About that thing on your head…

@mstone 17347 wrote:

And my favorite pet peeve–No jaunty angle!

I love the soccer moms that wear a baseball cap underneath. They rock

@CCrew 17348 wrote:

I love the soccer moms that wear a baseball cap underneath. They rock

My cousin did that once, took a spill, and ended up with the craziest looking bruise ever from that little metal thing on the inside.

@rcannon100 17353 wrote:

This is not meant as a challenge. This is an honest question. Why?? The helmet – the functional part that protects you – is styrofoam. It doesnt age. Its an artificial substance. As long as the integrity of the helmet remains, I dont understand the “styrofoam is old” argument. Is there any actual real research on why a helmet goes bad over time?

Thanks

I’ve often heard this at bike shops too, that helmets should be replaced every year or two, but I did find this, although I’ve never heard of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (website revised last in 2010)

The Italian company MET says in their 2010 catalog: “We are often asked ‘For how long is a helmet safe?’, or ‘how often should I replace my helmet?”’ Until now it has been difficult to find any reliable figures to help answer these queries. MET have now developed a series of tests which are conducted on aged helmets to determine a ‘best before’ date (unless the helmet is involved in an accident. In that case it should be replaced immediately.). The results indicate that, if used properly accordingly to our owner manual, our helmets will still do their job up to eight years after they have been made. Not only is that good news for the customer, it’s great news for the environment!”

We applaud MET for undertaking an actual testing program on helmet life and for making that statement. We regard it as a triumph of integrity over marketing. MET’s helmets are made with industry standard shells and liners, so there is no reason we can see that their recommendation should not be good for many other helmet brands as well. If another manufacturer comes up with a testing program that shows earlier deterioration in the protection from their products we will review this page.
In sum, we don’t find the case for replacing a helmet that meets the ASTM or Snell standards that compelling if the helmet is still in good shape and fits you well.

@rcannon100 17353 wrote:

This is not meant as a challenge. This is an honest question. Why?? The helmet – the functional part that protects you – is styrofoam. It doesnt age. Its an artificial substance. As long as the integrity of the helmet remains, I dont understand the “styrofoam is old” argument. Is there any actual real research on why a helmet goes bad over time?

Thanks

You’ve already received a great answer, so I’ll just add my mindless speculation. Exposure to the sun and heat, even the part under a liner, probably breaks down styrofoam a bit.

@off2ride 17355 wrote:

The one that took the cake for me was this rider wearing her HELMET on BACKWARDS plus the FORK on her bike was facing the rear of the bike while she was riding it. Now that’s a WTOP Knuckle head.

How was the bike not falling over? My gut feeling is that would be extremely unstable…

It’s still ride-able. Provided the cables are not binding but the handling will be twitchy. I’m sure she noticed something was not right but she carried on anyway. I hope she operates a motor car normally.

The other part is that over “a number” of years the condition of a used helmet is unpredictable and untestable.

That time it fell off the table once? Probably still fine. The one that’s fallen off a table on average once a week for five years, that got banged on a door frame once or twice a month, that got smushed by the bag in the closet, that has no sharp corners anywhere anymore and got a couple of gouges along the way? Still effective? Nobody really knows, and nobody could say which of those minor defects did or didn’t put it over the line.

If it was then involved in a crash and it failed to protect as intended, the folks who design them – and sell them too, of course – are saying they wouldn’t be surprised. I trust them in the first place or I wouldn’t wear their helmets at all, so I don’t really have much reason to disagree when they tell me there’s a limit.

And helmets are pretty inexpensive overall. Basic commuter helmets are $45-65, enthusiast helmets are $100-120, and it’s hard to spend over $200 on any helmet. With a five year expected lifetime, for daily riders, that’s at least 1,200 uses, so it’s under $0.20 per day even for the most costly ones. At that cost, considering the purpose, it’s hard to worry about squeezing extra life out of an old or uncertain one.