Specialized Prevail helmet crash test

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  • May 11, 2020 at 6:18 pm #921895
    KLizotte
    Participant

    A couple of weeks ago, my helmet was hanging off my handlebar and the bike fell over on to the pavement. Imagine my shock when I saw how much damage the helmet sustained from a low impact, largely non-weight bearing incident. I say “largely non-weight bearing” because the straps did get caught in the handlebars so some of the bike weight did fall on the helmet; no one was sitting on the bike at the time. The rear mindset fit system broke and the front of the helmet cracked rather badly for such a small fall IMHO.

    My helmet is a Specialized non-MIPS Prevail (I or II?) that I paid $250 for about 5-6 years ago. It is supposed to be reinforced with Kevlar. I’m not at all impressed with it’s noggin protecting properties after this incident; I don’t want to think about what would have happened if I’d ever gone over the handlebars.

    I went to Spokes over the weekend and bought a new helmet, a Bontranger wavecell in lime green. Hopefully the hype surrounding the new technology is accurate though I worry about poor airflow making me sweat even more this summer. It supposedly reduces the chance of concussion more than just about any other helmet out there so the trade off should be worth it though.

    Any experience with either helmet in real life crash situations? While I have experienced broken bones from biking accidents, I have never hit my head. Knock on wood. I’m familiar with the VA Tech rankings.

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  • May 11, 2020 at 11:39 pm #1105838
    JustinW
    Participant

    Not sure about your specific case (and I am glad you were not *in* the helmet at the time of the “crash”!), but helmets are designed to absorb energy to protect the wearer, and sometimes that means the helmet deforms (breaks) as a result. It gives its life to save yours, so to speak. I have had a couple of would-be noggin busters where the helmet was the worse for wear (and my noggin faired ok, more or less). Those helmets were toast!

    OTOH, some plastics sometimes don’t do well with repeated exposures to sunshine. Sweat does not help, either, so perhaps the plastic simply aged earlier than expected.

    You could follow up with Specialized to see what they say – maybe there’s some amount of warranty coverage still in play. But regardless, you have bumped up your visibility quotient considerably now!

    May 11, 2020 at 11:56 pm #1105835
    n18
    Participant

    I have the same Specialized Prevail helmet, men version. It broke like yours, but because I put my U-Lock through one of the large holes on top of the helmet, and the bike, which was locked to a wave rack; leaned and squeezed the helmet, breaking it just like yours. The back harness broke later perhaps. I tried Foam-Tac, which worked for days, but broke again. You can’t use Super Glue and the like because it gets hot when dries, enough to melt foam. I am not sure about gluing the back harness. Super glue might work, but there are glues specializes in plastic. I don’t know what glue I tried on the harness, but it didn’t last for more than few days. I bought a cheap $20 Uvex helmet from REI as a replacement, it’s a bit heavier, less cool, but it works.

    May 12, 2020 at 12:15 am #1105818
    drevil
    Participant

    Note, the CPSC and Snell recommend replacing helmets after 5 years: https://thewirecutter.com/blog/when-to-replace-your-bike-helmet/

    May 12, 2020 at 2:40 am #1105842
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Yeah, I’m gonna throw the Prevail helmet out after I’ve notified Specialized in case they track these things. My noggin is too important to use a repaired helmet and to worry about $$. I’m just shocked such a small bump could cause it to break so easily. Doesn’t inspire confidence but maybe it was due to UV light exposure breaking down the foam/plastic. Also, I think the mouthport on the Prevail takes a lot of structural integrity away from the front of the helmet. Kinda glad the “accident” happened; it was obviously time for a new helmet!

    May 12, 2020 at 12:50 pm #1105836
    huskerdont
    Participant

    The plus is you get to try that wavecell thing. I was tempted, but I had just recently purchased a MIPS helmet, and also, I think the wave cell would get in the way of the straps I use for the light in the winter, so it would just be a summer helmet, and yes, it does seem like it might be hot. I’d be interested to see an update on it after the warm weather finally arrives.

