Arai: Thoughts Behind Big $ Helmets


RooKie

RooKie

New Member
Great read! :thumbup:

Now I feel self-conscious about wearing an Icon helmet that only meets DOT safety standard and not SNELL. I guess I'll be saving up for a new helmet before anything else. :cool:

Thanks for sharing.
 
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Nastybutler

Cynical Member
Elite Member
That makes me feel better about not throwing away my helmets when they fall off my bike like some people say you should do. I always figured as long as it was a minor scuff/scrape and the foam padding on the inside wasn't crushed, the helmet would still be fine.
 
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pavmentsurfer

New Member
I have mixed feelings about stories like this. I work in the powersports media. I know that every company has a very compelling sales pitch designed to convince the media, and therefore the public, that their product is better. I've seen a lot of quality and durability tests on everything from suspension to hand grips to helmets and boots. The thing that has always stood out to me is that %99 of the time, the forces required to cause a failure are almost always large enough to cause huge problems elsewhere as well. I've smashed my head off lots of hard objects in both cheap and ultra expensive helmets and they all did the same thing... Saved my life. None were in significantly better or worse condition regardless of price. If I was going to race, I'd buy the best... Extreme situations demand extreme quality and price is rarely and issue. For every day situation, a mid level lid is good enough for me.
 
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JonKerr

Senior Member
Elite Member
Taking the chance of buying an inferior helmet and having it fail just to save a few bucks just isn't worth it to me. Do I need the latest $1400 AGV? Hell no. But you'll never catch me wearing anything that's not SNELL or ECE certified. Pretty much anything can be DOT. Little half helmets that aren't going to protect anything have that little DOT sticker on them.


Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
 
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latony007

New Member
Not sure i am buying it, i do think that a $500 helmet will most likely be better than a $50 helmet im not sure about the differences between say a 200 and 500 helmet. I did find it interesting they said the ECE standards were less than DOT.
 
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JonKerr

Senior Member
Elite Member
When you're talking about a $200 helmet vs. $500 the differences are in details like weight, fit and finish, visor quality, feel of the cheek pads, that kind of thing. The safety isn't really that different. I have both a $275 Bell RS-1 and a $600 Nexx. I love both helmets for different reasons and feel just as safe in either. I also had a $75 GMax. (My first helmet) Talk about a POS! Literally fell apart in 2 months. Parts falling off of it. Lining broken down and falling apart. Just garbage.

As for the ECE standard being below DOT, I'm really not buying that. This is the one and only time I've ever heard that. I've always heard the exact opposite.

Sent from my Kindle Fire (which sucks *** compared to the wife's iPad, but it was free!)
 
G

Grumpy

Member
I stay away from the really cheap stuff. With that being said there are only a few helmets makes that fit me right. Aria is one of them and so far my Vector 2 is holding up well.
 
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Sammo115

New Member
JonKerr said:
Taking the chance of buying an inferior helmet and having it fail just to save a few bucks just isn't worth it to me. Do I need the latest $1400 AGV? Hell no. But you'll never catch me wearing anything that's not SNELL or ECE certified. Pretty much anything can be DOT. Little half helmets that aren't going to protect anything have that little DOT sticker on them.


Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Have the same mind set.

I have nothing but Snell approved helmets. The protection of my head out weights saving a few bucks.
 
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Detrich

New Member
I have everything from a $50 HJC CL-15 (Snell) to a $650 AGV Corsa (ECE). And, my favorite go-to helmet is still the $150 HJC IS-16, that's only DOT, because it feels the most comfortable & lightweight to me and has the mix of features I like the most as far as visibility, cooling, and noise go... lol

I've been wearing my GP-Tech and Corsa more nowadays, but those tend to look more awesome than they actually feel. Both are light, but very noisy and fit rather snug. The new Corsa moves air like crazy mad, which is nice- except it's an extremely track-oriented lid, and not really street friendly. Ex: the shield positions are either open or closed & has no in-between stages. It also comes is smaller shell sizes and fits like a vacuum...

I just mix things up to have fun with it I guess. I don't have a favorite helmet that has all the best safety ratings and that looks sexy as shit. It's frustrating like not being able to find brains & beauty (& sanity) in the same woman?? lol...

>.<
 

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latony007

New Member
i wear my torc T12B on my fz6r mostly cause it matches so good. and i love the drop down sun visor so i dont have to wear glasses inside. The one thing i dont like about it is going straight its totally aero, when i turn my head to look over my shoulder it turns into a sail lol

where is that million dollar skully helmet?
 
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