Helmet- fibreglass or polycarbonate?

[peterpan]

Does anyone have preferences which is best? considering a KBC TK8 vs RJays GP1.
i know the old $2 helmet for a $2 head, but was in a bike shop the other day and he reckoned that fibre glass was the only way to go- 'over here we have a nice $10,000 shoei, thats what you need'

[Rosie]

I've got a TK8 and I really like it. Mr Rosie has one too, and he likes it.
All helmets sold in NZ have to pass the same safety standards. There are lots of reasons why helmets differ in price, not just because of safety features.
Get a helmet that fits you well and fits your budget.

[Mom]

And one that meets your riding needs. Trust me you will not want a heavy helmet on your head for any great length of time, so if you are planning rides out, invest in the best, lightest one you can afford.

[James Deuce]

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/

Motorcyclist lost Shoei and Arai as advertisers after the above article was published.

Price and "features" are secondary to design, construction, and fit when it comes to helmet performance.

[vifferman]

D'Oh! I was going to post the same thing as Jim.

The most important thing is not necessarily the shell material, but what's underneath it, and how that fits your head. Light weight is also important - I've had whiplash from lowsiding onto my shoulder. My Shoei is supposedly the same weight as my AGV X-Vent, yet it feels lighter - it'd be interesting to actually weigh them.

From personal experience, despite having hit the deck more than once, I've only ever hit my head once, and that almost at standstill. I was wearing an AGV with a polycarbonate shell, and unfortunately, it hit the road right at the side next to the visor opening. Kinda dumb that despite this (the temple) being a vulnerable part of your head, there's not a lot of padding/cushioning in this particular helmet at this point, and I had mild concussion for a few days. No sign of the impact at all on the helmet, and it was enough to make me ditch it - not because it was now 'toast', but because I was pissed off that a minor impact hurt so much. It made me worried that a significant impact would scramble my already marginal brain.

Presumably all helmets being sold here meet some kind of standard, but that doesn't mean that they all offer the same kind of protection. AGVs in particular seem to have very hard polystyrene liners - they may stop serious head injury from a hard blow, but I wonder how much of the impact is absorbed rather than transmitted. Certainly in this example, it would seem not very much at all. Maybe it was just an unlucky case of the wrong part of the helmet hitting the road, but I notice my current Shoei seems to have much softer padding so I'm fairly sure the same incident would've left me without any injury.

[SPman]

Thanks for that Jim - I'd lost that article and forgotten which website it was on.......
With helmets it comes down to - which one fits the best out of the designs and colour schemes you like - most things after that are bragging rights.....

[Kwakajack]

Does anyone have preferences which is best? considering a KBC TK8 vs RJays GP1.
i know the old $2 helmet for a $2 head, but was in a bike shop the other day and he reckoned that fibre glass was the only way to go- 'over here we have a nice $10,000 shoei, thats what you need'
If I may put in my 2 cents worth. I've had two polycarbonate shelled helmets, both moderately cheap. The only reason they got replaced is my head changed shape as I passed out of my teens. Personally, I've found the KBCs heavy, nice lookers and comfy, but heavy. I would look seriously at HJC's recently remodelled range, the new CL14 is aerodynamic, quite light and good value for money. If you can do it, look further up at the models immediately under the HQ1 Lordship, or better yet, get that as I have found that carbon trumps all

[Chrislost]

KBC saved my ass...

err head...
but you know what i mean.
i hope!

[Swoop]

"The great thing about EPS is that as it crushes, it absorbs lots of energy at a predictable rate. It doesn't store energy and rebound like a spring, which would be a bad thing because your head would bounce back up, shaking your brain not just once, but twice. EPS actually absorbs the kinetic energy of your moving head, creating a very small amount of heat as the foam collapses."

Very important in the "no need to replace the helmet after my last bin, it looks fine" argument.
IF the EPS has been partially crushed then it will not function correctly at your next crash.
The outer shell is only part of the issue.

[rwh]

A thought occurred to me while reading that article, as it was talking about getting the right crushing resistance - has evolution (or God, if you prefer) made that choice? Is bone about right? Not that I want to wear a bone helmet ...

Richard

[Chrislost]

i think you need somthing that is a little more crushable then bone!
its your brain bouncing around in your skull that messes you up.
unless you hit hard to break skull... but then your up shit creek a very long way.

[James Deuce]

A thought occurred to me while reading that article, as it was talking about getting the right crushing resistance - has evolution (or God, if you prefer) made that choice? Is bone about right? Not that I want to wear a bone helmet ...

Richard

No, your hair and scalp are the "crushable" bits. The bone is to stop penetration.

[Pancakes]

I have problems at the moment from whiplash from my crash 2 weeks ago. Will be a while longer before I'm right. Helmet didn't hit anything but I'm replacing it with a Shoei cos it feels so much lighter. Better fit (for me) than the HJC too.

[imdying]

No, your hair and scalp are the "crushable" bits. The bone is to stop penetration.Hmmm, perhaps, in the name of safety, we should all get affros!! :blip:

[slopster]

A thought occurred to me while reading that article, as it was talking about getting the right crushing resistance - has evolution (or God, if you prefer) made that choice? Is bone about right? Not that I want to wear a bone helmet ...

Richard

I think it will be a wee while till we actually evolve to better suit our motorcycling requirements

[90s]

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/

Motorcyclist lost Shoei and Arai as advertisers after the above article was published.

Price and "features" are secondary to design, construction, and fit when it comes to helmet performance.

That's a great article. An excellent response letter to SNELL too. Some bits of interest to NZ policy makers on speed, accidents and the "bigger the mess" rubbish:

"Even though many motorcycles were capable of running the quarter-mile in 11 seconds (or less) and topping 140 mph back in '81, not one of the 900-odd accidents investigated in the Hurt study involved a speed over 100 mph. The "one in a thousand" speed seen in the Hurt Report was 86 mph, meaning only one of the accidents seen in the 900-crash study occurred at or above that speed. And the COST 327 study, done recently in the land of the autobahn, contained very few crashes over 120 kph, or 75 mph. The big lesson here is this: It's a mistake to assume that going really fast causes a significant number of accidents just because a motorcycle can go really fast.

Another eye-opener: In spite of what one might assume, the speed at which an accident starts does not necessarily correlate to the impact the head—or helmet—will have to absorb in a crash. That is, according to the Hurt Report and the similar Thailand study, going faster when you fall off does not typically result in your helmet taking a harder hit."

Summary is the speed does not equal higher impacts to the head, and the vital coefficient is the height the head falls from, which is a max. of 8' in a highslide (and very, very, rare) and usually a low height in a low-slide.

Article really confirms what we all know - nearly all motorbike accidents that do not involve acohol are close-to-home intersection collisions where cars pull out into our way. And no open-road or speed enforcements campaign can affect this truth at all. Only better driving can.

All very interesting!