    May 12, 2020 at 1:04 pm #1105834
    Mongo
    Participant

    You seem to forget that the purpose of the helmet is to spread the impact. The impact is a higher pressure on a smaller area where the impact occurs on the helmet. The pressure on the head is spread out over the larger area where the helmet touches the head. In this impact the pressure had to be absorbed by a few areas with a much smaller surface area. This actually increases the pressure at these points. I am not sure I am getting the idea across properly, but the fact that the helmet was not on the head had a lot to do with it breaking. It is not designed to absorb the stresses that occurred in this instance.

    May 12, 2020 at 3:07 pm #1105841
    KLizotte
    Participant

    I was able to secure my Exposure light to the helmet without any difficulties but your mileage may vary. I have 30 days to try the helmet out but of course the weather has been so friggin’ cold I haven’t been able to gauge it’s airflow.

    May 12, 2020 at 4:04 pm #1105833
    KLizotte
    Participant

    I hear what you are saying except that in the real world, we often hit our heads on curbs, rocks, tree roots, etc. so we can’t assume the load will be evenly distributed. Plus, in this incident, there was almost no weight inside the helmet which is far different than 100+ lbs hurtling towards the ground. I think the thin walls around the mouthport are to blame.

    May 12, 2020 at 5:16 pm #1105843
    Mongo
    Participant

    I am not sure what you are calling a mouth port. I also was not present when the bike fell, so I am basing these comments on the pictures provided in the first post. If I am incorrect in interpreting the pictures, I apologize. It appears to me that the damage was caused by a force directed from the bottom of the helmet towards the top. This would be perpendicular to the force that the helmet would be designed to protect. This is evidenced by the thickness being much larger in the front to back direction than the top to bottom. l am not a helmet designer and am making assumptions on what goes into helmet design, but am describing what I would expect to be primary considerations. It appears to me that what happened is not what would be wanted, but would not fall within the expected parameters of what a helmet is designed to accomplish.

    May 12, 2020 at 6:47 pm #1105839
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Mouthport is the Specialized marketing term for the large horizontal opening that goes across the forehead. I think they were the first to produce a helmet with that design. Greatly helps with keeping the head cool but obviously provides less protection for impacts to that area.

    May 12, 2020 at 10:30 pm #1105822
    Mongo
    Participant

    Thanks for this information. I learned something new today. Not bad for an old fart.

    Thanks

    May 14, 2020 at 3:53 pm #1105846
    Starduster
    Participant

    @drevil 200749 wrote:

    Note, the CPSC and Snell recommend replacing helmets after 5 years: https://thewirecutter.com/blog/when-to-replace-your-bike-helmet/

    Our own Randy Swart does helmet safety for a living, and has his own assessments: https://www.helmets.org/index.htm

    May 16, 2020 at 9:16 pm #1105851
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Thanks y’all. Fortunately Consumer Reports and VA Tech both name the Brontrager Spectra Wavecell as one of their top picks for crash protection (low and high impact). Time will tell if ventilation is an issue but thus far it’s been a great helmet.

    May 17, 2020 at 4:29 pm #1105862
    n18
    Participant

    My suggestion to use glue was for cosmetic damage, which the lower part clearly was, since it wasn’t enforced with Kavlar. I wouldn’t suggest gluing a broken helmet together, that is not safe, although I didn’t make that clear. If you want to see if a helmet has a good fit, wear it, then slap it right and left. If it wiggles, then there is extra room in there, and perhaps it’s too large. I am not sure if it’s a factor, but I think that if you fall, your head would hit the foam at a speed, which could cause problems in and of itself. I am not sure what the studies out there say about that, but I prefer no wiggle room.

    December 7, 2020 at 7:25 pm #1107076
    AnthonyClayman
    Participant

    A helmet should be replaced about every 2 years. The foam degrades and the reality is that when you need it, you want it to do its job. Be glad that it happened off the bike. I have been hit by a car and the only reason I can do anything is that my helmet (a Louis Garneau) took some of the impact.
    I now have a WaveCel. So far, we have not met the pavement together so I can’t speak for how it will serve me. I would not use it in the summer. I wear it below 50 degrees. Way too hot otherwise. I have a MIPS Lazer for the warm weather. Testing shows that both MIPS and WaveCel offer some added protection but I will toss both after 2 years. You only have 1 brain and the concussion and dizziness that followed my accident is something I never want to repeat.

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