AARGGGG!!! May have ruined my helmet!

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!

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.

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.

Originally Posted by TheStudent

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.

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]

My last arai had been absolutely savaged, and still checked out fine... Far more durable than some would have you believe, helmets.

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.

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.

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]

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.

Originally Posted by RhythmJunkie

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

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!