Helmets..How much should you pay for one?

jc4lab

You see lots at carboot sales for a couple of quid or so..Adsa ,argos etc do them for justabout £8+..Is it worth paying a lot for a helmet,or not not buying one at all if it is cheap.What are the factors to consider when it comes to buying a helmet|?

Eat My Dust

I payed £70 for mine, but only coz it matches my cycling top!!! :oops:

jonesy124

£25 from halfords will get you a good enough one

JustRidecp

By carboot sales I take it you mean they're second hand? If so, I'd steer well clear as you dont know how well looked after they are. A lot of folk dont realise that small impacts on helmets greatly reduce their effectiveness i.e. if dropped they should be replaced!

I guess cheap and expensive helmets will be made to meet the same minimum guidelines so safety wise there might not be a difference. With more expensive helmets you'll get better design, more vents, better thought out straps, clips, etc.

I'd love to get my hands on one of the Suomy by Kask helmets that Barloworld were using in the tour - they're well groovy! but seem to be import only

OnTow

Well, I bought a Bell from Condor for about 25 quid - fits very well, and comes with a removable visor, plus the usual Snell /CE markings.

I think the Snell ratings are better than CE, though cannot remember why.

I would never buy a second hand helmet, as the marketing blurb suggests you should replace every couple of years in any case, as the polystyrene inner loses effectiveness/compacts over time.

From what I can see, the more expensive helmets just have more vents and fancy shapes/straps/marginally lighter weight.
It's been suggested that if one particular brand doesn't fit, try a different brand, since the brands tend to work for different shape heads - this could just be urban lore.

McBain_v1

Simple really... how much do you value having an intact skull?

carlstone

I have a Giro Accelerator which I find is a great helmet and it was quite cheap (about £20 from memory in a sale). The problem I find with cheaper helmets is the inner pads drop to bits (as with all helmets) and you can't buy new ones so you end up having to buy a new helmet. More expensive helmets have new pads available for them. Unless anyone can point me in the right direction for new pads for my Giro?

Aidocp

I bought a Bell one to replace my previous crash tested Bell one, same model. I think I paid £25-30 and thought this was a good value to protection ratio.

MattBlackBigBoysBMX

Do Specialized still do free replacements if you bin your lid, provided you send the broken lid in to them?

DavidBelcher

I bought a Giro Transfer Sport from Settle Cycles for commuting - fairly light, plenty of ventilation and only about 20 quid or thereabouts.

David

alfablue

Snell ratings are better because the tests are more exhaustive, include higher impact tests (total impact is rated at about twice that of EN1708, the usual European standard) and they sample helmets off the shelf from bike shops on an ongoing random basis rather than a sample submitted by manufacturers (so "real world" tests) - see this and for the full testing details see this.

Specialized helmets are Snell rated and are the only brand regularly sold in the UK that are (Bell, Giro, Met etc aren't snell rated). Note that Specialized Helmets only carry the usual EN1708 sticker common to the others, but ARE Snell rated and stickered as such in other markets.

My next helmet will be a Specialized for this reason.

alfablue

Here are the lists of Snell rated helmets

Mark Alexander

How much do you value your squish? Don't put a value on it. I have, sorry, had a Met Ippogriffo. untill I came off and later noticed a crack. I bought an estro (it's rplacement). I will shortly have a Met Pac VII.
Now, I think of it this way. I may have had to replace it, but I'm still here and not a vegetable. Some would disagree about being like a vegetable though

I wouldn't buy anything else but that's probably because It's proven itself. Met are also not made in Tiwan/China.

lowe

carlstone wrote:

I have a Giro Accelerator which I find is a great helmet and it was quite cheap (about £20 from memory in a sale). The problem I find with cheaper helmets is the inner pads drop to bits (as with all helmets) and you can't buy new ones so you end up having to buy a new helmet. More expensive helmets have new pads available for them. Unless anyone can point me in the right direction for new pads for my Giro?

My lbs ordered me some new pads for my Giro skyla when they wore out, only a few quid from memory. I don't know the Accelerator but wiggle offer Giro leisure helmet pads:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... met%20Pads

MattBlackBigBoysBMX

alfablue wrote:

Specialized helmets are Snell rated and are the only brand regularly sold in the UK that are (Bell, Giro, Met etc aren't snell rated

It's a few years old, but my Bell is Snell. :?

notanotherhill

Im with the folks who value their bonce more than their wallet!!

