canadian Antares rep to ask about how to clean it, since it still looks dirty and it seems like everything sticks to it–hairs, bits of hay, a dead spider, etc. She seemed rather horrified and said it’s not supposed to feel rubbery (which is my best description of the texture of the outer shell) or to have stuff stick to it like that.
I’m taking more pictures and getting the model number and everything tomorrow for her, and they’ve offered to “make it right” and are being super super nice and wonderful about it, but I’m just trying to figure out why mine is weird… does anyone else with an Antares helmet feel like their helmet has a “rubbery” outer shell, or that stuff sticks to it? I’m kind of wondering if it got left in the sun or somehow heat-damaged as it sat around the shop… if so I definitely don’t want to be wearing it until it gets replaced.
In retrospect, if a store magically has the very last Antares helmet for sale in all of North America and it is also magically your size and is also magically on sale for $100 off, perhaps it is actually not magical.
