This entry was posted on Sunday, April 5th, 2009 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Helmets, Motorcycle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
April 5, 2009
I recently was part of an online discussion regarding motorcycle helmets. The thread started with a question as to weather or not one should buy a Kevlar non-DOT novelty style helmet for about $100.00 or buy a less expensive DOT-approved helmet. There was a link to a web site for the Kevlar helmets and it had a curious tag line, “Like wearing nothing at all”. I thought to myself how prophetic of a line that was. I’m sure they were referring to the light weight of the Kevlar material but this blogger was looking to buy a non-DOT version although they did have a DOT-approved helmet for about two times the price.
My involvement got started with support for buying the DOT-approved less expensive PVC shelled motorcycle helmet and I stated that wearing a non-DOT approved motorcycle helmet regardless if were made of Kevlar or any other material would truly be like “Wearing Nothing at All” as the web site touted. Then the responses came hot and heavy. One response “I’d rather wear nothing at all than wear one of those cheap (read: inferior) helmets.” He’d opt for the Kevlar because you know it can stop a bullet. Another responded that “You should spend as much on a helmet as your head is worth” so a $100 dollar Novelty non-DOT helmet must be more protective than a $50.00 DOT-Approved motorcycle helmet. Now there were a couple of truly, dare I say, stupid view points but I was genuinely amazed at the support for those very views.
I quiped back that the protection of a helmet comes from the ability of the outer shell to absorb and disperse impact energy and for the inner lining to act as a buffering suspension to prevent your brain from colliding with the inside of your skull but I did not have any supporting science to give credence to my view point. I even gave an example of the design of crumple zones into modern day autos if they could only imagine their brains as the auto’s occupants. Sadly, as the responses followed I realized my position was not the popular view.
Somehow I think these views stem from the motorcycle helmet or no motorcycle helmet law debate or maybe it’s a rebellion thing. Anyway, I finally read about some studies done that actually supported by position. Which is, DOT-approved helmets perform equally as well as motorcycle helmets made of stronger more rigid materials like Snell certified motorcycle helmet. It just makes sense to me that softer is better when it comes to the outer shell buffering rapid deceleration. I’ve always supported if you have to wear a helmet by law or just elect to wear one for safety that DOT-approved motorcycle helmets are your best bet when it comes to everyday real world safety challenges.
Click here if you want to read the entire article Motorcycle Helmet Performance: Blowing the Lid Off that sites the studies, their testing methodology and a response by Snell foundation.
Click on any Motorcycle Helmet links above to find Outlaw and Hawk DOT-approved and Snell certified helmets at value prices.
Disclaimer: www.motorcycle-leather-gear.com and www.openroadcyclegear.com are wholly owned by RobyCo, Inc. of Reading Pennsylvania. Excerpt articles do not represent the management opinions of RobyCo, Inc or its holdings. Selected information is provided for discussion purposes.