Helmet

heathrow86

I have been away from cycling for some years, i bought a Met helmet around 8 years ago i have worn it about a dozen times, since then it has been in my wardrobe. Now that i am going back in to cycling, do you think is should buy a new lid? or will the old one be ok?

cremator

yes should be ok but with a helmet always remember is buy the best you can afford you only have one head

dilatory

cremator wrote:

yes should be ok but with a helmet always remember is buy the best you can afford you only have one head

Surely to be on sale in the UK they all pass the same safety tests. The more you spend the better they fit/weigh/look/ventilate etc of course but I can't imagine you pay a premium for "more safe"?

cremator

they are not all put through the same tests most have the basic safety standard to be sold in uk

Hals1967

cremator wrote:

buy the best you can afford you only have one head

^This

Mad_Malx

what does 'best' mean though?

I very much doubt that price is related to function. Ones sold in the UK meet a basic standard, but after that it's about style and label.

marcusjb

cremator wrote:

they are not all put through the same tests most have the basic safety standard to be sold in uk

So which ones have been subjected to more rigorous testing?

Don't get me wrong, when I wear a helmet it is an expensive one. But I am under no illusions that it will protect me any differently to one costing £30, unless you can convince me otherwise.

ballysmate

Hals1967 wrote:

cremator wrote:

buy the best you can afford you only have one head

^This

I know people with 2 faces.

wellbeloved747

Firstly a helmet must be passed by EU safety standards to be sold in eurpe the "CE" logo shows that it has passed these standards, The UK then has its own Safety standards which are to a higher standard than the EU standard, the british kite mark is on a product if it complies to these standards, a product must meet british standards to be should in the UK.

You will find if you travel into France helmets are cheaper as they don't have to pay to display the british kitemark, all british sold helmet must meet these standards so are just as "safe" as others.

The price is down to comfort, fit, design, style, brand and features.

Sprool

Bulkier, heavier, less stylish helmets may be safer but won't command such a high price as the sleekest branded ones due to mushroom syndrome.

larkim

Just because all saleable products meet and pass specific minimum safety checks, doesn't mean that they all offer the same level of protection - it just means that they all offer AT LEAST the same level of protection.

However, in the absence of any higher rating for safety, the only benchmark you'll get is the basic one. More expensive might mean safer. But then it might not. We don't know how much each helmet has exceeded the basic requirements by.

MattC59

heathrow86 wrote:

I have been away from cycling for some years, i bought a Met helmet around 8 years ago i have worn it about a dozen times, since then it has been in my wardrobe. Now that i am going back in to cycling, do you think is should buy a new lid? or will the old one be ok?

In answer to your question, rather than discussing various standards that others seem to be doing, yes your helmet should be fine. It wont have degraded unless it's been subjected to any serious knocks.

lancew

I was under the impression that helmets degrade over time. Maybe its just a marketing gimmick, but I thought that chancing it wasn't worth the risk.

MattC59

Lancew wrote:

I was under the impression that helmets degrade over time. Maybe its just a marketing gimmick, but I thought that chancing it wasn't worth the risk.

It will if you knock it about. Even if you take care of your helmet, have a look at a 3-5 year old helmet and compare it with a brand new one, you'll be suprised how tatty it actually is.

wellbeloved747

helmets degrade as plastic degrades, however it would take about 500,000 years for a hemet to degrade.......

lancew

I was working on the fact that there is space between the foam that has delicate bondings of some type which I assumed could degrade.

I suppose they are made of plastic and not sugar puffs (look up wheat starch packing materials).

I did recently upgrade my helmet after 8-10 years which I decided was too risky.

ai_1

Some of the materials in a helmet may degrade over time however I think this will largely be a result of UV which tends to be a problem for many foams. I think EPP is fairly resistant but will gradually degrade, not sure about the others. Since yours has been stored out of sunlight I suspect it'll be in reasonable shape. However, if in doubt just get a new cheap helmet.