How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?

Does a higher price mean a safer lid?

Read this article done by American motorcyling magazine 'MOTORCYCLIST' for some suprising and very interesting conclusions.

Jonny Bee.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/

Please feel free to forward this article to any and all.. Thanks!!

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Mine is the same as Motogp riders - good enough for them - more than good enough for me.

The Arai RX7 Corsair has the highest speed walkaway crash.

http://www.araihelmet-europe.com/php...d_yellow_p.jpg

I know my bonce is safe ;)

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

That article gets dragged up every so often on forums.....

It's a balancing act; practicality against safety. Nobody wants to ride with a 3 foot thick foam cushion on their head, but would work well in an accident.

One of the things to consider for higher price helmets is that they spend more on marketing. Sponsoring Rossi for a season would push the cost of KBC helmets up a bit...

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

I bought mine because it fitted well and was comfortable regardless of cost or name.

Cheap helmets are generally pretty heavy though which is a negative thing in my book.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

I now have an Aria RX7, which is ace I love it, its light, fits very well and is ventled as well which is good.

I tried my spare lid today a Shark S500, man that lids sucks so bad, after wearing the Aria couldn't go back to a cheap one like that. Its going on ebay I hate it that much, I will look to get another aria as a spare/track lid.I'll see whats on offer at the bike show being XS there might be bargins to be had!

Anyone want a shark lid:rolleyes:

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

ive got a shark s800 and i rele get on with it, it fits me rele well, good ventulation ands its reasonably light. Some of the designs are quite good too. im happy that its going to do me good if the worst happens.

scott. :p

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

im fully comfident int he protection of my arai Astro R and love the design (Reynolds rep) i got it for a good price aswell ?250 down from ?400

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

my shoei XR1000 is realy comfy and light and safe (i hope )

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Mines purple, never gets tested, whiffs a bit as I only clean it once a year, but as it's rarely ridden with I don't care. As for if it's safe, would you be prepared to test it??

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Tbh? I think I'll trust Shoei on this one... They have a good rep and can't be worse than my old GMAC poo lid for £80 lol

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Protection wise it is exactly the same shell and lining as the RaidII only the features make it better

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Μυ Uvex Helix RS carbon saved my head on June 25,a woman din't stop at a STOP sign(Rhodes,Greece) and crashed into me...Now i walk on :crutches:...Jacket,gloves,spidi jean all wrecked...I got away with a heel/ankle dislocation(my leg got sandwitched between the engine and tarmac IT HURTS)!!!
http://www.kradblatt.de/produktvorst...lix_bild_2.jpg

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

More so, its good enough for Hovis ;)

Sorry to bump and old thread but thought like this should be said....

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

My Raid II was fantastic in my recent accident at 65mph. It's now cut in half on display in RD5 in Warrington where I got it from, can see where it's absorbed the impacts and I didn't have so much as a headache.

Shame I'd only had it 32 hours.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

its pretty good...

1, it fits my weird head shape

2, its nice and light

3, it gets a sharp rating of 5 stars

what is it ... its a bell M1

look here
http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/search/details/?id=14

i've tried a lot of helmet's and most just dont fit my nonce well.. they are either to tight , to loose, roll off the back of my head ect. ect.

it may not be a pricey or street cred lid, but it fits well which is one of the biggest factors when buying a lid, no matter how much it costs if it dont fit right its usless.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

+ 1

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Safe as houses, I had a bit of an argument with a lorry last year, I was unconcious for ages and the lid looks like a boiled egg when you hit it with a spoon, BUT, I am alive.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

That was one of the really interesting results, because M1s usualyl do really poorly in independant testing. Interesting stuff this

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

All I can say is.... Wow that a long article...

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Now read the responses :smt103 Snell did a massive rebuttal.

I have no idea of what method or science is better- but I do know the article deliberately misquotes the snell response in order to undermine it. So I distrust them entirely. I neither trust or distrust snell, but I've never caught them blatantly lying in print.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

i'v tried almost all the lid manufacturers and bell for some reason are the only one that fits better.... even still its not 100% .. i have a small head size XS so i'd rather have a lid that fits and resonably priced that one that dont and expensive just for street cred

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

My lid's a Vcan v1000. erm...thoughts anyone?

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

ive not long had a Arai condor st george helmet, the dearest ive ever spent on a lid to find out its rubbish :(

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Nah, Condor's a solid helmet, I bounced my face all along Knockhill's back straight in one of those and I came out the far end no less pretty. Then the lid was checked over, and despite looking like it was a wreck was still adjudged safe... I still have it, 3 crashes and 40000 miles.

