helmet ventilation?

C.J.Patten said:

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i gather
they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better? Would you
notice your head staying that much cooler?

I don't think it's anything to do with cost (most properties of
helmets are not, as far as I can tell - some very cheap Chinese
helmets are Snell certified, no Bell helmet is) but there was some
research I heard of recently.

A headform was heated to 42C, and a fan was then blown over it for 4
minutes. Temperature drops were 10.5C for the bare head, 9.1C for the
best helmet, 2.5C for the worst helmet.

So I'm sure there is a big difference in cooling effect, as you
surmise. Finding out where on the scale between, as it were, 13% and
76% reduction in cooling effect any one particular helmet lies, is
likely to be problematic! It is probably a function of the size and
number of vents, but maybe not, and of course these might have a
consequent effect on structural integrity as well.

It's a good question, actually - I don't know to what extent the body
is able to compensate for the reduced cooling. As far as I understand
it the scalp plays the major part in cooling the head, and there is
evidence in respect of cricketers that helmet-induced heating impairs
reactions. I think there are probably as many unknown unknowns as
known unknowns here.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"Let’s have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."
- Earl Blumenauer

"C.J.Patten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any other extremely vented helmets? (don't say "bare head" smart-asses)

Thanks,
Chris

I'm currently using a Briko Twinner and that is very cool - the way it's
designed it draws the air across the head. I also find it comfortable to
wear.

See

<http://www.hardheadedsports.com/briko-bike-helmets.html>

Cheers, helen s

Wow. Thanks for the link - I'd never seen Briko helmets before!
http://www.briko.com works too.

Chris

"wafflycat" <waffles*A*T*v21net*D*O*T*co*D*O*T*uk> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"C.J.Patten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any other extremely vented helmets? (don't say "bare head" smart-asses)

Thanks,
Chris

I'm currently using a Briko Twinner and that is very cool - the way it's
designed it draws the air across the head. I also find it comfortable to
wear.

See

<http://www.hardheadedsports.com/briko-bike-helmets.html>

Cheers, helen s

C.J.Patten said:

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet but
it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i
gather they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better?
Would you notice your head staying that much cooler?

Any other extremely vented helmets? (don't say "bare head" smart-asses)

Do you have a full head of hair? Are you male or a modern feeling female?
A nice tight clipper cut will keep your hair from becoming a plastered
follicle insulator when smooshed under styrofoam.

Long ago I plugged up the vents in my helmet. It just lets bugs in to get
trapped in your hair.

The cooling effect change isn't noticeable. The huge cooling is from sun
shielding, and that's compared even to wearing no helmet.

As long as the vents are plugged, wear a baseball cap under the helmet to
get a nice visor, very handy in cold wind or rain, as well as sun.
--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

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In article <[email hidden]>,

C.J.Patten said:

I won't get in to a helmet debate. I wear one, reasons irrelevant for this
thread.

My question has to do with vents.

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet but
it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i gather
they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better? Would you
notice your head staying that much cooler?

Any other extremely vented helmets? (don't say "bare head" smart-asses)

_ If you have a Giro shaped head, then I think that if you go one
level down to the Pneumo you get a very light, very well
ventilated helmet. Plus, you can get them on sale right now.
IMHO, the big difference between cheap and $$$ is ventilation
and weight.

_ Booker C. Bense

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In article <[email hidden]>,

(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Ron Hardin:

Quoted message said:

The cooling effect change isn't noticeable. The huge cooling is from sun
shielding, and that's compared even to wearing no helmet.

As long as the vents are plugged, wear a baseball cap under the helmet to
get a nice visor, very handy in cold wind or rain, as well as sun.

Where/what time of year are you riding?

_ Either Ron is smoking crack or he still using his 1978 MSR
climbing helmet.

I have both the Giro Zen and Pneumo, both are vast improvements
in ventilation over early Giro's, but the Pneumo is better than
the Zen in hot weather. This might just be due to the fact that
one is white while the other is dark grey. The other great
benefit of the Pneumo is that it pulls your hair up into ridges.
You look like an extra from Star Trek at century rest stops.

