Crashed helmet, still mint, replace?

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

Your helmet has been down the road 3 times at 50+, dropped off a couple of desks and is 4 years old...so it's pretty much useless for anything other than a crash barrier for your head. It won't give you any shock absorbtion or proper protection as it was designed to do.

When I was on my DAS last March, we were shown cross sections of a few helmets. One of them was 3 years old and had been used by someone doing approx 8,0 iles a year and the foam inner had decreased in thickness by 80%...in other words, no longer useful, so we were told to replace our helmets every three years even if they have not been dropped if we were doing any more than 6,000 miles a year. Another helmet was dropped off the roof of a small car and the "crushing" of the foam in the drop area was incredible...almost completely flat just from falling 5ft. That would be no good any more as if that part of your head hit the floor, it would be unprotected minus the crash barrier of the outer shell.

The most shocking was a helmet worn by one of their instructors. It was less than a year old and the foam was less than 1cm thick. It had covered 45,000 miles in that year, so all of the instructors there now have to replace their helmets every 6 months and are given vouchers to do so.

I know that was a lot of text...just making the point through what I've seen...not what I think.


Look after your noggin dude!

Cheryl, I don't know what kinds of helmets they cut open, but any lid that loses 80% of the polystyrene foam's thickness would have been rattling around on the owner's head like sticking an apple in the largest saucepan you own.

In my cupboard are two Arais, both bought about the same time in 2007. One is used primarily for road use and the other for track. both of them are as good a fit now as they ever were, and I know for a fact that the road one (a Condor) has done at least 30,000 miles on my bonce. The track one has done about 25 trackdays, and gets washed out after each one because the amount my head sweats on track it's minging if I leave it afterwards. I reckon if I cut both of them in two, which I will when I'm done with them and bought new Arais, they'll be relatively unchanged from the day I bought them.

Helmet inner foam doesn't lose 80% of its thickness in three years of use, unless you mean the cloth lining.

If the interior foam of a helmet had been crushed almost flat from falling off a car roof, then the helmet shell would have been seriously damaged. It'd be impossible to cause that much damage without, as Ralph also pointed out, having something like a bowling ball inside to give something for the impact to act against. To crush it flat without something heavy inside the helmet would have to almost turn almost insideout, and that kind of damage would visibly show on the outside.

I think your instructors were trying to scare you into doing as they suggest using some carefully chosen props and a few 'stories'.

[MisterTommyH]

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

Open face aren't actually ECE2205 certified. No open face can be fully certified.
Reevu have said that they won't produce an open face until they can come up with a design that is fully compliant.

Does that mean that flip lids aren't compliant either? Because I thought they were just open-faced models with some extra bits of plastic?

If that's the case why do the police and ambulance bikers accept having them issued to them?

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

I don't like open face units (IAM types love them)
The lid Reevu produce is impressive for what it is (gutted I didn't get a chance to test one last year when a had a chance)

My thoughts on the Reevu... an expensive gimmick.

It's only of use to a very small percentage of riders because the angle of the rider's head determines what he sees in the mirrors. If you're on a sportsbike you're going to have a lovely view of the clouds behind you. Also, you have two mirrors on your bike that you can choose to look at when you want to. The Reevu sticks something in your line of sight that you have no choice over - in other words it permanently adds a distraction.

There's one more point... why do you need it? It's a mirror for a motorbike, when do you actually need to look behind in any way that the mirrors aren't good enough? If you're wearing this thing it'll give you that 'Volvo' feeling of invincibility and you'll rely on that more than the mirrors or shoulder checks. Try it and see how your standards drop in the same way Volvo driver's do.

