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View Full Version : AARGGGG!!! May have ruined my helmet!


TheStudent
09-08-07, 04:57 PM
My helmet fell off the desk at work today onto a carpeted floor, a drop of about 2ft3", gutted!! I know they are only good for one hit. What do people think? I didn't see it land so i don't know which part hit the floor either. :confused:

hovis
09-08-07, 05:00 PM
what make? you could get i checked out if its arai

i would not be to worried about it its not a great hight, & it landed on carpet

toptip.
put it on the floor, as it cant fall off the floor

Samnooshka
09-08-07, 05:01 PM
What make is it?

jambo
09-08-07, 05:02 PM
People like Arai will check it for free, other companies will charge a small fee. What kills them is if the internal structure is dammaged, it's often possible for a lid to recieve a relativly big drop and be fine.

the white rabbit
09-08-07, 05:15 PM
put it on the floor, as it cant fall off the floor

Unless the earth stops spinning or the moon 'wangs off'* or something. Something else to worry about.

*technical term

PS-I would imagine it will be absolutely fine

TheStudent
09-08-07, 05:41 PM
It's an OGK Aeroblade II. Phew! Buying some Hein Gericke leathers tomorrow, so the bill is gonna be big enough without needing a new helmet! :)

Stu
09-08-07, 05:45 PM
It's usually something inside the helmet compressing the internal padding that ruins a helmet in one hit.
So if it was empty, should be fine at that height onto carpet.

Start a poll!

scorpion
09-08-07, 06:12 PM
Should be fine at that height on to carpet with nothing in it. Think of it as a balloon full of air. When it falls it has nothing inside but air so impact will be light. Now think of a balloon full of water falling off a table. Get the picture? :cool:

TEC
09-08-07, 06:19 PM
Should be fine at that height on to carpet with nothing in it. ...
What he said :) had it been onto concrete, then you may have been looking for a replacement #-o

STRAMASHER
09-08-07, 06:57 PM
My helmet fell off the desk at work today onto a carpeted floor, a drop of about 2ft3", gutted!! I know they are only good for one hit. What do people think? I didn't see it land so i don't know which part hit the floor either. :confused:

Forget about it.

It might even make you ride like an "Upright Citizen" for a day or so with your "ruined" lid!:smt036

The "one hit wonder" is more if you take out your clocks/screen with your chin and have a good skite down the road, grind a kerb and back onto the road, you may want to replace your lid.

In future make sure somebody else drops yer lid so you can play on there guilt by telling them you could DIE! because its a "one hit wonder" and bag yourself a good bit of cash for a new Arai/Shoei. ;) :cool:

In all seriousness, what was the pile/shag of the carpet?:geek:




Forget about it.:)

haggis
09-08-07, 07:19 PM
Ahh but.....
Was it a concrete floor or wooden floorboards under the carpet?
What thickness of underlay is there?

What colour of Aeroblade? The Green/Yellow/White ones are strong - t'is true!:D

I should know, dropped mine at 60mph onto the tarmac with my head inside.
The shell was intact, just the visor tear-off posts got ripped out and a fair bit of scored plastics/butchered vents etc.

Yours should be ok.

Note to the safety brigade: Yes, of course I binned it after that. :tongue:

Warthog
09-08-07, 08:49 PM
I dropped mine onto concrete from about knuckle dragging height (thigh height), kind of hit the visor bit which sprung a bit, it was still fine. I wouldn't worry about it. When they say "one hit and its dead" its more for a proper head hitting tarmac thing I reckon.

toonyank
09-08-07, 10:27 PM
My helmet fell off the desk at work today onto a carpeted floor, a drop of about 2ft3", gutted!! I know they are only good for one hit. What do people think? I didn't see it land so i don't know which part hit the floor either. :confused:

It should be fine with this light impact on carpet.

Basically you can strike a lid with a heavy impact, then a cross section will show the core material absorbed the impact while the outer shell returns to it's original shape as normal and only showing scuffs.

This is the thing that worries me most about helmet designs. If the outer shell does not return to its original shape, there would be no question of whether there was a large impact.

In other words, if the impact were great enough, you could push the shell in at the point of impact and tell roughly if there was substantial damage.

When in doubt though get it checked. I think it should be fine though.

northwind
09-08-07, 10:31 PM
My last arai had been absolutely savaged, and still checked out fine... Far more durable than some would have you believe, helmets.

MiniMatt
09-08-07, 11:09 PM
Like Stu says, it's the interior lining that's the "one hit" bit, not the shell. The important bit in a helmet is the EPS foam, it's the stuff that slows your head as it travels toward the inside edge of the shell. It's not a spring, it's a one-hit-wonder, it gradually compresses and releases that energy as a teensy bit of heat. It doesn't return again, ergo, once it's used it's used.

Despite the shell material receiving the most marketing (kevlar/titanium/made-upium composite etc), all the shell really has to do is protect against abrasion (which any shell material can do very well) and piercing (which, in real world accidents is very rare).

As such, with nothing in the helmet at the time to compress the EPS, assuming the shell survives (which if it didin't needs sending back ASAP anyway as something's seriously wrong if it can't), then I'd think it'd be fine.

Obviously this is all my opinion, so don't blame me if things go wrong, but I'd probably wear it without hesitation.

Defender
10-08-07, 05:44 AM
I dropped my lid a few weeks ago and stuck my foot out to try and break the falls impact. I hope that this worked as I'm still using the lid.

RhythmJunkie
10-08-07, 07:11 AM
Now think of a balloon full of water falling off a table. Get the picture

Oh thanks scorpion, I can't get that image out of my head now. So every time I'm riding down the road now I'm going to have this image of my head inside the helmet being like a balloon full of water if I hit anything!
Although some people on here would think that analogy was pretty accurate!! ;)

I won't dare go over 20mph!

Maybe thats what pensioners think, that their head is like a balloon full of water which is why they drive around so slowly? :(

TSM
10-08-07, 08:51 AM
Pha, it will be fine. They did some tests a while back in a bike mag and found that you could drop it from a fair height and it suffered no internal damage, as has been said before the bit that protects you is inside the helmet and that will only be damaged if there is an object such as your head inside of it at the point of impact etc etc, so no wories.

Captain Nemo
10-08-07, 08:54 AM
Oh thanks scorpion, I can't get that image out of my head now. So every time I'm riding down the road now I'm going to have this image of my head inside the helmet being like a balloon full of water if I hit anything!


:(


dont think it would hurt to think like that now and again, if we all truely considered how frighteningly fragile we are we probably wouldnt get on a bike again.........................

helmet will be ok no probs i think

RhythmJunkie
10-08-07, 09:25 AM
I think its another case of frighten you into thinking that a slight knock and you need a new helmet. How many unnecessary new helmets does that sell?

As you can see by this thread....fear works!

They are designed to prevent your brain becoming tomato soup in the event of a serious accident yet bump into an old ladies shopping bag and you should replace it! :)

gettin2dizzy
10-08-07, 09:53 AM
It'll be fine :)

Lozzo
10-08-07, 10:46 AM
If the impact wasn't bad enough to break the stick on fins on an AeroBlade then it'll be fine