Quiet helmets

Bear says...

If I were the salesman I'd tell you it's your tough luck, buy some
earplugs. There's no promise it'll be quiet, there's a promise that
it's been tested to ensure safety standards are met. As long as the
helmet is manufactured correctly and it meets the standards, then it's
your's for good.

I'd never accept a helmet back under those circumstances, and I
wouldn't take one back if someone was claiming a blatant self-inflicted
fault with one after they'd taken it up the road for a noise test
either.

Most shops are wise to these litle tricks now.

 

steve auvache says...

Just about every bike shop I know has a sign in there somewhere that
says helmets will only be accepted as returns if there is a
manufacturer's fault with them. Sizing issues, colour issues and noise
issues are not good enough reasons to return a helmet.

I don't see how you can compare the two.

A helmet can have significant structural damage without showing any
sign of it on the outside of the shell. A drop onto carpet covered
concrete can weaken a shell significantly.

Brakes are designed to be used hard time and time again.

What are you trying to say?

Hygiene is a factor as well, but the main one is safety.

 

And if a bike dealer said that I could use the helmet for an hour then
return it if I didn't like it I probably wouldn't buy from them.
Heaven knows what could have happened to that helmet when loaned out.

 

Lozzo wrote

I know this. I am not at all happy with it.

I am trying to say that suggesting a helmet might be abused while on a
test ride is more bollox than saying a bike won't be and that there are
better arguments you could use to keep the purchaser away from his
rights to satisfy himself that the product would be suitable.

 

BGN wrote

This is where anecdote comes in so handy dunnit? "I bought my lid
because my mate said his mate at work knew a bloke whose brother bought
one the same colour 15 years ago and he said it was good."

 

steve auvache says...

Why not? You don't think that a safety issue is a good enough reason,
or that the others I mention are good enough.

The primary concern is safety, because you are buying a safety related
item. Bad hygiene can be overcome by giving the liner a spray with any
number of products designed to kill bacteria etc.

If you go to buy a helmet and the thing doesn't fit when you get it
home, or it is the wrong colour, then tough fucking luck. You aint
bringing it back to any shop I might run.

Suitable for what? It's suitable as a safety item which means it is
suitable for the purpose for which it is being sold, whether or not it
is noisy is not a safety issue as far as I am concerned.

 

Testing helmets sound like a very expensive public liability insurance
business.

Imagine if someone came off of their machine while using a helmet that
had been in the sun for about 60 hours on various tests by sixty
different peepses. They hurt themselves and then sue the helmet
shoppe for providing a helmet that had been dropped/bumped/abused
before by heaven knows how many people. It would be difficult to
proove that the helmet wasn't damaged before they put it on, and the
shop owner wouldn't really be able to say otherwise.

How much does a significant head injury cost on public liability in
the UK these days?

You've got a valid point about bikes on test rides, but the brakes are
designed to be whacked quite often.

 

Bear says...

 

As Bear said though, if the customer _specifically_ asked for a quiet lid,
and it wasn't (and the shop knew this) then they should have some rights to
a refund/return.

 

I was given a test ride on a VFR with a plugged (and badly worn) rear tyre
that was mismatched to the front. The bike slid rather nastily on the first
corner I came to - luckily I didnt' bin it - but never assume the bike's in
decent nick.

 

If you've got an S1, not you.

If you've got a concept - well, Bear put it quite well with the Lego
spaceman look.

 

dwb says...

No decent salesman would claim any helmet was quiet. It's all relative,
what I'd consider quiet might be too loud for someone else. We all have
different opinions on things like that.

 

You ride on the right? Anyway, ok, that would be a problem.

 

Even if he didn't, wouldn't you look left before pulling from Lane 3 to
Lane 2 or 1 on the motorway?


--
Dnc

B1200 - +30bhp ~|~ VS800 - borked
TS150 - squatting ~|~ V2300 - flat cap and rug

MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003

 

you would need a definition of what is noisy and what isn't as far as
helmets go
no two helmets or the heads that go into them are the same nor is the
riders riding position so the noise levels within the helmet will vary
dramatically from person to person

 

Lozzo wrote

Because I *cannot* test a helmet, which I am obliged by law to have one
of, for a thing as simple as rider comfort in the environment in which
it is to be used.

Simple as that.

Add all sorts of supporting shit like comfort = safety and all the rest
of it if you will but I would prefer to keep my complaint simple.

I appreciate that resolving my complaint is not without it's issues and
problems but these are not going to be solved by those in the trade whom
I know who are effectively saying **** off, buy it or not, see if we
care and no refunds.

 

steve robinson wrote

It is reasonable to assume this but who said it was so in the first
place and are they right?

 

There should be an EU standard noise test for helmets.
It can't be too difficult to devise a consistent test with
two microphones and a dummy head in a wind tunnel.

 

BGN wrote

They already do put their helmets through tests to get the little
sticker on the side. Of course there is a big difference between them
having to because it is the law and us preferring that they did it
because it might be more comfortable.

Yet you will happily take a bike out that you know has been trough
worse?

Undoubtedly. No argument. Portable ultrasound scanner and a few k of
disk space anyone?

 

Eiron wrote

Difficult?

Start the list

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