choice of helmet

I have a Series 3 Beemer helmet (the typical beemer full-face, tilt-up
types) - quite old now but still in good nick.
The sales bloke @ the local dealership was telling me to get a new one as
helmets have a use-by date...is that correct?
I'd gone in to ask for a new visor ($70) as the current one is pretty
scratched up...
A new beemer helmet costs $650 min!
Does anyone have reccomendations for a full-face non-bmw replacment helmet
(the BMW ones are good but really expensive and very very noisy)

cheers

beemerider

R100GSPD

 

I heard 2 years is the longest you should keep your helmet in use for.
Due to deterioration of the materials from sunlight.
Sound reasonable but i dont know for sure.

 

Bullshit
A Fibreglass helmet should be good for 10 years as long as it has not
had any impacts. If anything the fabric liner will go first.

 

which are better? Fibreglass helmets or plastic (polycarbonate?)

 

Yup. I have one of those too.

Not really.

Didn't they have a replacement visor, or was this just to try and sell
you a new helmet?

They ain't cheap are they?

Now, I know this is hearsay evidence, but....I have a witness to it...Zebee.

A bloke told us that the "use-by" date thing on a helmet is basically
rubbish.

If, thru continued use the inner foam has compacted, then the helmet
won't fit right, and you will want to replace it.

If it has "worked" then you'd want to replace it.

If the fabric bits are all daggy, you may choose to replace it.

The bloke who said this is the bloke who tests helmets for their
complience and approves them for the standards sticker, so I figure he
probably knows a bit about it.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

It's not the exterior Burnie, you're talking about the interior, like the
HD foam/polystyrene they use etc. The oils in your head slowly start to
work their way into the products inside the helmet and make then less
effective. Also the helmet pads out over time reducing the 'snug' new fit
of a helmet. More space inside means more brain splatter when you go down.
It depends on how much you use your helmet. If you're using it every day
they're not much good for more than 2 1/2 - 3 years. I've got an Arai that
still looks ok, but I know it's due for replacement. Don't skimp where it
counts!

Cam
'00 ZX6R

 

How big is your wallet? And there ... is your answer.

Cam
'00 ZX6R

 

keep it then and buy the visor

BS, they'd love to brainwash the paying public into thinking that, since
most helmets sold have a date-of-production stamp in them (to identify the
batch, nothing else), although the industry is silently pushing authorities
to introduce a 5-year usage-policy (for repeat-sales lining their own
pockets).

About the same as most other helmets of that ilk

Sys 3 is noisy, sys4 better, but still noisy compared to one-piece helmets
due to the hinge/ lock mechanism.
There's also some discussion as to flippers being not as safe as one-piece
helmets (due to the hinged chin-piece possibly coming off in a crash), the
jury is still out on that. (Makes sense to a certain degree only, since
there are too many possible factors involved in any given crash).

The styro liner of helmets tends to firm up marginally over the years, the
foam-liners compress and create more "slack" in the helmet, the nylon/
polyprop liners can handle human oils/acids/ dandruff etc. for a lot longer
than 5 years and will get smelly and scruffy, but don't "wear-out". Polycarb
helmets deteriorate quicker than laminated lids under UV (otherwise we'd
have fibreglass skiboats sinking after 5 years, fibreglass-bodies of
ambulances falling-off and Tradesmen-canopies coming off the plumbers-utes,
eh?).
The shell thickness of laminated lids is only 3-4 mm (about 1/8"), slightly
less than the 4mm polycarb (of course the properties are different).
Polycarb shatters/cracks more/less instantly whereas polycarb dints/deforms
heavily before cracking given the same sort of impact.

cheers
pete

 

Zebee Johnstone wrote:

Aren't the two interlinked?

If the helmet fit was good, but has deteriorated, then doesn't it
typically show the liner has compressed....or your head has shrunk...
either way, probably time for a new helmet.

But he _was_ very positive about there not being a migic number of 2
years at which a helmet _should_ be tossed.

