I can't find a quality (Shoei/Arai) green helmet that meets my taste at all. Sure would be nice if there was someone that didn't charge $1K+ to do a simple paint job...
Agreed!
That's about the norm though.
I pay much more for my Motorsports Helmets to get painted, you are hard pressed to get a reputable painter to just paint a simple color or two.
Maybe a name or simple graphic.
They want to express their creativity, and bounce that cost up past what you mention above.
Who says artists are starving?
Take this one for instance... it was done in 2008 for Jimmy Vasser's last drive at Long Beach.
I helped the paint manager at TLD carry about a dozen lids in to the race course that year including this one. He was also delivering mine to the track as well.
My helmet cost pocket change compared to Jimmy's I believe it was a little north of 15K maybe more. For those curious yes that is gold leaf you see.
Stunning lid in person.:thumbup