_ Booker C. Bense

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(PeteCresswell) said:

Per Ron Hardin:

Quoted message said:

The cooling effect change isn't noticeable. The huge cooling is from sun
shielding, and that's compared even to wearing no helmet.

As long as the vents are plugged, wear a baseball cap under the helmet to
get a nice visor, very handy in cold wind or rain, as well as sun.

Where/what time of year are you riding?

I'm in Southeastern Pennsylvania (USA) and in July/August I wind up taking the
thing off for 15-20 minutes at a time just because it feels soooooooo good to
have the cool wind in my hair instead of sweat running down my glasses and
feeling like my brains are gonna poach like an egg.

Ohio, all year, 8,000 miles a year.

It's a 1975 Bell mushroom helmet, a pleasant sun-reflecting white with rigid
white styrofoam insulation, so it takes off all the radiative solar heat. That's
a huge benefit. Riding without it is much hotter, very noticeable.

You have lots of sweating skin elsewhere and don't need the scalp contribution.

If sweat on your glasses is a big deal, try the Hardin patented solution, a
maxipad for a forehead pad in the helmet (or in my case, inside the baseball
cap). They've spent millions and millions of dollars to get these things to
work, and they do.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the result of the space program, like velcro.
--
Ron Hardin
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

"Booker C. Bense"
<[email hidden]>
wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

_ If you have a Giro shaped head, then I think that if you go one
level down to the Pneumo you get a very light, very well
ventilated helmet. Plus, you can get them on sale right now.
IMHO, the big difference between cheap and $$$ is ventilation
and weight.

It seems I do have a Giro head. 🙂 This one fits perfectly.

I agree with you on the $$$ issue. Strictly based on observation, the
cheapest helmets have rudimentary vents, the most expensive are basically
ALL vent with a bit of helmet between. Clearly, we're paying for "the
benefit" not the actual materials and labour that go into the high end
helmets.

🙂

"(PeteCresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Per Ron Hardin:

Quoted message said:

t's a 1975 Bell mushroom helmet, a pleasant sun-reflecting white with
rigid
white styrofoam insulation, so it takes off all the radiative solar heat.
That's
a huge benefit. Riding without it is much hotter, very noticeable.

Now you've got me thinking it's the color. Mine's a dark-ish grey.
Maybe a little strategically-applied spray paint...

Better yet, get some aluminum foil. It's easy to mold and with a bit of 3M
spray tack, you can stick it to the helmet.

An added plus: aliens won't be able to read your thoughts anymore.

Chris - firmly tongue in cheek

Just zis Guy said:

Quoted message said:

It's a good question, actually - I don't know to what extent the body

is able to compensate for the reduced cooling. As far as I understand
it the scalp plays the major part in cooling the head, and there is
evidence in respect of cricketers that helmet-induced heating impairs
reactions. I think there are probably as many unknown unknowns as
known unknowns here.

There is a lot of data on the opposite side. That is by keeping the
head warm (via a hat)there is a large positive effect on staying warm.
In most cold weather ative sports competitors seem to worry most about
losing heat from the head, hands, and feet. And as a result if those
areas are covered it seems that they can use relativley light clothing
(sans a big wind chill effect) everywhere else as long as activity
level stays high.

So, I would think that this can be extrapolated to guessing that in
hot weather that if the head isn't allowed to cool that overall body
temp may rise as a result.

Per Ron Hardin:

Quoted message said:

The cooling effect change isn't noticeable. The huge cooling is from sun
shielding, and that's compared even to wearing no helmet.

As long as the vents are plugged, wear a baseball cap under the helmet to
get a nice visor, very handy in cold wind or rain, as well as sun.

Where/what time of year are you riding?

I'm in Southeastern Pennsylvania (USA) and in July/August I wind up taking the
thing off for 15-20 minutes at a time just because it feels soooooooo good to
have the cool wind in my hair instead of sweat running down my glasses and
feeling like my brains are gonna poach like an egg.

Giro Zen.

Somewhere on the web, there's an anti-helmet site whose argument is based in
part on injury reduction vs reduced health benefits from fewer people riding
after some sort of manditory helmet law was passed in Australia.

I'm mostly a helmet zealot, but I can also see his side of the argument.

