Dropped my lid - should I replace?

[Welsh wheels]

Dropped my lid onto concrete yesterday. No visible damage - should I replace? I've heard that dropping a helmet renders it ineffective for future use.

 

[alicat]

The safest answer is to check the manufacturer's recommendation.

However personally if it's just a 'normal' drop from hand height I don't bother. If it is higher or attached to my head then I do.

 

[JtB]

I did a quick search and found some guidelines here Linky. Seems you need to pay special attention to the state of the foam.

 

[Drago]

On one of my courses we'd got to the helmet chat. I told my students to get their lids out and hunt for the born in date. One lady dropped her lid off her lap onto the carpeted solid floor, a drop of about 20", and it cracked significantly.

If you believe in the efficacy of cycle helmets then I'd be inclined to replace it after a drop.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Dropped my lid onto concrete yesterday.

From what height? v*v = 2as where a = g =10m/s/s and s = height you dropped it from (say one metre).
So v on impact might be 4.6m/s (15ft/s or circa 10mph).
Personally I would go for a ride (in my new helmet: the old one protected my head after an endo from 25mph 6 weeks ago but its foam is cracked up).

 

[FishFright]

On one of my courses we'd got to the helmet chat. I told my students to get their lids out and hunt for the born in date. One lady dropped her lid off her lap onto the carpeted solid floor, a drop of about 20", and it cracked significantly.

If you believe in the efficacy of cycle helmets then I'd be inclined to replace it after a drop.

I'd put good money that it was cracked before the 20" drop

 

[Drago]

Possible, but they'd just been issued them and were taking them out the boxes, so perhaps not likely.

Specialized, before anyone asks.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Time to cast away the confines of helmetology and cycle free; free as bird on the wing, free as a scurrying marmot, free as north sea cod with a net detector. FREEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

[Ajax Bay]

The helmet thread is >>>>>>> that way.

 

[Globalti]

There's a lot of misunderstanding about cycle helmets. They are not like a motorcycle helmet or a climbing helmet, with a rigid shell designed to protect from point impact and dissipate the energy. A crack on one of those destroys the structural integrity and makes them useless.

Cycling helmets are just a logical progression of the old bunch of bananas hats, a chunk of shock-absorbing material designed to cushion a blow to the head. They have almost no structural strength. As long as there is no actual crack that could allow separation of parts of the shell, which could then fail to cushion a blow, the odd bit of cosmetic damage is nothing to worry about.

 

[Moderators]

Mod note:

Thread locked. OP has now had some relevant answers. For debates on the merits or not of helmets please head here:

https://www.cyclechat.net/forums/helmet-discussions.174/