(another thing is, when I had that big crash it had done about 35000 miles, but still fitted perfectly. Now, a lot of helmets collapse over time, the linings compress and they get loose. It makes them uncomfortable but it also makes them less safe. The HJC and KBC I had before were both done in after half that many miles, if I'd had a crash in the HJC after 15000 it would just about have spun round my head, very unsafe. A helmet with quality liners can still be just as good fitting after serious mileage as it was on day one. That's one thing that can't be tested of course.)

A low star rating doesn't make a helmet crap, they still pass all the standards they did before, it's not suddenly worse than it was 6 months ago. Even if you disregard all the arguments about their methodology, that's still the case... And that's a helmet which has tested well in other independant tests using different methodologies.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

As an argumentative point, would you buy a helmet that didn't pass EU 22.05 (or whatever the standard is)? After all, it is also a fairly arbitrary standard..... ;)

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

ermmm .. nope coz u aint aloud to wear them on the road..

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

just like you are not allowed a noisy pipe or a small number plate?

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

I've got an AGV V Flyer and it fits like a glove is light and rigid. My only complaint is the wind noise and the fact the vent sliders dont do anything.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

No, because it wouldn't be legal ;) But, if that wasn't a consideration then I might consider it, if other standards suggested it was good. The EC standards are pretty weak, to be fair. But there are lids that pass SNELL but not EC, for instance.

But the concerns on Sharp's methodology are very specific... I like that they don't pay much attention to penetration, because sharp object penetrative head injuries are so rare, and building a helmet that can survive them means making it stiff, and stiff tends to mean high energy transmissions and bad dwell times. But the side impact thing causes problems, because so many major studies show that side impact isn't a common incident either- minor side impacts are common, ie scuffing and glancing, but there's disagreement on how safety critical that is.

The variable impact area concept bothers me- Sharp have been secretive with their tests in some places but my understanding is that when the target area has a weak spot, ie a vent or similiar, they test a different location. Which is mad, because first they specify a point which they want to protect, then they test elsewhere if it's structurally weak!

Also, their impact speeds were very low, and some people at SNELL have cast doubts over the headform choices too (but here there's conflicting information, SHARP have contradicted themselves- at one point they said one headform is used, now they say they use 5 different ones)

But, i still think SHARP's basically a good thing, despite all this, and I'm perfectly happy to believe that my Astro-R's a less protective helmet than a Lazer LZ6. I still don't want to put my head in a Lazer for 10 hours at a time, or use it for 30000 miles ;)

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

i went for an SGV S-4 and theres a good bit of wind noise but ear plugs make it a brilliant helemt and vents are good.

also ive ended up with double d rings on mine .... but all the others ive seen have push clips, whats going on ??

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Nicely said.

I salute SHARP for trying; it would be interesting to get a consensus from the helmet manufacturers on a suite of tests that they would all publicly sign-up to before testing began. The problem with SHARP is that brand names we trust (Arai, Shoei) are saying that the tests are flawed - how can a layman disagree?

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

double D is safer mate, all good helmets have them!

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

ino, i was amazed and pleased but just .....how did i get it when every other s4 ive seen is clips.. unless its an import ??

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

by noticing that they're also trying to sell you the helmets that aren't doing well in the tests;)

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Deciding to ditch the Vcan and go for a £300 (10x more than the vcan :P) BMW helmet. I've heard good things about beamer gear not sure about testing though...

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

BMW helmets are made by Schuberth by all accounts.

On the D-ring subject, I got a Schuberth S1 a while back and it came with D-rings. Previously the standard fitment was a seat-belt style buckle and D-rings were an option but I understand they are all D-rings now, which I much prefer.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

I much prefer d-rings too. I was told that in the shop - are schubert a good manufacturer?

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

One of the schuberts (don't know the model) is the quietest helmet on the market. I saw some on offer for less than £150 this week on the net. Will dig it out from history if you want me to?

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

Well I've been offered a bmw sports integral (black and yellow) for £155 - think they're about £250 new but it's last years model, so probablt no need if you reckon that's a good deal.

Re: How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash?
 

The Schuberth S1 had the lowest noise ratings, that's what I have and yes it is better than most helmets but I still wear ear-plugs for anything other than low speed runs.

They are a good quality build, not sure if they are quite as good build as my previous Arais, or Shoei come to that, but similar standards. My Arais lasted years almost without sign of wear, not sure if the Schuberth will last quite as well, time will tell.

My main gripe is the anti-mist coating on the visor peeling off. The S1 has been superceded by the S1 Pro which has a pinlock visor (retrofittable but expensive), plus better ventilation which is a benefit. The built-in sunvisors are brilliant. They have recently announced the C3 flip-front which is claimed to be the same noise standard as the full-face S1 if that's your sort of thing.

The original S1 seems to be being sold off cheap (to clear stocks I guess), Infinity have selected sizes at £179.

Whatever you go for, make sure it fits you properly and is comfy.