SHARP Results are out!

Originally Posted by krhall

The newer model of my cheap Nitro Helmet gets four stars!!! Superb, I'm happy with that!

agreed my 1600vn scored 4 stars.... fantastic for £80... i think i paid £65 though... will that reduce its rating ....

and the Roof scored 4 too... though they have the weight down as 1500 KGS... i think thats wrong..

what you also need to undersand is that people used toi buy helmets for thier durability and or experiance of crashing in one or comfort or build quality... and so that was the bench marks...

Now we have this safety system rating BUT a 5 star lid that dosent fit properly will do More damage than a well fitting 3 star surley>

same thing if you crash a 5 star NCAP car but not wearing a seatbelt you aint gonna fair aswell as the 5 stars says you might...

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

marks right, Im Indoors had brain injuries in his accident, and lost 2 months of memory, I would be inclined to think that the helmet saved his life.......he doesn't wear any of the above superior expensive helmets.....just the ones he knows from practice to work

The thing is here as Neio stated earlier, you have no comparison, so all you can say is A helmet saved his life. If he had been wearing something different it might have been better or worse. Nobody's life experiences are worth anything scientifically I'm afraid. We also need to remember that I think they tested all the helmets then just ranked the range between 1-5 stars. This means that they all passed the basic safety tests, just is just ranking them compared to each other. This might mean that a 3 star helmet was also great, it just had one less crack than a 4 star helmet. Without their star ratings explained, it is hard to draw any conclusions.

For the record, my Shark RSF scored 4/5 stars and cost £160.

I read a very lengthy article a few years ago about helmet tests, now I can't recall the details but it talked about how high performance on some aspects could actually be detrimental in other circumstances - i.e. this is a very complicated issue that has been condensed to a handy star system which has the benefit of being easy to understand, but doesn't always show the full picture.

What worries me is that because of these new ratings, lid manufacture is going to go the same way as the education and healthcare systems - delivery will be focussed on performance against the measured criteria, and not necessarily the best all-round package...

Oh and I'd also be interested to know what the lid manufacturers have to say about the tests, as industry professionals. From my own experience of working with the DfT and some of their academic type suppliers (such as Transport Research Laboratory) I am naturally a bit sceptical about the outputs.

For example it was the DfT (and I think also TRL) who decided it would be a good idea to test the safety of dark visors for motorcyclists by having someone drive round a track in a car and assess whether they could see things on the ground from certain distances...

Interesting to see the results, especially the likes of 350+ pound helmets. Although it is more interesting to see that the final results differ to others.

[mister c]

Well they only give my Takachi 2 stars, but after hitting a fence & 3 trees in mine at about 50 mph, the only damage was to the vents on the top. I still wear & will continue to wear them they are good value for money.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I'll stick with my overpriced Arai that I got ripped off buying I can afford it and it was money I was happy to spend.

At the end of the day its still down for me to Fit, Comfort and personal choice.

SHARP tests or not.

Same here mate, i love my rx7...just wish they would stop bringing out soo many nice designs LOL!

and no racers dont have them "specially" made, they are same as what we wear-off teh shelf-only real difference is the race reps wont always be 100% the same

ohh and with an arai-if you drop it or involved in a accident-wether the helmet is damaged or not, it can sent off to arai foc via your local arai dealer to be TESTED to see if its safe to wear again, comes back with a certificate saying what the findings were and what the outcome is, also they service them foc and the race meets etc

Originally Posted by Supervox

You really need to learn to say what you feel instead of beating around the bush & bottling things up all the time.

Its all treacles fault i tell ya! i was a nice quiet girl until i got with him, he encoyrages me to say stuff LOL

Originally Posted by Fizzy Fish

I read a very lengthy article a few years ago about helmet tests, now I can't recall the details but it talked about how high performance on some aspects could actually be detrimental in other circumstances - i.e. this is a very complicated issue that has been condensed to a handy star system which has the benefit of being easy to understand, but doesn't always show the full picture.

What worries me is that because of these new ratings, lid manufacture is going to go the same way as the education and healthcare systems - delivery will be focussed on performance against the measured criteria, and not necessarily the best all-round package...

I agree with this last bit, I think that the government doesn't realise the significance of introducting tests like this, that yes it tests the item as they are now, but that they also then act as a steering group for future development.

But on the flip side - do we not already have this to a degree, with the gold badge (BS mark? Forget the name...)? Ability to pass that is going to have influenced current designs.

Originally Posted by muffles

I agree with this last bit, I think that the government doesn't realise the significance of introducting tests like this, that yes it tests the item as they are now, but that they also then act as a steering group for future development.

But on the flip side - do we not already have this to a degree, with the gold badge (BS mark? Forget the name...)? Ability to pass that is going to have influenced current designs.

yes, that's a point. maybe i'm just overly cynical about govt ratings systems!!