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

[Bibio]

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

[Dave20046]

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

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

[northwind]

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.

Originally Posted by northwind

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.

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.....

[Bibio]

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

Originally Posted by Bibio

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

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

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.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by simesb

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.....

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

Originally Posted by jimmy-james

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.

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 ??