Does anyone know why helmets vary in price so much?

[Revolution]

[From: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=114274 ]


Does anyone know why helmets vary in price so much?
I've had my helmet for a number of years and am thinking that I should probably replace it.
Looking in the LBS they vary from £30 - £160
I can't imagine that the production costs can be that much more, are the expensive ones safer?
If anyone can point me to any info on this I'd be grateful.

[mercalia]

you have to avoide the fake ones. I posted some time a video where a real one and fake were tested and the fake was a death trap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQY9MJr3o8

[mjr]

I've had my helmet for a number of years and am thinking that I should probably replace it.

I'm thinking that you probably don't crash much, you'd probably crash even less often without a weight strapped on top and you should probably ditch it

[mjr]

you have to avoide the fake ones. I posted some time a video where a real one and fake were tested and the fake was a death trap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQY9MJr3o8

How do you avoid the fakes, though? Manufacturers keep changing designs, so you can't even compare them with their website reliably, plus the differences are often subtle things like buckles.

And then you've got the problem that Which? have independently-tested shop-bought helmets and some failed the standard tests. The manufacturer blamed incorrect storage and transport IIRC but how is any customer going to check that no-one's been slinging them around a storage room or driving into them with a pallet truck, basically pre-crashing them for you?

The difficulty of validating a helmet may be part of the reason why they do not seem to offer any significant real-world benefit.

[mercalia]

you have to avoide the fake ones. I posted some time a video where a real one and fake were tested and the fake was a death trap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQY9MJr3o8

How do you avoid the fakes, though? Manufacturers keep changing designs, so you can't even compare them with their website reliably, plus the differences are often subtle things like buckles.

And then you've got the problem that Which? have independently-tested shop-bought helmets and some failed the standard tests. The manufacturer blamed incorrect storage and transport IIRC but how is any customer going to check that no-one's been slinging them around a storage room or driving into them with a pallet truck, basically pre-crashing them for you?

The difficulty of validating a helmet may be part of the reason why they do not seem to offer any significant real-world benefit.

true of all the people killed in London by lorries and buses. I suppose made more sense for Mt bikers who might come off and hit their head?

[Dave W]

Same with bibshorts £9.99 in Aldi, £150 for a pair of Assos in LBS.

[landsurfer]

I suppose made more sense for Mt bikers who might come off and hit their head?

This our approach to helmets riding on the road in dry ice free conditions ... we don't.
On real rough stuff on mountain bikes we do .....
Our riders are 5, 7, 13, 56, 58.
On 2 occasions other cyclists, on MTB, with helmets, cameras and in one case, chest armour ( In Clumber Park !!) have stopped and commented on why we and the kids aren't wearing helmets ....
My response is always polite ...."Because cycling isn't dangerous! "

I suspect there is a factory in China churning out 20 different brands at wildly different prices from the same machines ... a bit like NIKE trainers from Vietnam. £0.69 to produce, sell for £70.
A fool and his money ........

[bikepacker]

This our approach to helmets riding on the road in dry ice free conditions ... we don't.
On real rough stuff on mountain bikes we do .....
Our riders are 5, 7,13, 56, 58.
On 2 occasions other cyclists, on MTB, with helmets, cameras and in one case, chest armour ( In Clumber Park !!) have stopped and commented on why we and the kids aren't wearing helmets ....
My response is always polite ...."Because cycling isn't dangerous! "

Something that has often got me questioning most of the reported “saved my life” and “saved and serious head injury” claims is my own earlier years experience.

I started riding in the 1940’s and through until we purchased our first home in 1968 I used a bicycle as my main form of transport when not having to use company vehicles. Probably rode easily 100,000 miles in that time. It was also the time when cycling was far more prevalent than today. In fact most used bicycles as a mode of transport. Added to this where I lived for a time there was still many cobbled roads.

If the current crop of claims as in my first paragraphs are correct, why the then casualty departments of hospitals were not having to treat lots of cyclists head injuries? With far more cyclists on the roads than today and none wearing helmets, it was very rare to hear of a head injury. I know some will point to a higher density of traffic but as often stated; in a collision with a motor vehicle the helmet would be of little use.

