Helmet Prices! (And What Am I Getting?)

 

I have a Shoei RF-1000, which I think I paid a little over $300 for.  I was
just looking at helmets, thinking about my next color choice, etc. ...

Anyway, the Shoei RF-1100 with graphics is around $450.  Whoa!

And a full-face from HJC is less than $100.

Then I looked at Bells ... about $550 for a full-face ... Oh My God ... !!!
I can buy a car for that, just about ... !!!

What am I getting when I pay $550 for a Bell full-face instead of $80 for an
HJC full-face?

DF

 

Datesfat Chicks wrote:

    Don't know.  This link is to the helmet reviews at Webbike World.
     http://tinyurl.com/6f5ej

 

On 9/6/2010 10:18 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

If you can't try locally, don't buy.  Helmets are like shoes--to be
comfortable they have to fit, there are different shapes and no two
manufacturers have the same sizing, so if you can't try it on you're no
more likely to get a good fit than buying a brand of shoes you've never
worn before without trying them.

 


I've tried the $500 to $700 helmets on.  They felt very nice.

I've tried, and bought, $100 to $150 helmets.  They feel nice.

For an extra $400 to $550 you get "very."

I have a KBC full face, and a Scorpion and HJC open face helmets, costing
about $100, $150, and $90, respectively.

The KBC is great, but I like having a wider area of vision and more fresh
air.

The Scorpion is my favorate.  It's easy to change visors from clear to dark
smoke, and it's comfortable.  The only downsides are the fragile device that
holds the visor on, and the clear visor itself, which is hard to clean due
to the anti-fog coating.  Gave them a call, and they shipped out
replacements right away, at just under $17.

I got the HJC because the Scorpion visor-holder-on'r broke, and I wanted to
ride the next day, as well as a backup helmet.  The visor is easy to clean,
because it lacks that silly coating.  It's almost as comfortable as the
Scorpion (to be fair, it's not broken in yet), and the only downside I've
found is the visor, when up, vibrates in an annoying manner at speeds above
20mph.

All of the above are DOT and Snell rated.

It may be the $500+ helmets are sturdier.  They are certainly more
comfortable, and usually have more/fancier vents and controls, but, to me,
not enough to justify the extra money.

Whether they protect the head more or not is debatable, though I've heard
they are not.  I have yet to see any significant proof, or even claims, that
they surpass DOT and Snell standards in any meaningful way.

Some are indeed lighter, but really, just how much will extra weight bother
folks?  When I rode my 400 mile trip last weekend, I had aches and pains all
over, but my neck was just fine with the weight of the HJC.

Three things are certain:

1) If a $500 helmet gets stolen, you are out $500.  I'd rather be out $100
or so.

2) If you drop, or otherwise accidently damage your helmet, you are out
$500.  Same goes if you scratch that fancy paint job.  Of course, the same
applies to the $100 helmets.

3) When it's time to replace that $500, you are replacing a $500 helmet, as
opposed to a $100 helmet.  According to the manufacturers, they still need
to be replaced at 5 years or so, just like the cheaper helmets.  The cost of
ownership is about $100 a year, as opposed to $20 a year.

CS

 


Just a quick glance at the lower-priced HJC full-face helmets seemed to
suggest that they may not be Snell rated.

http://www.hjchelmets.com/prds_csr1.htm


I know nothing about head injuries, but I suspect that a helmet can only
provide so much protection due to the maximum 1 inch or so in which the head
can decelerate.  Assume you make a helmet out of a really exotic and
expensive material so that the helmet can't be crushed.  It wouldn't offer a
lot of extra protection because any sudden stop is going to screw up the
brain, even if you don't crush the helmet, because the head can only
decelerate through a distance of an inch or so through the crushable foam on
the inside of the helmet.

It seems to be an unwinnable game from an engineering perspective.

Assume you want to design a $10,000 helmet with all the safety you can
incorporate in for $10,000.  You probably can't do much better than a $100
helmet.  You can make the shell somewhat stronger, but this would only help
in a minority of accidents because anything that will crush the $100 helmet
is probably also going to break your neck and injure the brain through
deceleration.  You can buy better crushable foam for the inside, but it
won't be much better.  You still have only an inch to work with.

I think all you'd do if you manage to make the shell stronger than a $100
helmet is have a helmet that you can use to prop up your car for an oil
change.  I don't think it would help in a practical crash.

So, I really do doubt that a $500 helmet can be much better than a $100
helmet from a protection perspective ... but ventilation, comfort, visor and
visor mount quality, and attractive art ... those can be better for sure.

I don't think you can do much better than a $100 helmet because again you've
only got about an inch in which the head can decelerate.