Reevus are the sort of thing IAM types need, so they can count how many of the local Daewoo Matizs are queuing up behind them to overtake as they bimble from bend to bend.

because flip fronts do have chin/face protection as they lock into place to give that protection, they are not supossed to be used with the front open while riding but only opened when stationary

Originally Posted by Lozzo

There's one more point... why do you need it? It's a mirror for a motorbike, when do you actually need to look behind in any way that the mirrors aren't good enough? If you're wearing this thing it'll give you that 'Volvo' feeling of invincibility and you'll rely on that more than the mirrors or shoulder checks. Try it and see how your standards drop in the same way Volvo driver's do.

Ahem Lozzo, can I just take a tiny exception to the rather broad brush you've just painted me with. Wifey and I are on our second Volvo, bought not because of any perceived 'invincibility', but because we could fit all our holiday stuff in the back. We both drive it in exactly the same manner as we drive the second car, a several year old Fiesta, and we ride the bikes and, indeed, bicycles. We both assume that other road users in front, behind and at every junction are total numpties until they prove to be otherwise.

So, please don't lump me with in with n0bheads who want to wear a periscope on their head.

Originally Posted by DJFridge

Ahem Lozzo, can I just take a tiny exception to the rather broad brush you've just painted me with. Wifey and I are on our second Volvo, bought not because of any perceived 'invincibility', but because we could fit all our holiday stuff in the back. We both drive it in exactly the same manner as we drive the second car, a several year old Fiesta, and we ride the bikes and, indeed, bicycles. We both assume that other road users in front, behind and at every junction are total numpties until they prove to be otherwise.

So, please don't lump me with in with n0bheads who want to wear a periscope on their head.

OK, point taken.

So, you're a cyclist and a Volvo driver? Oh jesus, two of my pet hates. Please tell me you don't own a caravan too.

Prepare yourself sunshine

Originally Posted by davepreston

because flip fronts do have chin/face protection as they lock into place to give that protection, they are not supossed to be used with the front open while riding but only opened when stationary

Only flip front helmets with a P (for protective) in the ECER2205 number on the chinstrap have a protective chinbar, some may have a different letter in there and those types are not protective. Only certain ones can be legally worn with the chinbar opened up as they have been tested and passed the tests in both open and closed positions.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

OK, point taken.

So, you're a cyclist and a Volvo driver? Oh jesus, two of my pet hates. Please tell me you don't own a caravan too.

Prepare yourself sunshine

Caravan? CARAVAN?! How very dare you! Caravans are just perverse. The only thing worse I can think of is mobile homes - having to take your home with you like a snail. And the bicycles are only for trips to the pub.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Cheryl, I don't know what kinds of helmets they cut open, but any lid that loses 80% of the polystyrene foam's thickness would have been rattling around on the owner's head like sticking an apple in the largest saucepan you own.

In my cupboard are two Arais, both bought about the same time in 2007. One is used primarily for road use and the other for track. both of them are as good a fit now as they ever were, and I know for a fact that the road one (a Condor) has done at least 30,000 miles on my bonce. The track one has done about 25 trackdays, and gets washed out after each one because the amount my head sweats on track it's minging if I leave it afterwards. I reckon if I cut both of them in two, which I will when I'm done with them and bought new Arais, they'll be relatively unchanged from the day I bought them.

Helmet inner foam doesn't lose 80% of its thickness in three years of use, unless you mean the cloth lining.

If the interior foam of a helmet had been crushed almost flat from falling off a car roof, then the helmet shell would have been seriously damaged. It'd be impossible to cause that much damage without, as Ralph also pointed out, having something like a bowling ball inside to give something for the impact to act against. To crush it flat without something heavy inside the helmet would have to almost turn almost insideout, and that kind of damage would visibly show on the outside.

I think your instructors were trying to scare you into doing as they suggest using some carefully chosen props and a few 'stories'.

Probably...and it worked. It's my head so I'd rather be scared and keep it safe

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

Probably...and it worked. It's my head so I'd rather be scared and keep it safe

I'd rather trust the judgement of several men I've met who design and test helmets rather than scaremongers who really don't have much knowledge, but each to their own.