Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? ...He's a mile away and you've got his shoes
I see that they have a spot explaining how the testing is done, but not how it all stacks up to give you a score.
Still.... my brand new (and yes...cheap) helmet got a whopping ONE star woohoo yeah baby!!!!
Crap.
Wisdom comes with age.... But sometimes age comes alone!
Having read the article "Motorcycle Helmet Performance: Blowing the Lid Off", it sounds like a non-Snell approved hemet (cheapo DOT) is actually safer than a Sharp 5 star?
I'm totally confused now, guess I'll just buy the most comfortable cheapy!
Looks like the "hit it with a big hammer" test may not be the best after all.
Shubith(sp) have to be one of the top lids you can get, maybe why BMW badge them as their own?
Yet they didn’t really do too well?
Rigorous Government Testing... wot? like our fuel?
My poxy HJC gets 2 stars
Gezza
Interestingly, here's what the rideforever site has to say about helmet selection...
"The standards set a minimum level of performance. A helmet that complies with one of these standards and is in good condition, fits and is fastened correctly, should provide as much protection as you can expect in a crash.
Technological advances in helmet construction have also improved impact protection, shell materials and design features. Some helmet manufacturers claim their products exceed the performance levels set by the standards, but as yet there are no independent tests to substantiate these claims."
Wisdom comes with age.... But sometimes age comes alone!
My KBC rates the friggin lowest 1 star, stuff that, Im buying a new one.
My KBC is a 1 star as well.
It's also certified for road use in NZ so passes all the applicable standards.
I haven't trawled all of the thread so sorry if this is mentioned earlier.
The way I read it is Arai did a lot of research into the impact points on the hat. They found that the best result was to optimise the distribution of materials to make it 'thickest' at the most likely contact points and to keep weight acceptable, not as thick at the points where there is much smaller likelihood of penetration. There are numerous Acronyms for the variable density materials.
This skews the sharp ratings because it hits them the same all over the helmet.
been Meaning to buy a new helmet for a while, my KBC rated shit, so went and bought a AGV on saturday, its a four star, so at least I feel a bit safer in myself if nothing else.
You are so right.
I understand they spend a lot with testing institutes in France.
i haven't spent the time to read all seven pages here, but just the recent page and a half. it seems that quite a few people here think the SHARP tests are crap.
i find this rather interesting; i recently bought a helmet, selected as a high-rated SHARP lid. in doing so i visited several shops around auckland and all of them were universally negative (some in fact totally ignorant) of the SHARP tests. when i pushed them for their reasons, i heard a whole load of answers, none of which even vaguely stood up to the reality;
"it's all a commercial load of crap" (it's publicly funded, competely non-commercial)
"it's only one stupid impact test with a hammer" (22 different tests actually)
"you can't tell me you'd rather have a HJC than an Arai" (err, perhaps not, but that's not what the test is there for)
"if you have a big off, no helmet will save you" (that's simply a non-argument, as it is self-evident and misleading)
"it's just a load of crap" (hmmm...)
the various responses i got from my questions seem to be similar, more or less, to several opinions here;
"helmet testing designed by people who know nothing about helmets." (perhaps, but i'd rather trust an independent body of engineers and medical professionals than, say, a helmet company)
this all reminds me of the introduction a few years ago of the euro NCAP, the crash testing for cars run by the EC. for years it was belittled by the manufacturers, not surprisingly because many of them did poorly. the chrysler voyager was a perfect example; it was (from memory) the first car to completely fail the NCAP tests, whereby a frontal impact at 40mph would result in probable death of one or both front seat occupants. it was brushed under the carpet by chrysler and other mfrs in the same boat at the time, easy to do as NCAP wasn't well known. but it is now, and what a surprise, cars are a LOT safer now. chrysler very quickly redesigned the voyager and then strangely leant heavily on safety to market the new model when they hadn't done so before for their range. although some of this "post NCAP" focus on safety has been publicised, a lot of it has clearly been done reasonably quietly by the mfrs in response to the data from the NCAP testing.
i'm confident that SHARP is the same. i guarantee we'll find that arai start making better (yes it is possible) helmets in response. we'll never know they're doing it, or how, but i'm certain that it will happen. i use arai as the example as they're the most high profile, but i'm sure that many other mfrs are listening to SHARP. and in the meantime, arai reps are clearly doing a great job of dragging the SHARP system into disrepute.
hey, if i was running arai, i'd do the same. which is why i feel strongly that it's not a load of cobblers. oh, and the fact that the SHARP test just seems to make good solid sense.
I find the Sharp testing/scoring methods to be less than transparant.
They give you details of the tests/methods but then when it comes to the final score...
Also...Originally Posted by SHARP
I prefer Snell to Sharp and DOT to Snell.Originally Posted by SHARP
None of them are going to do a damn thing to stop your brain smashing around inside your skull in the event of a big head impact, all of them are going to protect your skull in the event of a crash(notwithstanding a huge head impact in which case your fucked).
If I were to be wearing my helmet to protect myself from 22 hammers hitting my helmet then sure I'd look at sharp, But back in the real world it means fuck all.
I'm happy to continue wearing my Arai and will replace it with an Arai. I am confident in the reasearch and testing that Arai have done in their design, concentrating on 'real world' test for impact, impact areas and stresses. I also have an 'Arai shaped head'.
In my opinion the SHARP test is not related to real life impacts or impact areas and stresses, has little meaning for me as a motorcyclist of some 30+yrs seeing what helmets SHARP rate as high verses what 'the industry' shows to be good quality.
Go check out the Moto-GP or WSBK paddock and see how many '5 star' SHARP rated helemets are worn.
For me I want motorcyclist assessing what I wear on my bonce in 'real life' tests not a bunch of professors with some dreamt up, unrealistic aseptic test.
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