Carbon fibre helmets?

[slofox]

Anyone know anything about carbon fibre helmets?

Next time I buy a helmet I'd like something lighter than the usual - always assuming it has the same level of protection of course. Carbon fibre is supposed to be the bees' knees innit, so waddya know about it anyone?

Ta.

[pete376403]

One thing I read about C/f in an accident (and I have no citation so this may be an "Internet Fact") is that "when a C/f helmet is sliding along the road then a cloud of tiny fibres is ground off, just waiting to be inhaled by the helmet wearer (who may well be taking very big gulps of air at this time). Carbon fibres in a lung would have an effect very similar to asbestos fibres with all the complications that causes."


This link however suggests that it may not be a problem after all, and that the above is just an "internet fact" ie b/s.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3712116

I cannot afford a c/f helmet so I won't ever have to find that out for myself.

[Subike]

One thing I read about C/f in an accident (and I have no citation so this may be an "Internet Fact") is that "when a C/f helmet is sliding along the road then a cloud of tiny fibres is ground off, just waiting to be inhaled by the helmet wearer (who may well be taking very big gulps of air at this time). Carbon fibres in a lung would have an effect very similar to asbestos fibres with all the complications that causes."


This link however suggests that it may not be a problem after all, and that the above is just an "internet fact" ie b/s.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3712116

I cannot afford a c/f helmet so I won't ever have to find that out for myself.



um mate, fiberglass helmets do the same thing, I doubt if there would be any larger risk than there already is.


The advantage I see with CF is lighter weight means that if an incident occurs,
You neck muscles and spine are not trying to support so much weight, thus less prone to a whiplash type injury.
And with the advent of polystyrene balls as the liners rather than solid polystyrene, impacts on the skull are lessened as well.
I have been looking at the pricing recently as my next helmet will be C F, I dont think $500 - $700 is excessive to protect my head,
Hands Fingers Arms and legs can be written off, backs can be braced, wheel chairs can be adapted to,
Brain damage? no thank you No 1 thing to protect.

[slofox]

The advantage I see with CF is lighter weight

This is what really interests me since in my dotage, my neck vertabrae seem to have turned to tapioca and have developed a propensity for complaining about carrying a heavy helmet on top of them. :argh:

[theseekerfinds]

carbon fibre may well be light but it has poor impact resistant qualities..

[Subike]

carbon fibre may well be light but it has poor impact resistant qualities..

from the articles I have read C F meet and in tests exceed, the impact requirements that fiberglass helmets have to pass
so where did you get your information from?

Genuine Carbon Fiber Motorcycle Helmets
Motorcycle Helmets made from real Carbon Fiber are some of the lightest, smallest and lowest profile Helmets that still meet or exceed the DOT Certification standards. Besides the weight and small size of these Motorcycle Helmets, carbon fiber is better able to absorb forces of an impact than most other helmet material while the fiber weave design makes it less likely for objects to penetrate through the helmet shell.

Carbon fiber materials are known for their strength, durability and light weight; that is why HJC has chosen the most technologically advanced “next generation” Carbon Fiber weave and resins for the new FS-15 Carbon full-face motorcycle helmet. The FS-15 does not simply apply carbon fiber portions to the shell: the FS-15 features a true full shell application carbon fiber, offering the maximum benefits of this technology.


Carbon Fiber Composite Weave Shell: Lightweight carbon fiber shell construction with superior fit and comfort by using advanced CAD technology; wind tunnel tested aerodynamic shell shape with an extra large eye port for greater visibility
Third Generation “ACS” Advanced Channeling Ventilation System: Full front to back airflow flushes heat and humidity out of the rear of the helmet
Anti-Fog System: Adjustable side chin bar mounted vortex vents create a low-pressure vacuum effect, drawing heat and moisture out of the face shield area, adjustable chin vent redirects air upward and across shield interior
Removable / Washable SilverCool™ Interior
Nylon Strap-Retention Band
HJ-09 Two-Stage Shield Closure Mechanism: Two-stage pivot mechanism compresses the shield into the eye port gasket, providing an extremely secure seal; Includes built-in pins for Pinlock® antifog lenses; Improved, no guess work, tool-less shield removal and installation
Deluxe helmet bag included
Meets or exceeds SNELL & DOT standards

[Harry the Barstard]

I have been wearing CF helmets for skydiving for years. Nice and light and are still very quite even at 250-270 kays, get a lil noisy around 300.

I currently wear a G3 made by Cookie, it's CF with a polycarbonate visor and they have this cool inner that go's hard when it suffers a good donk apparently. Not that i am recommending that you buy one of these for riding as Skydiving helmets are primarily there for secondary impacts. The size a weight difference is amazing, not to mention the increased field of view.

Just thought you would like some info that doesn't help at all or answer your question.

[Geeen]

If yer noggin will fit SF you can try on my carbon fibre Shark.

[theseekerfinds]

i just looked it up, you know-did some reading, as opposed to quoting a publicity blurb.. carbon fibre can be impact resistant depending on weave structure etc but it's greatest strength comes from composite additions such as kevlar etc and the most penetration resistant weave may not be the strongest weave to form a curved shape from or to resist impact.. in terms of lightness my non-CF Shoei is still lighter than HJC's lightest CF lid.. It is a modern day material of choice in many things that are aimed at weight savings as opposed to genuine safety and lifesaving.. CF is a beautiful thing to look at, it can be made to be strong, flexible and impact resistance, but rarely all three at once which is what a helmet of the highest safety levels requires..

but then I may be mistaken ( and often am :niceone: )

[pritch]

HJC did a c/f helmet for a reasonable price about $650 from memory.