[landsurfer]

Personally i have been Cycling, with an upper case C, for 45 years, I have had 1 head injury, after being knocked off by a fellow cyclist.
Thousands and thousands of miles with out harm ... never mind the head injury.
I think .... there are a group within cycling that want to be seen as 'hard" ... "out there extreme " .... a bit like army dreamers...
They wear body armour, cameras, helmets, clear glasses ( what is that about !!!) etc as part of their "Extreme " uniform .... and there is a lot of them ....
The want cycling to be "edgy and dangerous" .....
And will go to any lengths to make it so ..... the most dangerous decent, the biggest jump, darting through heavy traffic .....

I see them on the roads every day and wonder .....If you want "extreme and edgy" .... join the Armed Forces, become a Policeman or Paramedic ...
or just mature ........

OH! As to the OP , make a helmet and put a Carnac logo on it .... charge £20.
Put a RAPHA logo on it and charge £200.
Because thats the business model .....
And people are essentially ... gullible ...

[foxyrider]

As to whether you should or shouldn't wear one - if you are happier doing so do but don't expect everyone else to feel that way. There are situations I will always wear a helmet - mountain biking and mass participation events (where it's often a requirement to take part and there are often a large number of inexperienced riders who may cause me to have an off) and racing.

Helmets have failed to save the lives of riders at all levels - they are not intended to offer more than single impact 'protection' - drive over one and it'll explode giving no protection at all.

I have 200 pound helmets lying about time expired, I also have 30 year old helmets - the main differences are weight, airflow, adjustment, fit - the standards haven't changed. If you are going to wear one make sure it fits and is comfortable. Badly fitted is just wasting your money, may as well shave your head and paint it green.

[Lance Dopestrong]

Specialized claim five. If you believe they offer protection, then why not also believe they require periodic replacement?

[mercalia]

I actually got a helmit a) to possibly attache a rear flashing light to b) to keep my head warm and wouldnt get blown off as it has a strap c) has a peak to keep the sun out of my eyes - is a lidl one. I am unlikely to fall off my bike due to riding antics, I may get squashed by a lorry

[gaz]

They wear ... clear glasses ( what is that about !!!) ...

Keeping all manner of rubbish out of their eyes, at least that's why I wear mine. I've run out of 50p Swiss-One boot fair specials and have moved on to Bollé at about £6-£7.

[Richard D]

I actually got a helmit a) to possibly attache a rear flashing light to b) to keep my head warm and wouldnt get blown off as it has a strap c) has a peak to keep the sun out of my eyes - is a lidl one. I am unlikely to fall off my bike due to riding antics, I may get squashed by a lorry

Similar. I wear one because (1) it's saved me from some grazes and maybe a bit of a bump a couple of times, (2) it gives the ruddy insurance lawyers one less thing to quibble about, and (3) it once ALMOST saved me from a lecture by a paramedic.

The paramedic still gave me the lecture, but prefaced it on the basis that "it's a good thing you we're wearing this helmet, otherwise you mite have hit that wall over there, and then you would probably have been a fatality". Although I wasn't really listening (the broken femur was somewhat painful, and not screaming was taking up a fair amount of my concentration) even my pain-addled brain recognised his lecture as cobblers - I'd gone nowhere near the bloody wall, it was the sudden fall in the middle of the road that had caused my injuries. Still, the helmet had given my head somewhere to rest in the 45 minutes that it took him to arrive.

[mercalia]

on the matter of cycle gear, I was in sainsburys this after noon and saw a lady cyclist ( I think it was a lady ) she was wearing a bright yellow helmit and bright yellow water/wind proof closely fitting jacket, large dark glasses, tightish black cycling trousers. A quite intimidating figure as she was quite tall also and had a severe look on her face the type you see on speed cyclists who dont motion a hello as they pass you on the other side, she presented an army type of figure. Happened I was finishing at the check out as her, and followed her out side, I was expecting some super duper go-fast racing bike but lo behold she got on a lowly Brompton and pedaled off