Helmets

[SpokeyDokey]

Long time since I bought a new helmet.

Spent ages Saturday & yesterday in 3 different shops comparing road helmets.

I am totally bemused by the price differences in what essentially looks like the same thing at different price points.

Price points seem to be £30-35 then £40, £50, £70 and then whatever takes your fancy.

I chose & Bell Solar in the end. It fitted nice, looked ok for a basically ugly piece of kit and I honestly could not see any difference between this model and others at twice the price and more. In my mind it had a much nicer ratchet adjustment than a couple of very expensive Giro's.

Presume this is the shave a few grams off the weight in exchange for lots of money marketing ploy?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

£20 or £120 or £220 they all pass the same abysmally low testing standard.

Ease of use of the straps and the tightening jobbies, do you like how it looks on your bonce, does it fit you properly, can you wash any internal padding, all more important than brand or price.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Settle for what is comfortable and most importantly take time to get it fitting correctly, it is useless otherwise, irrespective of what "people" think about them. I usually try to get a helmet that meets SNELL B-95 regs rather than UK regs but I have found that the only ones I find comfortable are specialized ones anyway, so this has not normally been an issue.

There are a couple of tests that are around, the european safety tests and the american one which has a higher testing level. then there are the AUS/NZ regs as well.

EN1078: 1997 - European Standard for older children and adult helmets

• EN1080: 1997 - European Standard for younger children's helmets
• CPSC - US Regulations
• SNELL B-90 - US Regulations
• SNELL B-95 - US Regulations

http://www.livestrong.com/article/194993-cycle-helmet-safety-standards/

"The European Committee for Standardization (CEN, in its French acronym) has combined individual national standards into a single standard, but CEN-certified helmets may not meet CPSC standards."

But none of that is of any use (or interest really) unless you fit the helmet correctly.​