Shakey unveils BSB Showdown helmet

Reigning champion Shane Byrne has unveiled a special edition helmet for this weekend’s round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Silverstone, showing his wicked sense of humour after his collision with Alex Lowes at Assen.
 
The new helmet, painted by the team at Rage Designs inCheshire, features an image of one of the pair’s close moves at Assen, with the caption ‘Warning – objects may be closer than they appear.’
 
Byrne says that although typical of his humour, he knew nothing about the design until it was shown to him. “It was a surprise – I didn’t know it was coming! I trashed one at Assen, and told the guys I needed a new one. I got a little preview, just of the front, and thought ‘it’s black, that’s a bit weird’ but when I saw the whole thing I understood! I love it, it’s so funny!”
 
The helmet design was created by Mike Boote, the owner of Rage Designs, who said: “I’d already done the black design for Shakey on an open faced helmet for cruising around on his Harley. I had told him that itwould look really good on a race helmet, and I’d started it already as a special for the Showdown.”
 
“When the incident with Alex happened, I wanted to so do something a bit special. I was able to screen capture the shot from Eurosport, then transferred it into our graphics system and printed it on a water based transfer that allowed me to put it onto the helmet.”
 
‘When Steve from Shoei wandered into our studio while enjoying a brew, he managed to spit his tea out all over the floor he was laughing that hard! It’s been well received, and hopefully everyone sees the funny side of it!”