Helmet Recomendation Anyone?

A recent clumsy accident by yours truly has brought forward my plans to replace my lid this year and I now find myself looking for a new one........now. I have had Shoei and Suomey for the last 14 years. My work lid is an Arai, which is great but my budget doesn't allow for any of the above, I have about £200 to spend, maybe less so has anyone got any recomendations? (Must be full face, no flip fronts)
Ta.
Jim

 

Whatever fits so it won't come off, has a chin strap that is going to stay done up, and is comfortable and appears well-made so the vents won't drop off the first time you use them.

For years I bought Arais, but helmets have improved dramatically and at the end of the day, ALL helmets on sale meet the ECE standard, and though some of the top of the range helmet manufacturers will claim that they exceed the EU standards to meet the tougher US Snell Foundation standard, there's no evidence that there's actually any benefit; if anything, there's some contrary thinking that making the helmet stiffer to meet the Snell point penetration test actually means more energy is transmitted to the brain when you smack your head on something flat like the road surface or an edge like a kerb - some of the top of the range helmets haven't done too well in the SHARP tests probably for that reason.

And to be brutal, by the time your brain notices the difference between a bad headache and fatal injuries, the rest of your body is unlikely to be interested anyway.

Personally, as you do a lot of riding, I'd pay attention to helmet noise. Many helmets generate well over 90dB when ridden at out-of-town speeds and that's enough to cause permanent hearing damage. Sure you can use earplugs, but it makes sense to start with a quiet lid. I'm sure one of the bike magazines has tested for noise but can't remember which.

Personally? I've currently got a couple of Nitro full-faces, an Airoh flip-front and a Shoei flip. The Nitros fit me, are comfortable and better made internally than many of the budget lids (we tried out quite a few at the training school!), have a better paint finish than my £400+ Shoei Multitec!!, are quieter than the Shoei (though they're not directly comparable as the flips are usually noiser than a full face due to the poor aerodynamics) - their newer offerings are also showing well in the SHARP tests.

 

Oh, and forgot to mention... lighter helmets are better - less general wear-and-tear on the neck vertebrae and less rotational force if you do fall off and bang your head.

 

Its a good point about the noise factor. I usually just buy the one i think look's best then go from there, which in the case of my avg S4 means earplugs for rides over 10 mins as the high frequency wind noise is 'distracting'. With the avgS4 the extended chin area sometimes restricts my head movement over my left shoulder as this is the side i have my bluetooth attached to the lid . I would suggest if you use or are going to use b-tooth, get a lid with it built in. So not a recommendation as such but a user review. Im happy with the avg but i tend to choose form over function generally anyway . I still like to wear my open face lid on hot days and shortish rides and i dont get any of the high freq wind noise, which is nice.

 

Interestingly, Kev (Sporty). I always take the opposite route, function over form.
Internal shell shapes differ greatly between manufacturers, the obvious ones being Shoei (Asian head shape) and Arai (US head shape).

My reccommendation would be, get yourself down to the biggest emporium of helmets you can find, sling a tape measure around your head and start trying them on. Wear them at least 10mins each, do the jiggle test, the shake your head, practice some life savers, trying pulling it off forwards, go online on your phone and check the noise levels in reviews.

Basicly, find the one that fits best. Then look at the colours. If they don't do it in colours you like, I hear Finchy is always looking to get his hands on a helmet... *ahem*

 

You might find this page interesting!

 

Aye, that'd be the thing

Shoei dominating the round end of the shell shape.
Also, as the article says, if you buy from a shop as opposed to online they should be willing the swap the liner / cheek pads to suit you FOC. I did this myself with an Arai and turned a small shell into a medium internal (actually about 1mm circ. under M) for a wicked fit.

You might be limited on which helmets you can have with removable / replaceble innards though.

 

I know, Groombridges used to have a selection of test Helmets...they would let you go for a spin to see fit and noise.

 

I love my Nitros, I have two, they are inexpensive, look sleek, and are the only lid that Ive ever owned that dont fog up! Think they are great for £100. Im looking at Scorpions too, they come in at £200.

 

PS. I also read a study that said that the US Snell test was rubbish because chances are, you would never hit your head on something pointy and sharp, so the test was pointless. The helmets designed to meet that test were more dangerous because they werent compressing and shattering the internal shell and therefore not distributing the force from the impact around your head.

 

Arai Chaser...Wouldn't be without.

But again, they are all personal choice. You can try on 50 and only 1 will fit.... Persistence!

 

Shoei....... Mine didnt budge an inch after my very very very rapid trip down the road some time ago......Although it didn't touch the ground at all, ( must be the way I do it, ( as I didnt wearing another lid some years ago in a fast crash at Brands) it was good that it didn't give out or move.....very reliable in the event of an off......Good fit, comfy, Years of reliability.......fast Bikes got a write up on them this month.

PS.... Visors, piece of piss to get on and off!

 

Pretty much what the lady say.
The Snell standard requires (from memory) 2 impacts in the same area of the helmet in excess of 110nm without loss of integrity. But as we all know in the real world when you bash your head on something really hard, any subsequent bangs aren't as hard.

The problem with this as a means to test safety in helmets is that it's not a fair reflection. The article explains that the large majority of impacts for riders aren't from high energy collisions, but several bumps and scrapes, such as while tumbling along after an off), the other factor to consider is how helmets work.
In a collision the sequence of events is something like:

Shell hits something hard, shell decelerates, internals hit shell and decelerate, head hits internals and does the same, brain hits inside of skull.
To stop brain dribbling out our noses, the internal part of the helmet is made of a dense foam like substance that on impact gets hot, converting the kinetic energy of the impact into thermal and dissipating it.
So between internals hitting shell and head hitting internals, we can add "internals react turning the kinetic force into thermal and absorbing the impact of head on internal", meaning once your brain starts moving (after your skull stops) the momentum is drastically reduced. Leaving you with a headache, not brain damage.

Making a helmet so tough it can withstand being slammed into a wall repeatedly at effective speeds of 145mph means that for the type of accident we have outside of NASCAR, it's in fact more damagerous because the internals simply won't react to the energy transfer.

The problem for us as bikers is that we're driven by branding, if it doesn't have the badge it doesn't get a look in. Snell is the best and we all want the best, right?
So smaller manufacturers, trying to get into the business will aim for it because marketing is everything and if you can cover your ads in statements of "SNELL Aprroved" you're onto a winner.
Unless you have an off outside of a race series and bang your head at 50...

The spike they use is purely to provide accurate placement of the impact and monitor energy transfer, but the rest was right on the money!

 

yep the trip is a great little lid for the money.. 5 star sharp rating only let down by the wind noise.. had mine 3 years now

 

My helmet recommendation is to keep it well clean.....
(STI's and the like.....)

 

See, I cant say I noticed such a remarkable difference between my Dainesse and Arai helmets and the Nitros that justify the massive price difference. I think these brands are the con of the century. If you are clumsy like me and have a propensity to drop your helmet, stick to the cheap ones definitely. My Dainesse was stolen so another good reason not to waste your money!

 

I like my AGV K4, got it instead of the S4 which Kev has because of the head turning problem he mentioned.