Helmets, worth the money?

[humbucker]

Are £400-£500 helmets worth the price tag? I would like to buy a new helmet and was stunned at the price of some of them. Do they really have that much more safety and quality built into them? I have never paid more than £70 for a lid and am beginning to think I haven't taken my head safety seriously enough.

[Ricky]

I've heard that some 400-500 pound helmets provide less protection than the 70 quid ones...

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

This is a good website that tells you how it is.

My helmet was 55 quid and is rated 4 star on this website.

[Joeman]

At the top end of the price range it's normally about lightweight materials. Like anything Motorsport related, price tag increases exponentially with weight reduction.

Top end lids have nice features like removable linings and quick release visors etc. Starting to become the norm on cheaper lids too.

Also in my experience they tend to fit (my head) better.

They'll all do the job as they have to meet strict requirements, so really its down to personal choice and what features you're looking for.

[Stu]

I've heard that some 400-500 pound helmets provide less protection than the 70 quid ones...

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/

This is a good website that tells you how it is.

My helmet was 55 quid and is rated 4 star on this website.

 

That's what the sharps test says but it's flawed they test does not simulate if a head was in the helmet attached to a body it also doesn't simulate a crash and what happens to a helmet in a crash

[fq-craigus]

You pay for latest designs and lightweight helmets. All helmets conform to minimum safety standards. There's been no reasearch proving that more expensive helmets are anysafer than a 50 quid one. So choose one that meets your criteria and all will be good

[Tango]

My Bell lid was best part of £300 when I bought it (3 years ago).....and it still fits really well.....is really light.....so it's comfortable to wear for long periods of time. This is by far the best lid that I've owned in my motorcycling career....with the only downside being the wind noise......

I think with the SHARP tests they look at the effectiveness of the internal protection (Shock absorbtion) and also the shell integrity with impacts from different angles.....so I'm a bit of a fan of the SHARP testing.....and, as has been pointed out, the 5 star lids are not all high-end lids.....there are plenty of lids in the sub-£100 bracket that get 4 or 5 stars.....

[Adam]

Buy a helmet that fits your head properly and it will do it's job in the unfortunate event of a crash. Don't worry about having the latest helmet, I got my Shoei XR1100 (something like that) for £250 down from £379.99 because it was last seasons model

So my advice would be to go into a couple of motorbike shops and try helmets on of any brand until you find one that fits, a shop assistant will help you with this.

[Adam]

Have a read through this http://ultimatemotorcycling.com/motorcy ... -05-snell/ it explains about the different testing standards. I had heard about this but never actually read about it, to sum it up they're all tested to a basic standard but some are tested even further to qualify for higher standards of safety ie Snell.

[Glorian]

i paid £130 (ish) for mine.

Good protection rating and light weight. looks good. and overall i am happy with it.

[humbucker]

Outstanding. Thanks everyone for taking the trouble to post, some great info in there. Makes the decision to buy a lot easier.

[keith565]

i have a head which doesn't fit most helmets, seems i'm an odd shape,lol.

i have tried on dozens of helmets and can only wear 3 with comfort.

one is the shoie neotec but at £400+ i'd be s**t scared to wear it in case i dropped it. the other ones are caberg downtown s but as an open face i can only use it during the summer, the last one is the LS2, a cheap £70 lid but with a 4 star rating. i have just bought my second one, the new 370 easy, a flip up lid, and it is so comfortable, average weight, built in sun visor and good ventilation. pinlock ready too. if i have the money i'd deffo buy the neotec, but for now i feel happy with this one (i'm hoping i'll never get the chance to try it but confident it will do the job)

[rennie]

I have never paid more than £200 for a helmet!

I shop around try lots on and usually buy the year

before's model.

I have an RST at the moment which I quite like,

had 2 sharks before that that I really liked

although one of them was a bit noisy.

