Blowing the lid off

[Dal]

I have been searching the Internet for a new crash helmet. Only because I am changing my bike and my current Vemar is the wrong colour scheme (I have no allegiance to brands or fashions) and I had finally narrowed it down to either a Shoei XR-1000 Diabolic 2 @ £300.00 or a Shoei Raid II Nucleus @ £199.00. Size Small (I only have a small skull protecting my HUGE brain) if your selling one :laugh1

Upon showing the two designs to my lady wife and asking her which one she preferred she said "Christ why do I have to get one so expensive? Whats wrong with a cheaper one?"

So I decided to a little research to show her why the investment is worth the money. :cool:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/ (http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/)

Read on (Just make sure you have a spare hour) :reading

I'll be interested in your comments ;)

[Lateshift]

Ah but, there is one thing missing from this, and that is the article that MCN published last week about helmet testing. I hadnt read MCN for a while and Kasandrich pointed it out to me, so i did have a read of a friends copy to see what it was all about.

It would appear that the European testing standard for helmets is way below that which the US use to test theirs, and in testing a number of helmets using the US standard test it would appear that lots of helmets didnt do too well ;)

From what i remember the Arai RX7 seemed to be the safest helmet and took 11 attempts to break it using the US test (it only has to survive 1 attempt to be fit for use), it was interesting that they didnt publish the names of the helmets that failed it (although that is undoubtedly down to the fact that the manufacturers would have nailed theirs mouth shut ;) ).

Cheap doesnt mean unsafe, there is only 1 standard for road use and that is for the gold sticker, if it has one of them its legal and fit for purpose, what is probably better advice is that a correctly fitting helmet is better than an expensive but poorly fitting one, and the same can be said for a cheap one too ;)

However Parkinsons and Orwells were knocking out Shoei XR1000's for £200-£229 recently to try and get rid of the excess stock they had bought so it pays to have a good look around ;)

[Dal]

I have to be honest I read the MCN test and didn't trust it. Is it just coincidence that the ARAI was best and they were using the ARAI testing facility? :eek:

[Lateshift]

Quite possibly but the more you dig up, its does seem that the US standard is far more stringent, what is most surprising is that in the US in most states you dont have to wear one either, also that the US standard even though it is clearly much more rigorous, is not valid in the UK and therefore you cant wear a US helmet over here :)

The Arai helmets have always had a pretty good safety rating, whenever a shoot out is done with the bulk of helmets listed its Arai that you will see along with the other big guns in the top 5

But the KBC helmets are fast becoming a decent helmet for the money you pay for them too :)

[Dal]

The big thing that came from the report I posted is the fact that the helmets from the big manufacturers are possibly to good :eek: with the use of materials like carbon and aramid fabrics now common place, these helmets are to rigid in an accident. They are not absorbing the impact in the way softer / cheaper helmets are. So the deceleration if massive and a lot of the more severe head trauma's are / could be caused by the helmet being to solid. It's the brain hitting the skull that seams to be causing the biggest problem.

Makes sense :(

[stu600cc]

Arai are one of the best !

[Dal]

Arai are one of the best !

At what preventing brain damage or causing it ;)

[MICKTLS]

I remember the ad campaign for Bell helmets about 20 years ago
( if youve a 10 dollar head wear a 10 dollar helmet ) still with modern day materials you can still adopt the same reasoning i suppose :rockon

[Dal]

I remember the ad campaign for Bell helmets about 20 years ago
( if youve a 10 dollar head wear a 10 dollar helmet ) still with modern day materials you can still adopt the same reasoning i suppose :rockon

That actually contradicts what that report says :reading But I do agree, not sure why though :laugh1 maybe it's conditioning we expect more expensive things to perform better !

Trying telling that to a Mercedes Owner :laugh1

Dal

[ROCKET-1]

Cheap doesnt mean unsafe, there is only 1 standard for road use and that is for the gold sticker, if it has one of them its legal and fit for purpose, what is probably better advice is that a correctly fitting helmet is better than an expensive but poorly fitting one, and the same can be said for a cheap one too ;) ;)


its funny you should say that...have you read the newest mcn mag they carried out an investigation saying that acu gives helmet firms the ok to untested lids as!!!! as approval is given without the correct safety tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...