--
PeteCresswell

Someone at RMIT published research on this in Bicycling Australia a couple
of years back. Can't remember the exact details, but I think they stuck
temperature sensors in/on a headform, heated it, then blew air across and
measured the rate of cooling with various helmets (and also with no helmet
as a comparison). There was no correlation between price and and how well
the helmet allowed cooling to take place. Some of the cheap helmets with
what appeared to be poor ventilation were near the top of the list and some
of the expensive ones which were mostly slots were near the bottom. And the
best of the helmets allowed cooling as rapidly as a bare head.

Nick

"C.J.Patten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I won't get in to a helmet debate. I wear one, reasons irrelevant for this
thread.

My question has to do with vents.

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet but
it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i
gather they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better?
Would you notice your head staying that much cooler?

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 15:27:45 GMT, maxo <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

C.J.Patten said:

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet but
it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i
gather they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better?
Would you notice your head staying that much cooler?

Any other extremely vented helmets? (don't say "bare head" smart-asses)

Do you have a full head of hair? Are you male or a modern feeling female?
A nice tight clipper cut will keep your hair from becoming a plastered
follicle insulator when smooshed under styrofoam.

Not all of us want a head during the week that looks like a shaved
egg, like so many cops and soldiers wear today. Laughable. Looks like
an adult trying to imitate an "action figure" or cancer patient.
Many, if not most women like guys with hair.

Ted M.

Well heck, that's a tease! I gotta find that study!
Thanks for that though... good to know.

"Nick Payne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Someone at RMIT published research on this in Bicycling Australia a couple
of years back. Can't remember the exact details, but I think they stuck
temperature sensors in/on a headform, heated it, then blew air across and
measured the rate of cooling with various helmets (and also with no helmet
as a comparison). There was no correlation between price and and how well
the helmet allowed cooling to take place. Some of the cheap helmets with
what appeared to be poor ventilation were near the top of the list and
some of the expensive ones which were mostly slots were near the bottom.
And the best of the helmets allowed cooling as rapidly as a bare head.

Nick

"C.J.Patten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I won't get in to a helmet debate. I wear one, reasons irrelevant for this
thread.

My question has to do with vents.

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet
but it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i
gather they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better?
Would you notice your head staying that much cooler?

C.J.Patten said:

My question has to do with vents.

My current helmet is a Giro Indicator. This wasn't an expensive helmet but
it fits well.

When you spend 5 times as much to get something like a Giro Atmos (i gather
they use it on the tour?) is the ventilation that much better? Would you
notice your head staying that much cooler?

The only benchmark that I consider important in this regard is "Do I
have enough venilation with the helmet I have now?" If the answer is
"yes", then in my opinion, no further expenditure is worthwhile.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Per Ron Hardin:

Quoted message said:

t's a 1975 Bell mushroom helmet, a pleasant sun-reflecting white with rigid
white styrofoam insulation, so it takes off all the radiative solar heat. That's
a huge benefit. Riding without it is much hotter, very noticeable.

Now you've got me thinking it's the color. Mine's a dark-ish grey.
Maybe a little strategically-applied spray paint...
--
PeteCresswell

Theodore Morton said:

Not all of us want a head during the week that looks like a shaved egg,
like so many cops and soldiers wear today. Laughable. Looks like an adult
trying to imitate an "action figure" or cancer patient. Many, if not most
women like guys with hair.

On the other hand, what's the point of anything over an inch? Bourgoise
expression is what it is. :P

I'm glad you find my style laughable. Perhaps I should get a rug and a
gold medallion so we can hang out some time. 😉

max "closely cropped and thinning since '89" o

"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 19:27:22 -0400, Theodore Morton wrote:

Quoted message said:

On the other hand, what's the point of anything over an inch? Bourgoise
expression is what it is. :P

I got plenty of bourgois expression. See, for example, my picture here:
http://www.active.com/donations/campaign_public.cfm?key=cpetersky

As for helmet vents, here in the PNW, I think the fewer vents the better.
Keeps the rain out. I buy the cheapest comfortable helmet available. Right
now I think it's a Giro Torrent.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky