Mail Order Helmets. Would you?

Another post elsewhere about upgrading helmets got me thinking. Unless you happen to be replacing your current helmet, which you know the fit of, with exactly the same helmet, how can you possibly buy a helmet from a mail order shop? Or do you treat it like mail order shoes and just send it back if it doesn't fit?

[MisterTommyH]

Bet they wouldn't take it back.... In case it had been dropped.

And I'd never buy a helmet mail order. Far too important to be chucked around in the back of a post van.

I have and would again, I tried on the model I was interested in in store, and bought it cheaper from Sportsbikeshop, they are fantastic. It came special delivery in a box with massive bubble wrap in another box with more massive bubble wrap.

I bought mine online without any problems. Previously tried it on at the now gone Midland superbike shop. So if I had purchased it there, where would the guarantee be. Also the shops you buy from have them delivered in the same way.

[Juju]

Originally Posted by WR87

I have and would again, I tried on the model I was interested in in store, and bought it cheaper from Sportsbikeshop, they are fantastic. It came special delivery in a box with massive bubble wrap in another box with more massive bubble wrap.

And the reason they are cheaper online? They dont have to man a store in an expensive retail location, fit it out, and staff it, just so pi$$ takers like you can take advantage of the service they offer. Riding up, when you like, wasting half an hour of a guys time, wearing several items from the display, til you find just what you want, then to swan off back home and log on, all for a few notes in the back pocket.

Seriously, when people like you have caused most of the little guys to shut, what will you do then? Spend a fortune on postage, and whine on forums about the price of things, as you don't know the value of anything...

I just bought some really comfy gloves. I maanged to go to a store, try out loads, and found some that were perfect for me. After all that, I'd have felt well pikey going home and "doing it online"...... if it wasn't for what the shop "offered", I'd be sat here with uncomfy gloves that probably wouldnt fit if I tried to buy online.

I don't care if you buy on line, but to actually go to the shop,and use their services without any intention of buying...... Do you rinse out your used jonnies under a tap and try and get a refund at the chemist? Borrow a suit from M&S for an interview and then take it back saying it didnt fit? Or take your own warm cans of Tescos "value" lager to the pub and pull them out your pocket, as you object to the price of a real pint in the place you want to drink it?

Its not clever, its just mean.

Apart from the valid point raised by Juju above, there is also the point of trying on the ACTUAL helmet you are buying, rather than just the same model.

Popping down to Hein Gericke to try the same model is fine, but that helmet could well have been wedge on hundreds of different heads, and so the padding could have compressed, or even changed to a different size due to to help another customer. You should ALWAYS make sure that the actual helmet you are shelling your hard earned out for actually fits you, as that would be the only chance you have to change it.

And that's before we get to dodgy imports from anywhere in the world...

[rictus01]

I've bought many crash helmets in my time (well over 50) and if they are for use as originally intended, that's to say to protect my head (I buy some secondhand to strip for parts on occasion), then I have one rule, I try the actual helmet on, I get threw a lot of kit and will source it just about anywhere I can be that ebay, small adds, shows or new from shops, but helmets are different, I'd rather pay a fer bob more andd get it locally or wait and get a bargain at a show that I can try on if I've the time, than trust to mail order any day.

Cheers Mark.

i have bought mail order but always the same helmet (shoei raid 2) in the same size that i always get (ive come off once or twice)
if i was to change helmet (brand model etc) id go to the store try it on and buy it there ,then if i needed a new one 2nd time buy mail order

Originally Posted by Juju

And the reason they are cheaper online? They dont have to man a store in an expensive retail location, fit it out, and staff it, just so pi$$ takers like you can take advantage of the service they offer. Riding up, when you like, wasting half an hour of a guys time, wearing several items from the display, til you find just what you want, then to swan off back home and log on, all for a few notes in the back pocket.

Seriously, when people like you have caused most of the little guys to shut, what will you do then? Spend a fortune on postage, and whine on forums about the price of things, as you don't know the value of anything...

I just bought some really comfy gloves. I maanged to go to a store, try out loads, and found some that were perfect for me. After all that, I'd have felt well pikey going home and "doing it online"...... if it wasn't for what the shop "offered", I'd be sat here with uncomfy gloves that probably wouldnt fit if I tried to buy online.

I don't care if you buy on line, but to actually go to the shop,and use their services without any intention of buying...... Do you rinse out your used jonnies under a tap and try and get a refund at the chemist? Borrow a suit from M&S for an interview and then take it back saying it didnt fit? Or take your own warm cans of Tescos "value" lager to the pub and pull them out your pocket, as you object to the price of a real pint in the place you want to drink it?

Its not clever, its just mean.

umm, didnt realise I would be attacked for sharing information. It was in fact 5-10 minutes in hein Gericke making sure the helmet I wanted fit my head properly, calm down! What attracted me to the online offer was a free shoei track visor to come with it. I'm sure i'm not the only one who "forces little guys to shut"
Get off your high horse

Someone on here said they watched a video of someone dropping a helmet of a 6? storey building and it was still useable but they put a watermelon in it and it was nackered, so yes I would and have bought mail order, they deliver via courier and do accept returns.