[banditjohn]

In the past I've had quite a few lid's from cheap to dearer end of the market, in recent years my circumstances have changed and although in the past I've paid for dearer lid's that was only for the look not just safety. I've just bought a LS2 which has a 4 star Sharpe rating with the little gold sticker on the back so It can't be that bad lol. The LS2 is a good fit, not noisy,pin lock ready and most of all cheap so what can be wrong with that and yes I do value my head but can't afford nor wan't to pay for a name nor status, I think I'm just getting too old for all that and as I'm at the age where you don't get noticed anyway it would be a pointless exercise

[TC]

If its comfy, reduces wind noise, lightwieght and looks good in that order then its good enough.

I don't think there are many (if any) dangerous helmets on the market nowadays

[Joeman]

If its comfy, reduces wind noise, lightwieght and looks good in that order then its good enough.

I don't think there are many (if any) dangerous helmets on the market nowadays

But if you spend a few more quid, you get one that's comfyer, quieter, lighter and looks a bit better... Where do you stop??

[techno]

At £140 my caberg is the most expensive and best helmet I've owned.

Never looked at the sharp test, stu summed it up.

[Joeman]

I think I just have an expensive shaped head...

[Throttled]

This thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52570

in the link to the BBC Fake Britain programme shows a fake and real AVG helmet being tested. Being dropped at speed onto various shaped pieces of metal to replicate hitting your head on a kerb or such like is a good test. The difference between the two helmets is staggeringly large.

So I would regard Sharp as a good indicator of what is more likely to protect you and what is not.

I look for certain essential to me features, a sun visor, ratchet strap, comfort for long journeys and big visor opening. Brand means nothing.

[Lucifah]

Which ever lid you buy, go to a decent dealer and try it on first. Proper fit is more important than 4 or 5 star rating, because if the lid comes off or wobbles on your head, it's not giving you good protection at all. Pressure points could be tolerable, but after a while they take away concentration or even cause headaches.

A 500 quid lid that doesn't fit properly is worth less than a 100 quid lid that fits as it should.

[Mr Fro]

My advice... Buy as good a helmet as you can afford. Shark is a bit of an iffy test as I understand it anyway so might not be the best comparitor.

[Guest]

I've just bought a Shark Vision R Carbon GT helmet. 250quid. Really great value. Its very comfortable, very quiet and I can get my glasses on easily. Came with pinlock which really works well. We can get quite quick temperature changes up here in the Highlands. My last helment was a cheaper Shark. It was fine but the new one is so much better. Bought it from Helmet City. Bit wary of buying without trying but they assured me if it didn't fiw I could change it or get a refund.

[humbucker]

Food for thought, thank you for the advice everyone.

[klingelton]

I'm the least stylish person in the world. I wear shirts that are 14 years old because they're comfortable.

my HJC lid cost £140 3 years ago. it's flip front, has a sun visor, removable liner and space to accept a custom bluetooth intercom system (should you wish to stump up the £230 for the unit!).

it's not stylish and it's on the heavy side of things - but it's decent enough and I didn't need to sell the bike to buy it.

[timmy164]

Buy new,

From a proper dealer,

Make sure it fits properly,

Make sure its fastened securly.

Then look at design, style, cost! etc.

The SHARP web page may not be perfect, but it's an independent step in the right direction.

I just don't buy it that a £400 helmet is ten times better than a £40 helmet (FOR SAFETY)

However you will (probably) be buying a better quality product, lets hope so eh!

Saying that I did spend over £200 on my helmet, hypocrit

The Caberg 'Duke' looks like a great value buy.

Has all the attachments, is Italian made, cheap'ish, and scores 5 stars on the SHARP survey!

[BikerMooFromMars]

Had my crash in a Spada £50/60 helmet, felt like I hit a pillow - Spadas have a high rating on that Sharp website, but not sure if it was definitely that model or not. I replaced it with another one, but dropped it/smacked it against things by accident a good few times!, and fell in love with a Shark helmet at NEC last year and impulse-bought it (in colours to match my next bike! ). Cost £150, was meant to be £200. It has a funky pump thing to make it fit your head better and give you hardcore hamster cheeks and everything . Just remembered, I bought a Caberg flip-ront helmet for something like £115 from BMF 2 years ago too, but stopped wearing it cos it fit, but looked stupidly massive on my head?! I'm not vain at all...........

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So yeah, I'd recommend cheaper ones too