I'm useless

Author
Discussion

Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Thursday 11th October 2012
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OP, where are you?

Dare2Fail

3,808 posts

207 months

Thursday 11th October 2012
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Pothole said:
sc0tt said:
My hjc fits me like a sock.
You do know you're supposed to put it on your head?
biggrin

Mr Snap

2,364 posts

156 months

Thursday 11th October 2012
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Mine's pith.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Thursday 11th October 2012
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Ffs ARAI

Ray Luxury-Yacht

8,910 posts

215 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Yazza54 said:
Arai

HTH smile
Agreed.

Ok, manufacturers are not allowed to sell complete crap with regard to helmets in the UK - but I have read and seen the basic tests required to pass legislation, and to be honest, they're not THAT exacting.

There's a reason a high degree of Moto GP, WSB and BSB riders use Arai. Yes, there are sponsorship deals of course, and there are a lot of other riders who use other brands too - also often down to sponsorship deals.

But as someone who used to race and take the protection of my head very seriously, I trusted nothing else than Arai. I was lucky enough to get friendly with someone at the UK importer of Arai, Phoenix, and I found out a lot about the R&D, research and product development at Arai Japan - which isn't necessarily matched by some other brands.

I had a smack on the head in my first year racing, wearing an AGV. I copped a concussion and a pretty bad nosebleed, from what I thought was not a particularly hard bang on the head.

I switched to Arai, and had several more head / track interafces, all of which I can say were a lot harder than the AGV one. In each case, I walked away without so much as a headache.

This real-life testing, coupled with the ease of use (simple visor replacement, detachable linings for cleaning etc.) made me realise that you definitely get what you pay for, and for life-saving gear - this is important!

The saying goes - if you've got a £50 head, then get a £50 helmet! biggrin




Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
I switched to Arai, and had several more head / track interafces, all of which I can say were a lot harder than the AGV one. you can say that of course, but you can't prove it In each case, I walked away without so much as a headache.


The saying goes - if you've got a £50 head, then get a £50 helmet! biggrinIt does, and a trite pile of crap it is, too. That doesn't stop it from coming up almost every time a thread like this appears
My own personal testing has been done once with a £100 (in 1990) Bell Aerostar and twice with HJC's finest. The Bell left me with double vision for 6 months, the HJCs left me unaffected. I have no way of knowing the relative severity of the head/tarmac fun times except that in the first instance I was thrown through the air about 20 feet and in the others I wasn't.

OP, buy what's comfortable (in as much as any helmet is truly comfortable) and fits right. Fit is everything. Buy from a trusted (in as much as you can trust anyone) retailer rather than a market stall or a stand at a rally as you might have more chance that it hasn't been kicked around too much before getting to you. Don't buy on price. (in either direction)

Fleegle

16,688 posts

175 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Why do we entertain threads like this time after time? It always ends up with the same answers, the same doubters, the same brand loyalists

OP – I have my fears….the very fact that you will listen to the advice of complete strangers on the net over a salesman that sells helmets day in day out should be more of a concern to you than what you put over your head


Well done on choosing a bike all by yourself

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Ye, but, I'm loyal to Arai because they're the best! wink

creampuff

6,511 posts

142 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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N Dentressangle said:
creampuff said:
White colour helmets have been shown in statistical studies to reduce SMIDSYs by 30%. 30% is an awful lot. I personally would only buy a white or high viz green/yellow helmet.
Not disagreeing with you - my next helmet will be a white one - but do you have a reference for the studies? Or is it the University of the Bleeding Obvious? wink
Here it is:
http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7444/857

Although it seems it is a 19% lower risk, not the 30% I quoted.

Fleegle

16,688 posts

175 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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People who live their lives based on statistics soon become a statistic

creampuff

6,511 posts

142 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Fleegle said:
People who live their lives based on statistics soon become a statistic
I can't see my helmet when I'm wearing it, so it makes no difference to my asthetic sensibilities if it is plain colour, hot pink or has the finest quality airbrushed bikini-clad women riding winged dragons painted on it.

If you can pick a helmet colour which has been shown to make you more visible so that people drive into you less, it seems like a no-brainer to buy a helmet in that colour. And that colour is white.

Fleegle

16,688 posts

175 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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creampuff said:
I can't see my helmet when I'm wearing it, so it makes no difference to my asthetic sensibilities if it is plain colour, hot pink or has the finest quality airbrushed bikini-clad women riding winged dragons painted on it.

