Schuberth and SHARP ratings.

[Oasis]

I'm seriously considering getting a schuberth C3 pro bucket in the next few weeks. I have tried them on a few times, along with the E1 and they fit my head so well and it's a very comfy place to be in.

But the sharp rating for them isn't that good. Cheaper lids get far better ratings.

What sre your thoughts on the sharp testing? There are very mixed opinions on the web.

[Guest]

pinch of salt.

all helmets have to reach a certain standard to be road legal.. doesnt matter if its a £500+ Arai, or a £39 Aldi special. what you get for the extra cost is 'design' and in the case of the C3 the quietest system helmet money can buy. its right there near the top of the tree. One that is built to last and built to a very high standard.

as has been noted time and time again.. fit is far more important for a road use crash helmet than just about anything else.. but, paying more just increases your comfort level. The helmet becomes more 'luxurious' to wear.. perhaps 'luxurious' is the wrong word.. Im sure it will be picked upon. but.. as someone who appreciates these qualities its the best I can come up with. Schuberth helmets dont suit my head.. I wear a £120 Caberg Duke. Sharp gives it 5 stars - but I give it 2 for quality. the helmet is severely lacking in some areas.... most notably wind noise. I absolutely MUST wear ear plugs with it. and that cuts my other options. Its a cheap helmet.but it fits me and suits my purposes. But.. its not even remotely luxurious to wear and they only seem to last a couple of years before the 'fit' goes off.

according to SHARP a £90 caberg Trip.. is better than a £590 Arai RX-7 GP... I would say that is complete bollox. (putting it mildly) it might be better in some 1/1,000,000 crash scenario.. but you have to wear the bloody thing day-in, day-out.and im sure that would be an absolute joy if by some chance you also owned the ARAI and could wear that instead... but were ruled by what SHARP has to say.

[Stu]

There is rumours going about that the sharps testing is flawed too

Apparently the testing is not that of a real world crash

Make of it what you will

[Tango]

I think the SHARP testing is about the amount of force that is transferred from the impact on the shell of the lid through to the inside (your head)......watch the vid of the testing process and make your own mind up. Personally I like the fact that my Bell lid has a 5* rating......but I'll be even happier if I never have to find out if it's up to the job!!....

[Guest]

I have the C3 and C3 Pro.

Quiet, comfy, no draughts.

Lovely.

[Oasis]

Food for thought, cheers fellas.

Here's the sharp test if anyone interested.

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/testsratings/schuberth-c3-pro" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also need to decide if to go for the dedicated Bluetooth from cardo/schuberth or just get a cardo GX9 or packtalk.

[RantMachine]

Cor blimey Oasis, don't fancy your chances of survival much if you wear that lid - you want a cheap as chips Spada Evolution like I've got, £50 and look at the rating

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/testsratings/spada-evolution

[Oasis]

I know mate and for less than £200 I can get a Duke

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/testsratings/caberg-duke-and-tourmax" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But they just didn't feel as comfortable as the C3. As I'm using the bike as my main transport all year round, I want something that I can comfortably wear all day.

[RantMachine]

I think the thing that makes me distrust the Sharp tests most of all is the sheer number of helmets that are supposedly wildly more protective on one side than the other... front to back I can believe, but side to side seems a bit dodgy to me.

I can see now why you're getting out of weddings - shifting all that gear with a bike as your sole form of transport is NOT fun

The only time my Bowens set has seen the light of day in the past three years was when I could get to the job by train

[Oasis]

Taking bownes heads, stands and modifiers on a train isn't easy either though is it mate? Once traveled from Euston to Liverpool with a 4 head set up as well as battery bank. Plus a couple of 1D bodies abd lenses. It was a nightmare getting on and off the train

Bloody red photographic in London, booked my transport there but forgot to book it back.

Main reason for getting out of weddings is the money, what was once a couple of grand is now £500-800.

We do still have a 16 plate Honda HRV, but I hate the bloody thing.

[RantMachine]

Yeah, it still isn't fun - I ended up sending some of my kit back by courier so I wouldn't have to carry it on the ruddy train all over again

[Oasis]

And people still think that you just wonder around with a Polaroid

[someone]

I wear a £120 Caberg Duke. Sharp gives it 5 stars - but I give it 2 for quality. the helmet is severely lacking in some areas.... most notably wind noise. I absolutely MUST wear ear plugs with it. and that cuts my other options. Its a cheap helmet.but it fits me and suits my purposes. But.. its not even remotely luxurious to wear and they only seem to last a couple of years before the 'fit' goes off.

 

That is what I wear and aside from noise the vents do not seem that great either.

But my previous helmet was a £35 Lidl one, nosier but better ventilated, that I had to get rid off after the road scraped chunks of plastic out of it. However no matter how much more expensive any other helmet would be, nothing could have protected my head any better.

So I agree that how much you pay is more about the "luxuries" than safety. Better sound reduction, lighter, the appearance, limited production, the brand name. Although where I would pick you up is saying that more expensive ones are made to last. Helmets are essentially disposable, only lasting one impact and to be replaced every five-or-so years. With cheaper helmets it may just be it they feel more difficult to bear for so long.

Part of the reason for safety not being the main factor in cost that is that perfect safety is impossible. Every accident is different and improving safety in one area means compromising in another. Each testing standard also has its own different priorities. And the science is constantly evolving as more data is gathered as to what protection is most important. It is probably impossible to design a helmet that passes every different scheme with the highest possible rating.

A study in of accidents in several European countries, including the U.K., claimed that most helmets being sold were too stiff and transferred rather than absorbed too much of the the force of impacts. But making them softer would then mean failing some certification standards which require a harder shell. This is the research that Sharp ratings are based on.

One of the reason helmets from the premium brands do poorly on Sharp ratings is because they are designed to meet those of the Snell Foundation whose testing requires hardness. In part this is because the Snell Foundation are more concerned with protection at the higher speed impacts, whilst the finding of the European research was that the average speed in the majority of accidents was about 35mph (I think) and so felt that should be the sort of impact that should be prioritized.

That conflict between whether you should be requiring the best protection against the most severe but least likely accidents, or against less severe but more likely ones, is ultimately a matter of opinion. It is probably that everyone just needs to pick which standard to take notice of based on how they ride.

But with Sharp being a voluntary British rating applied in addition to a well respected ECE 22.05 one it is unlikely to be a priority for any manufacturer to try and do well at it. Whilst the Snell one is internationally recognized and, in the U.S., being in addition to a DoT rating that is generally seen as being not as rigorous as the ECE 22.05 one. So anyone wanting to sell helmets internationally will look to achieve a Snell certification over a high Sharp rating, and so likely end up with a lower Sharp rating.

[Oasis]

Wow that's some insight right there. I'm not going to buy anything for a few weeks, so I have time to decide.

Thanks

[Oasis]

Well, bit the bullet and got a C3 pro with src. But the gits have given me the old src system for the C3. Going back to see them tomorrow and hopefully sort it out. Not good when you have forked out so much money!