Quote:
Originally Posted by Cairo
Fair point about the comparison between Rossi's helmet and the off the shelf helmet and the difference between race tracks and roads: more sliding along surfaces than hitting solid objects like curbs and walls.
But I would still be wary of anything sent in transit though. I've seen boxes bounced off conveyer belts, trailer floors etc by people who do not appreciate whats inside them. I would expect a transited helmet to be encased with a mould of polystyrene filling the rest of the box. Maybe I'm a little too cynical about my industry but I wouldn't be surprised if I had to ask the vendor for at least one immediate replacement due to packaging damage.
As for the glue-line incident it was just the outer-shell that split but surely that does increase the vulnerability of the important bit ie the skull compared to a helmet that's outer shell is moulded into 1 piece.
I'm not sure that half-price/twice as often is the way forward. I would have thought that some kind of impact is needed to knacker a helmet either a crash or it being dropped. Does the protective material expire after a certain amount of time?
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Re-Shell splitting
I guess it could be argued that in splitting the shell, impact was absorbed, which is fine if it happens at the point when you come to a stop but if it's halfway between the 'off' and the 'stop' then ability of the inner lining to do its job and withstand further impact will be reduced as without the protective cover it can now fall apart. I have always gone for helmets with composite shells as I think they are less likely to suffer 'catastrophic' failure and so maintain some degree of protection (to both wearer and lining) for longer and successive impacts, this kind of construction implies a higher price tag as its less easy to automate manufacture - or so I'm led to believe, seems to make sense.
I think with most things there is a price below which it is not possible to make an item of an adequate standard (in an ethical way), in my eyes £16 is too low a price, someone must be suffering! And I'd be too worried I may be the one. Mind you it's horses for courses, if I were riding a scooter I guess it would be adequate protection wise. There's still the worry about whether it was made in a sweat shop in China though if that worries you.
Being a cheapskate I like to save money so I tend to look for good quality items which are sold at a discount due to being unacceptable due to colour or design. I'm not and never have been very fashion conscious so I'm just as happy to have a helmet (or other product) in last years colourway and save a bit of cash and the quality is intact.
On the damage during transit issue, I would have thought if the packaging were not damaged the helmet should be OK? Even buying from a shop the helmet has been delivered at some point. I guess you have to trust someone.