If we used a similar methodology for testing cars, we’d be blasting watermelon heads from a cannon against windshields and sacks of potatoes against steering wheels.

We’d benefit from more realistic models. But I guess our helmets would then cost $500.

▲

0xffff2 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What does a good motorcycle helmet cost these days? I paid $500 for my then top of the line helmet circa 2010. Haven't ridden in over a decade but I'm surprised by the implication that helmets _don't_ cost $500.

▲

trenchpilgrim 18 hours ago | parent [-]

You can get a very safe ECE 22.06 rated helmet for $100-150. The more expensive helmets are lighter, more comfortable, have cool designs, and nice stuff like transitions visors or Pinlock anti-fog, but aren't really any safer until you get into FIM fhpre-02 rated helmets for MotoGP racing. (fhpre-01 is functionally identical to ECE 22.06)

The days of having to shell out $600 for an Arai or Shoei for superior protection are past us.

	▲	0xffff2 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Wow. That's awesome! My helmet back in the day was indeed a Shoei. I don't recall for sure, but I don't think it was even the absolute most expensive model at the time, but it was about the cheapest helmet I felt comfortable trusting my life too.

▲

solardev a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Is the methodology that bad? What's wrong with it?

From their test protocol (https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/5e7...), it looks like they simulate a fall (with a model head inside it) against a target at an oblique angle, at six different impact locations and two speeds each. They go through 4 of each helmet model for the rest.

It seems a lot better than nothing (which is what we had before them, at least outside of manufacturers own private tests). Their research was initially funded by the IIHS, the group that does the highway crash tests.

How would you like to see it improved?

▲

jq-r a day ago | parent | next [-]

I think the obvious problems is that majority of riders actually have hair and from my experience the chin strap isn’t very very tightly strapped (you want to speak normally I suppose).

Hair gives you considerable slip area making the inner rotational liners redundant or maybe even too much.

▲

trenchpilgrim a day ago | parent [-]

> from my experience the chin strap isn’t very very tightly strapped

Not on a motorcycle helmet! The double D ring system forces you to cinch it tight, and it does not restrict your jaw or make it hard to talk.

If you are experiencing this your helmet may be the wrong size. Most riders are picking helmets that are far too large.

▲

jq-r a day ago | parent [-]

I was talking about the bicycle helmets though, I should have been clearer.

	▲	trenchpilgrim a day ago \| parent [-]
		Oh yeah, most bicycle helmets seem to be stuck 20 years in the past. I mostly use MTB or skate helmets instead.

▲

Scoundreller a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Crash test dummy on a mechanized bicycle falling off/hitting stuff.