Doubt it....you'd really need a complete documented history of each
helmet..... :-|

Ditto.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

glitch1 wrote:

Not always.....

The Sys 4 doesn't have the black bar thingy across the top of the visor,
and, in some circumstances, riding with the visor slightly open, it can
start an absolutely 'orrible fluttering in the visor. I assume the bar
thing on the 3 stops this from happening.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Every Shoei hat ive ever owned has had a "suggested" 5 year replacement
policy.
Cant quite recall whether that was 5 years from manufacture date or from
start of wear.

That being said ive never had a helmet that long because the inner
lining has lost enough form that id prefer to get another hat.

how much do you value your head at?

 

My guess would be it should be measured (if at all) in terms of hours
used, and years since build.

You would expect the foam, padding, and possibly shell to deteriorate
every time it is used. Due to sunlight, oil from head, heat, bumping it
around etc.

You would also expect it to deteriorate just by sitting on a shelf.
Possibly the foam could harden up (someone else suggested this), or
whatever. Perhaps the oxygen and air helps something or rather to
deteriorate.

Anyway, there is no doubt that things will always deteriorate after
time, and the more use it has. The big question of course, is if the "2
year" date has any validity. As Zebee (and others) have pointed out,
the said date is very suss.

Mike

 

And do you value it differently whether you ride or drive?...

Doug Cox.
Work to ride, Ride to work...

 

"Doug Cox" wrote

I have a Bushman helmet in the truck. Even got one of those flap
things on the back for sunburn.

Theo

 

I don't don the lid till the ride stops...

Doug Cox.
Work to ride, Ride to work...

 

Well, in the truck you've got the roof to stop those falling
meteorites and things.

Theo

 

Me too. I've only ever owned Shoei helmets, but like I said, if they
considered it was of life or death importance that the helmet be replaced
after a certain length of time due to safety concerns it would be written in
very large writing somewhere... and the government would have legislated it to
make it compulsory by now.

I used an RF200 for almost 9 years. The lining compressed but it didn't move
around on my head so I kept using it.

Only enough to use a helmet when riding, and only then because the government
say I must and because it's handy for cutting down on wind noise and keeping
the dust out of my eyes. At all other times I do not wear a helmet. When my
head has been inside a motorbike helmet it's only ever bounced off the road
twice, however the frequency with which I have bumped my head on other things
in the past dozen or so years when not on a bike has been much higher, though
I've still never contemplated wearing a helmet at other times. YMMV

Nev..
'02 CBR1100XX #2

 

I would wager that its impossible to put a figure on an exact period of
time when a helmet should be replaced. People look after their helmets
very differently. I always keep mine meticulously clean and im very
careful where I put it and make sure people cant bump it with their bar
stools or cafe chairs or whatever.

I have mates who just throw their helmets around and dont really care
whether they get bumped or scratched (as long as they dont get
dangerously smacked)

I would think that my helmet would probably last a fair bit longer than
theirs in the scheme of things.

And poser joe who rides his duck out to mt white only when its sunny and
there will be sufficient poser value will probably get longer helmet
life than me.

They can't definitively say you MUST have a new helmet every [2-5] years
because it simply isnt true. The life of a hat is strongly dependent
upon how much you use it, how you take care of it, what conditions you
ride in and whether or not its still adequately cool to wear rossis last
year replica.

the lining on my old shoei compressed but it didnt move around on my
head all that much. it was more the comfort of a good fit and getting
rid of the wind whistle (i hate earplugs) that drove me to get a new hat
(that and there was a sale on *sucker for a bargain*)

true, but i try to make a point of not bumping my head on things at
100km/h when im not on a bike.
coincidentally, i try to make a point of not bumping my head on things
at 100km/h when im on the bike too. YMMV

dane
with a moderately poser hat

 

I'm trying to understand what the words "moderately" and "poser" are doing
together. I can only imagine that "moderately" is a rather odd way of
spelling "wannabe".

You're not Dutch are you?

Moike

 

A helmet will not save your head from a 100km/h bump. <insert silly
fuckin´ smilie face>