Saturday, August 16, 2008

All bike helmets are NOT equal

According to The Bicycle Helmet Saftey Institute, helmets that come to a pointed rear end put you at risk of "snagging" on something if you fall.

It sounds like rear pointed helmets are yet another attempt to emulate racing styles. But if, say, you were sliding forward at 30 mph on your back and your helmet snagged...you could come to regret being so stylish.

The institute recommends a helmet that:

1. Meets the CPSC bicycle helmet standard.
2. Fits you well.
3. Has a rounded, smooth exterior with no major snag points.
4. Has no more vents than you need. More vents = less foam.

With all that in mind, I picked up a Bell Variant (below), to replace a worn out old helmet. Apparently, the life of a helmet is about 3 years. Once any part of the interior foam breaks the helmet is close to useless.



Helmets are seldom seen in Europe, by the way.

1 comment:

  1. Cool, that's the same helmet I use! And I actually DID use it last winter, when I slid on some oil in the rain and went down, and the side of my head bounced on the pavement. Maybe this kind of thing never happens in Europe, where helmets are only good for scaring people away from riding -- but for me, I was very glad to have the helmet take that hit, instead of my skull.

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