Roland said:Greetings,
This is NOT a flame bait.
Only after I bought the $20 hemet did I research the manufacturers's
Web
sites. I found cycling helmets were divided into categories like
Road, Mountain, etc. My helmet is under the lesser Sport category.
My question is, what are the differences between the helmets with
different prices?
Typically, if you compare a more expensive helmet with a cheaper one,
this is what you'll find:
The more expensive one is a little lighter, has more vent holes (so less
styrofoam), has a slightly better strap system, is made by a company
with a more recognizable name, and is more in line with _this_ year's
fashion. It may also have been worn by some famous racer.
The cheaper one is a bit heavier and has fewer holes, so they can be
sure it passes the certification test on the first try. It may need
more careful strap adjustment, since they didn't spend quite so much
time on strap details. It may be made by a less familiar Oriental
manufacturer. It may have (horrors!) _last_ year's styling. It won't
have been used by a famous racer, since they saved money by not
sponsoring one of those guys.
And it will be more protective.
Yes, the cheaper one will protect better. Much of the development time
of the high-end helmets goes into figuring out how to minimize weight
and maximize ventilation while barely - just barely - passing the test.
They sell them to racer-wannabees, and those guys look at grams and
styling more than anything.
Their explanations of "technology" were not
Quoted message said:enlightening. I could care less about the style, ventilation. I do
care
about the fit. And safety is the most important.
Of course. We Americans realize, more than anyone, that if we just
spend enough on bike helmets, big enough SUVs, side curtain air bags,
carbon monoxide detectors, etc, we'll never actually die. ;-)
Quoted message said:
About safety. Are there government-regulated safety standards?
They're not allowed to sell a helmet in the US unless it passes this
test: A magnesium "headform" (no body attached) is put into the
upside-down helmet. The helmeted "head" is dropped from a stationary
six foot height (roughly). It impacts a hard surface at about 15 miles
per hour. If the linear deceleration of the headform is more than 300
gees, the helmet fails.
There are lots more details, but that's the essence in quick summary.
It doesn't test the helmeted head with an actual body attached. It
doesn't measure rotational acceleration of the subject's brain, which is
actually thought by many experts to be the major mechanism behind
serious brain injury. It's essentially equal to what would happen if
you lost your balance while stopped at a traffic light and landed on
your head. That's what the helmet's designed to protect against.
--
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Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]