Schuberth do one too. You could sell your house and use the proceeds as a down payment on the helmet.
If you get my drift... :whistle:

[Cynic]

I have been using an HJC FS10 for the last three years or so... It can be a bit noisey but that is more to do with the shape than the material. The plus side is that even with an inbuilt sun visor (top gun style) it weighs 1450 grams. One odd down side is they do make the odd creaking noise in sudden temperature changes like bright sunlight combined with a sudden pickup in wind speed. You will sacrifice some weight advantage for features and personally I'd be interested to try this on if I were in that market today because the inbuilt sun visor is worth the weight and the wife's modular (albeit polycarbonate) version is very nicely made. Price point is fairly competitive too...

http://www.motomail.co.nz/estore/style/giheh402.aspx

[gatch]

I have an unpainted HJC HQ1. 1300g

263662

It's about 6 years old now. I'm updating with a newer HJC, guess the weight... 1200g !! I don;t think this is carbon fiber however, maybe kevlar or glass. But it's light, has all the safety standard stamps and looks schmick to boot.

263663

[Madness]

I bought a Suomy "Vandal" helmet to save some weight - 1,250g fibreglass. It has a tiny aero ridge at the back and works great for saving the neck niggles.

[p.dath]

Anyone know anything about carbon fibre helmets?

Next time I buy a helmet I'd like something lighter than the usual - always assuming it has the same level of protection of course. Carbon fibre is supposed to be the bees' knees innit, so waddya know about it anyone?

Ta.

I wrote a BLOG article a while ago about the different types of helmets and their pros and cons.
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/entry.php/1562-Choosing-a-Motorcycle-Helmet

[slofox]

I wrote a BLOG article a while ago about the different types of helmets and their pros and cons.


That's pretty good - thanks for that.

[theseekerfinds]

I did some more reading and found this

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/arai-corsair-v-race-carbon-helmet

oh to have $4K US laying about looking to be spent :eek:

after a bit more reading about other helmets on the market and after checking out the SHARP link in this forum I now realise I may have been incorrect in my understanding of the CF technology in todays helmets..

[SPP]

Anyone know anything about carbon fibre helmets?

Next time I buy a helmet I'd like something lighter than the usual - always assuming it has the same level of protection of course. Carbon fibre is supposed to be the bees' knees innit, so waddya know about it anyone?

Ta.


I have an unpainted ...I'm updating with a newer HJC, guess the weight... 1200g !! I don;t think this is carbon fiber however, maybe kevlar or glass. But it's light, has all the safety standard stamps and looks schmick to boot.

263663

HJC PHA-10 is super stable and really light (1250g). Boyd's in the tron has them on the shelf (carbon fibre/aramid/fibre glass).

Another helmet worth looking into is a Nexx XR1R carbon. A work mate had one, minimalist but pretty nice and really light.

[gatch]

Time for some helmet porn.. I don't know much about it, I didn't bother reading, but it looks so cool. I want one on principal.

263689

[FLUB]

I've got the Nexx XR1R. First carbon helmet I've owned and it's so light you almost forget you're wearing a helmet. My advice is to go carbon, from whatever brand you fancy, I don't think you will regret it. Check out webbikeworld.com as they have plenty of carbon helmet reviews.

[boman]

The make of a helmet, and the way it carries the weight, can have an effect.

I Owned an Arai, rx7 Corsair. A damn good helmet, which I replaced it with a Shoei, xr 1100. Which according to the marketing blurb, was a tad lighter than the Arai.

I found I got a sore neck from wearing it.

So only after a couple of months, I went back to an Arai. What a difference.

I don't know why the Shoei gave me a sore neck, but the Arai certainly dosen't

[NordieBoy]

I had a really light Nolan which really hurt my neck.
The angle of the visor was awful and the wind just pushed against it...

[Boob Johnson]

One thing I read about C/f in an accident (and I have no citation so this may be an "Internet Fact") is that "when a C/f helmet is sliding along the road then a cloud of tiny fibres is ground off, just waiting to be inhaled by the helmet wearer (who may well be taking very big gulps of air at this time). Carbon fibres in a lung would have an effect very similar to asbestos fibres with all the complications that causes."
Dare I say it, if you're sliding down the road the LEAST of your worries would be "possibly" inhaling C/F :bleh:

[Urano]

composite fibers (carbon, carbon/kevlar, glassfiber, ecc...) let engineers to better design the force absorption in a crash.
more than this fibers have less elastic responses so the tendencies to "bounce" on the tarmac are lower.

on the other hand fibers helmets have almost no possibilities to come from a machined, computerized, standard process production, so it's very hard to find two products that acts EXACTLY the same.
a lot depends on the single hand that made that single piece.

fibers helmets have then worse responses to small impact than polycarbonate, like the obvious "fall-from-the-table" damage, but have a better behavior versus UV rays and pollution aggressors too.

because of this and other reasons keep in mind that even though a fiber helmet can generally be much better than a poly one, it is even true that a good poly helmet is quite always better than a bad fiber one.

[Ocean1]

Couple of points.

CF fibres don't bend well, they break when bent well before other common reinforcing fibres.

A helmet shell should be rigid, up to a point, beyond it's compressive strength it needs to be somewhat flexible.

Structures using solely CF reinforced resin fail spectacularly, the results of which might be described as a sack of razor blades.

As someone else said, kevlar or other arimids are often used to mitigate CF's lack of flexibility, if I was in the market for a CF lid I'd be looking for evidence of that type of engineering.

[thehollowmen]

This is my worry.
Archers use carbon fibre arrows, and if they crack or split they are unbelievably sharp.



Structures using solely CF reinforced resin fail spectacularly, the results of which might be described as a sack of razor blades.