Question for Ed, or anyone else that want to put in their £00.02 worth :0)

[Richie]

I was on the phone to my father (old SV650 rider called Lol sold his bike to Skip some years back..) he was telling me that one of his old motorcycle friends that he is certain that there is a LEGAL life span for safety helmets, He has been told by his insurers that it is 5 years.
Now we all know that if a helmet gets a bang / dropped then it should be changed but no-one I or my father has spoken to (except the lad in question) thinks there is a hard and fast LEGAL time limit.

Can anyone shed any light on this...?

I do know that Hard hats on building sites / safety helmets have a 5 year life but not Motorcycle Helmets :0)

The sceptic in me says this is bolox, just an excuse to sell more lids.
What about differences with in helmet materials and design? they cant all be knackered after 5 years can they?

[dizzyblonde]

I've always known it is recommended to change your helmet every five years, but I've never known that to be a law.

I could ask an old friend who used to trade in motorcycle gear if its legal requirement if you want?

[rictus01]

the "five year" thing was first banded about in conection to the early policarb lids, as they reacted to sunlight over a prolonged period of time, this also gave rise to the glue on stickers thing as well, todays helmet shells are completely different and totally stable, I've had Arai Helmets sent back and inspected, coming back approved for road use older than 5 years old.

Cheers Mark.

[Richie]

yes please do :0)
I'm waiting for Lozzo to have a say also as I remember he used to be in that meerkat :0)

[Richie]

This is all as I suspected so far... :0)
the more input the better..

I had the Arai rep in this week for training. There is no law in the UK to replace a helmet, surprisely enough I found out today from a customer from Brasil that it is LAW to replace a helmet every YEAR!!!! Imagine that....

The recommendation is that you replace a helmet around the 4 year mark. The main reason for this is the break down of the inner shell. For example an Arai helmet has a triple density inner shell. Hard at the forehead going to softer on the crown. Sweat from your head penitrates this innershell making it hard all over. A firmer inner shell doesn't absorb an impact and spread the load as well as a multi-density shell.

Lesson over

[christopher]

Is that 5 years from date of purchase or date of manufacture? As in, are they saying you can't go and buy a helment which is 5+ years old even if it's unused and has been correctly stored?

Sounds like a load of rubbish, though I guess it comes down to the individual insurer, is there anything stating this in the policy wording? A bit like with the 33bhp restriction certificate rubbish, it's not required by law yet certain insurers require there to be one.

Originally Posted by Amanda

I had the Arai rep in this week for training. There is no law in the UK to replace a helmet, surprisely enough I found out today from a customer from Brasil that it is LAW to replace a helmet every YEAR!!!! Imagine that....

The recommendation is that you replace a helmet around the 4 year mark. The main reason for this is the break down of the inner shell. For example an Arai helmet has a triple density inner shell. Hard at the forehead going to softer on the crown. Sweat from your head penitrates this innershell making it hard all over. A firmer inner shell doesn't absorb an impact and spread the load as well as a multi-density shell.

Lesson over

Wot the burd said.

I have absolutely no idea but I'd be v v surprised if it were mandatory to replace a lid after 5 years