It's a lot more than "basic testing" Andy. And standards DO matter. The British Standards, IMHO, are best standard in the world, far in advance of CE Euro standard (corrupt) or USA DOT standard. (lots of helmet industry experts agree Brit standards are overall best)

USA also have SNELL standard, which also involves comprehensive helmet testing, which I witnessed when I did an article on SNELL some years ago. Spent a day at their facility in Sacramento, CA documenting the testing they do and recording two hours of interviews.

The main thing I got out of the SNELL guys was that companies like Arai and Shoei are much more invested in helmet safety and technology than some fly by night, year old Chinese company. NOTE: big difference between Chinese helmets and Korean ... mainly HJC. Korean HJC are highly rated world wide in all testing.

Arai and Shoei have their own testing facilities, and according to
the SNELL guys (who've visited both companies at least a half dozen times)
the testing and results are proprietary ... and they (nor anyone else) is allowed access to their testing or data.

But it's true, even cheapo helmets will protect you fine ... most of the time.
And you're right, much of it is marketing driven, image and style up front. And Plush interiors and Hip graphics seem to sell helmets more than anything else.

I just know I'm glad I was wearing my very expensive Arai R-7 when I took a flying leap off a cliff .. and landed on my head!
Other than forgetting how to speak Spanish for a year ... I was "mostly" OK!

Hi Andy:

I'm not certain I agree with that. While it is true that in most fully developed countries, all helmets offered for sale must pass whatever testing standard that country mandates, there can be some very significant differences between helmets that both pass the standards test. The differences don't always correlate with pricing, but generally speaking, I think "you get what you pay for".

Having said that, I do agree wholeheartedly with you that it is a complete waste of money to pay any premium for a helmet that has fancy graphics on it.

Better quality helmets will offer features such as more comfortable padding around the cheeks and strap, and often can be fitted with different sizes of cheekpads and/or helmet liners in order to optimize fit.

If a rider will spend a lot of time in environments where rain, fog, or cold weather is common, a Pinlock face shield (or similar: a double-element face shield that minimizes fogging) is worth the extra cost.

Full-face helmets with a flip-up front chin bar, such as the Schuberth that I have, can be of great value to riders who wear glasses (like me) or who find conventional full-face helmets to be a bit claustrophobic.

If you apply your argument (cited above) to cars, it would read "Both the cheapest Korean subcompact econobox and the most expensive Mercedes S class have to pass the same vehicle safety standards - so, there is no point in buying anything other than the cheapest Korean subcompact econobox when you next need to buy a car." I think you would agree with me that that statement is a bit over the top.

Respectfully, Michael

Hi Dave:

I agree, a visor of some kind is a great feature on a helmet.

Many years ago, I bought a great helmet that did not come with a visor, and I went searching for solutions. I came across this company: SuperVisor, who make a little plastic visor that attaches to the front of the helmet with adhesive industrial Velcro. I bought one (back then, they were $10, 15 years later, they are $20) and have been very happy with it.

Michael

The SuperVisor

I would substitute "Chinese" for Korean above as both Hyundai and Kia both typically finish ahead of Mercedes in reliability ratings.
(Hyundai and Kia, all one company now)

But I get your point ... and it's a good one ... accurate, IMO.

Regards Visors or Peaks ...
I prefer putting a strip of Elec. Tape across the top of my visor. It's adjustable and easily removable. Blocks Sun perfectly, does not compromise quietness or air flow.

Peaks are OK at low speeds, like off road, but going fast they catch the wind and most are really noisy compared to
top of the line street helmets.

I did not know Bilt helmets (Cycle Gear in house brand) were sold in Oz? Bilt are now Very good value and have gotten so much better than the utter crap sold under the Bilt brand a few years back.

My Shoei is ridiculously expensive but is very quiet for a Flip up. Mine current one is wearing out, I'll buy another. The HJC is good but not nearly as quiet.

The Dual sport helmets with peaks ....? Too noisy for me when road riding at 70 or 90 mph ... which we tend to do in deserted areas.

Nice tip :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

the ECE 22.05 standard is a joke. It is still the EU norm, because we have a huge market for cheap helmets in central and southern parts of the continent. Money and protection do not go hand in hand, but money and comfort often do, combined with material longevity.

I won´t wear a helmet, that has a shell made out of plastic.. but that´s just me.

Look up the sharp ,uk-european helmet tests will be educational on the price per performance info anyway

Unfortunately close to dead:

SHARP Helmets - THE HELMET SAFETY SCHEME

The industry didn't like the answers. Some big names got some low scores and there was cheap and cheerful.

You can get a 5* Caberg for £90 or a 2* Schuberth for £450.

Getting this made into legislation requires the EU to do something which we all know will only happen in about 200 years or two minutes after they ban bike completely, whichever happen first. Until then it's ECE22.05, the lowest common denominator of 20-odd countries legislation.

Andy

Appart from all what was said before...
There's fiberglass helmets which tend to be lighter, more expensive, and more fragile than polycarbonate helmets.

I had a one week old shiny shubert helmet (light, glass fiber, comfy) replacing an old and wornout nolan (polycarbonate, heavier, noisier, ...) which was blown of a table by a gust of wind, which caused the fiber shell to crack. I'm pretty sure the Nolan wouldn't show as much as a scratch from such an impact, and even more probable... because of its weight it would have stayed on the table.

