I'm enclosing a copy of an inquiry I made of Arai and their reply just received. It may be of interest to anyone contemplating purchase of an Arai helmet.

Dear Mr. Miller:

Apparently, Chaparral has taken a childish position with regard
to Arai's recent "NO" web advertising or web sales policy. The
restriction they are referring to pertains to web advertising and
web sales only, and not to Arai imports into the US.

Please rest assured that there are no import restrictions on
Arai helmets. We are experiencing extreme growth in demand, and
therefor are running into back order problems, but with upcoming
increases in production we should increase availability while reducing
back orders.

Best regards,

Brian / Arai Tech Services, The Americas

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> In the new Chaparral Motor Sports catalog are several pages containing the
> Arai line. The pages were blocked out with large type saying that Arai
> helmets were "not available in the U.S. due to restrictions". As a recent
> satisfied purchaser of a VX-Pro, I'm somewhat concerned about this
> statement. What restrictions does Chaparral refer to and are your helmets
> still available here?
> Cal Miller