If you can pick a helmet colour which has been shown to make you more visible so that people drive into you less, it seems like a no-brainer to buy a helmet in that colour. And that colour is white.
It won't get as noticed as this......


Fleegle

16,688 posts

175 months

Friday 12th October 2012
quotequote all
creampuff said:
IIf you can pick a helmet colour which has been shown to make you more visible so that people drive into you less, it seems like a no-brainer to buy a helmet in that colour. And that colour is white.
I appreciate what you are saying, but bearing in mind when you look at a bike coming towards you, the helmet probably accounts for 10% of the silhouette. If the car driver can't see the other 90% which has a headlight blazing away, helmet colour is neither here nor there

creampuff

6,511 posts

142 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Fleegle said:
I appreciate what you are saying, but bearing in mind when you look at a bike coming towards you, the helmet probably accounts for 10% of the silhouette. If the car driver can't see the other 90% which has a headlight blazing away, helmet colour is neither here nor there
True, true. The thing which convinced me is one day I was motoring along behind two bikers: one had a black helmet, one had a white helmet. The guy with the white helmet was a _lot_ more obvious. The effect obv decreases if they are both travelling towards you with a headlight on, but like I said, helmets all look the same from the inside when you are wearing them and white ones are often cheaper!

redblade

158 posts

237 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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"...and I don't trust a salesman to advise on the best one to get..."

Do trust the salesman...or saleslady. As long as you arrive at a shop that has a wide range of helmets with a clear idea of budget and style etc, they (from my experience) will find you a lid that fits and you'll leave with a happy biker!

speedchick

5,173 posts

221 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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When we did the CBT they told us to stay away from matt black helmets, if you had to get a black one, then make sure its a glossy one as it does have some refelctive qualities, whereas the matt one will just disappear.

Mine is a HJC, white with black patterns, it was the only one in the shop that fitted me, and I had spent hours trying on practically every full face helmet in the shop, the one I ended up with wasn't even on display, it was something the lad had brought out of the store room, I was even more pleased that not only did it fit perfectly, but it also had an internal sun visor.

Vantagefan

Original Poster:

643 posts

169 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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Pothole said:
OP, where are you?
At 8 minutes past eleven well and truly in bed!

To be honest I seem to be no closer in narrowing it down, I'd hoped everyone would rally around one brand!

speedchick

5,173 posts

221 months

Friday 12th October 2012
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You is just gonna have to get your bonce into a shop and start trying them on smile

Vantagefan

Original Poster:

643 posts

169 months

Friday 12th October 2012
quotequote all
Fleegle said:
OP – I have my fears….the very fact that you will listen to the advice of complete strangers on the net over a salesman that sells helmets day in day out should be more of a concern to you than what you put over your head
Fair points although as none of you have anything to benefit from my selection of helmet I'd trust a stranger with nothing to gain than a stranger aiming to make money out of me (even though I'm sure they'd prefer a repeat customer).

N Dentressangle

3,442 posts

221 months

Friday 12th October 2012
quotequote all
creampuff said:
Here it is:
http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7444/857

Although it seems it is a 19% lower risk, not the 30% I quoted.
That's excellent - thanks. And a proper respected peer reviewed journal and everything! Here's the 'Results' part of the abstract, if anyone's interested:

BMJ article said:
Crash related injuries occurred mainly in urban zones
with 50 km/h speed limit (66%), during the day (63%), and in
fine weather (72%). After adjustment for potential confounders,
drivers wearing any reflective or fluorescent clothing had a 37%
lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.63, 95% confidence interval
0.42 to 0.94) than other drivers. Compared with wearing a black
helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower
risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.76, 0.57 to 0.99). Self reported
light coloured helmet versus dark coloured helmet was
associated with a 19% lower risk. Three quarters of motorcycle
riders had their headlight turned on during the day, and this
was associated with a 27% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio
0.73, 0.53 to 1.00). No association occurred between risk and
the frontal colour of drivers’ clothing or motorcycle. If these
odds ratios are unconfounded, the population attributable risks
are 33% for wearing no reflective or fluorescent clothing, 18%
for a non-white helmet, 11% for a dark coloured helmet, and
7% for no daytime headlight operation.
smile