Both materials have their pro's and cons. For everyday hop on and off the bike I'd rather have the polycarbonate helmet. For long days in the saddle, I'd take the glass fiber. If there's only one, I'd take the polycarbonate.


If you have glasses, I'd really go for flip up helmet. Saves you struggling with glasses off-helmet on-glasses on gymnastics. If you don't have glasses, I'd take a full face helmet. They are quiter and the safest type of helmet.
I like a flipdown sunscreen inside the helmet. They combine well with glasses, can be lowered and raised while riding (entering a tunnel, exiting in the glaring sun). Those on the outside get scratched and dirty easily, and riding with a scratched visor into the setting sun ain't really fun.

Personally I don't like a peak because it generates more noise at highway speeds (and typically, riding around in europe there's a lot of highway between you and where the fun begins).

And since helmets are expensive, it's worth shopping around for a previous year model at sale.

Enjoy!

Thank you all for some really useful and interesting advice. I have now purchased my helmet and I went for a Caberg Duke flipface which fits perfectly and is comfortable, if slightly tight just now. Passed my DA last week after 15 years of motoX racing as my body is taking longer to heel nowadays! What's that all about! Really enjoying Hubb. Keep safe all.

Good to hear that your found the advice given helpful and I realise this is a little late but here is a photo of a friend's Davida helmet after a 70 mph crash that left him with 25 broken bones, a ruptured spleen but no head injuries despite the damage to his helmet. This is a £260 helmet, I wear the same and was told rightly or wrongly by the manufacturer that the difference in price and performance between a cheap and expensive lid is in the quality of the lining. There is no way of knowing if he would have been any worse or better off with one of the helmets Lidl were offering for £25 a few weeks ago which also pass EU standards but I know which one I would sooner wear.

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Thanks for the link to that article. It's of particular interest at the moment as we're trying to sort out a helmet for my wife. I've bought enough helmets over the years (I must have seven or eight knocking around at the moment) to know pretty much straight away whether something fits properly but it's probably been twenty five years since my wife last had one and even then I'm not sure it was the best of fits.

What criteria she uses to determine comfort, fit etc may well not be same as me and without trying hundreds of them may not know the difference between one that fits and one that fits properly. Asking someone "how does that feel?" is close to useless unless there's some basis for comparison. Something that fits ok for two minutes in the dealer's showroom may turn out to give you a headache after two hours on the road, or it may be noisy or claustrophobic or the strap may strangle you or there may be some other issue that makes you want to throw it into a ditch.

I particularly hate the "chew the inside of your cheeks" issue that you get with some helmets and while that may be resolvable with different padding it's not much use if alternative padding isn't available or you're a week into a three week trip. Some sort of guide as to which helmet design works best with what shape of head would be a step forward but I've never seen that kind of information. Small / medium / large, yes but not best for long and thin / short and fat (or any other shape) head. Spending several hundred pounds on a helmet and then having to take a hammer to the polystyrene (or whatever it is) padding to relieve pressure points doesn't strike me as the way it should be done.

Yeah its difficult assisting someone buy a helmet , I had the same issues with my wife before our SAmerica trip, I found that using the words 'snug' and 'even pressure over all of your head' helped her find a decent fit, but 5 years later the lining was so compressed that the Arai Vector she bought was leaving red marks on her forehead and was so uncomfortable she sold it - the headlining in the Vector was not replaceable, she has a very long oval shaped head, to the point where the longest oval lids from Arai and Schuberth are not long enough, she is still looking for one that fits.

I use an XD3 and over time the headlining compressed, giving me a similar pressure point on my forehead, but the lining on the XD3 is replaceable, so I bought a new liner (the thickest one they sell) and now its bedded in its a perfect fit again.

So if you can, choose a lid with a removable/replaceable liner - I even wash it sometimes

The peak on the XD helmets is removable - it takes about 1 minute to take it off - so for a long road trip at speed its great, when you need the peak you can refit it - though after a while riding with a peak on your neck muscles get used to it - I prefer them, but its a personal thing.


If you are buying a helmet take a book into the store or walk around for at least 15 mins and if you can do it for 30 mins that's better, then look for any red marks on forehead or uncomfortable areas....its a shame something a bit more scientific hasn't been developed, maybe some sort of pressure sensing skull cap you put on and then try a few lids.

__________________
Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

We spent a happy half an hour or so at a bike dealers this afternoon with my wife trying on helmets. This is (more or less) how it went:

1st helmet (size XS), "how does that fit?" - "fine".
2nd helmet (size XL) "how does that fit? - fine.
3rd hemet (size M) "how does that fit" - "fine"

I then tried on two size L (my normal size) helmets from different manufacturers. One fitted as it should and the other was way too small and I know it would give me a headache. If you can't even depend on the basic sizing information to be correct it really is pot luck.

There's some statistic somewhere that says a good percentage of women are wearing the wrong size bra as they've no idea what a correct fit is supposed to be like. I suspect there are quite a few bikers suffering the same problem with helmets.

First Shoei (GT-Air), replaced that after pretty bad wash out. Got knocked out but thankfully no lasting damage. Guess helmet did well!



Replaced with (cheaper) Qwest. Shoei were the only ones that fit my head but after trying on cheaper helmets I really appreciate the Shoei's - very comfortable lids. I missed having a sun-visor on the Qwest though...