Paid 100 euros for a Giro pneumo, not sure what that is in sterling, but quite happy as its a good fit and i place a high premium in keeping my skull intact

alfablue

Yep, bonce over wallet any time, but people seem to be studiously ignoring the issue of SNELL rating which I discussed - spend what you like, if it is EN rather than SNELL rated you have effectively half the protection that is possible, and price does not (alone) mean better safety - a cheaper Spesh will out perform top price Met or Giro helmets in a crash.

alfablue

MattBlackBigBoysBMX wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Specialized helmets are Snell rated and are the only brand regularly sold in the UK that are (Bell, Giro, Met etc aren't snell rated

It's a few years old, but my Bell is Snell. :?

I think as it is an American brand it may well hav been in the past (I mean, I'm sure yours is, but at some point things changed), unfortunately Snell aren't currently listing Bell as approved, but there might be some rational explanation for that - maybe Bell decided it was cheaper to eschew the Snell rating, or maybe they are now listed under another trading name.

timoid.

McBain_v1 wrote:

Simple really... how much do you value having an intact skull?

Not really. A £25 Specialized offers more protection than a £150 Giro Atmos.

Higher prices give more comfort and (can you say this for helmets?) style, not more protection.

fluff.

yep, I found http://www.helmets.org/index.htm when googling for some helmet prices the other week, one of thier big concerns is snag points & pointy bits usually found on the more expensive models make them less safe than cheaper, rounder shape ones.

baudman

Higher price generally means lighter, better venting.

But yeah - go for the ones that meet SNELL, or whatever the ratings are in your part of the planet. Above and beyond that, it's comfort and/or appearance or $ you can afford.

BTW - how UGLY were the CatLike helmets in 2007 TdF???? Bleagh!

OnTow

alfablue wrote:

I think as it is an American brand it may well hav been in the past (I mean, I'm sure yours is, but at some point things changed), unfortunately Snell aren't currently listing Bell as approved, but there might be some rational explanation for that - maybe Bell decided it was cheaper to eschew the Snell rating, or maybe they are now listed under another trading name.

Ah - my apologies - was confusing my new Bell Yukon with my old Specialized - The new Bell is not Snell approved.
Not as good as the original Bell hats then.

Yup - agree that it appears to be that if you pay more, you just get more style and more holes - not necessarily better crash protection.
Recent studies also show that if you wear a helmet, drivers take less care when passing.

baudman

Have ppl seen this?

BikeRadar - Buyer's Guide to Helmets

top_bhoy

alfablue wrote:

- a cheaper Spesh will out perform top price Met or Giro helmets in a crash.

Will it? In Oz, the Giros Atmos is available here - which means that the Oz standard it passes is about as good as it gets - or so I am led to believe. It is of a higher standard than EN standard for sure. Maybe I am wrong and this is speculation on my part, but I don't believe that Giro would make a seperate helmet for the Oz market as it is a fairly small single market (Giro have several times failed to answer my questions on this issue so I can't be 100% sure). Maybe Giro do meet the Snell standard but just don't advertise this aspect of their helmets.

I do wish Giro would answer a simple question!!

PS A Giro Atmos in Oz is near $400 which is about 160 quid. :? so for 80 quid or so in the UK, you're doing well.

alfablue

baudman wrote:

Have ppl seen this?

BikeRadar - Buyer's Guide to Helmets

Shame they don't address testing standards at all (apart from saying there are no standards to help with your choice).

Raikkenon

pay as much as you can afford, i just smashed my head open falling off my bike, was eager to try it after putting it together :oops:

giant_man

The Specialized Snell rated ones are all very well but do they have to be so DAMN UGLY!!??

lesdon499

Just bought a Giro Atmos, Wiggle have them at 79 quid. Have seen too many folk take chances with their nappers and come of a poor second best, don't take the chance and pay that wee bit extra!

fluff.

giant mancp wrote:

The Specialized Snell rated ones are all very well but do they have to be so DAMN UGLY!!??

The spesh ones the pros were using in the tour this year really did have an ugly back view didn't they? The front looks quite normal though so I could live with one.

Just bought a Giro Atmos, Wiggle have them at 79 quid. Have seen too many folk take chances with their nappers and come of a poor second best, don't take the chance and pay that wee bit extra!

The Atmos is a good lid, but as mentioned up the thread a bit, you're not gaining extra protection from your extra money spent, actually the converse.