| Author | Message | ||
     Buewulf |
Our friends in the UK have come up with a new helmet rating system and have created a website for consumers to access and research. These are all European models, and I have no idea whether or not helmet construction of an AGV (for example) helmet in Europe is the same as an AGV helmet in the States, but it is still fun to sift through and see how some of your favorite brands may have rated. They even go so far as to rate each impact area on the helmet (frontal, back, side, etc.). We need something like this here. Check it out! http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/home I read about this in the following motorcycledaily.com article: http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2012/01/rating-helmets-beyond-passfail/ (Message edited by Buewulf on January 30, 2012) | ||
| Babired |
thanks for the link! | ||
| Kublak |
Double thanks for the info. Why is it that the European standards are held in higher regard to the DOT and Snell testing here? Just curious for input from those of you that have looked into this in the past. | ||
| Tleighbell |
For the American perspective, see an article published in Motorcyclist several years ago. I don't have the reference but you can find it by googling snell foundation. They tested a number of helmets from Arai down to the cheapest you could get. The thrust of the article was that in an effort to protect against extreme impacts that seldom occur, the Snell Foundation standard (this was around 2005 I think) created a helmet that was too stiff and therefore passed too much energy to the brain in the most common type of impact. The authors (including Professor Harry Hurt) believed that the DOT, ECE and British standards approved helmets were preferable because being "softer" and more flexible, they passed less energy to the brain and therefor provided better protection. The helmet that provided the best protection according to that study was the cheapest(sorry forget the name even though I bought one and did some inadvertent testing of my own with it)DOT helmet. However, I understand that helmets made for the US market and Snell compliant will not be the same as the helmets made by the same manufacturer for the European market because the structure must be different to meet the different standards. I also understand that Snell has revised their standard for 2010 to take account of the concerns raised in the Motorcyclist study but I am not aware of any testing that would compare the new Snell standard to the ECE and British standards. I bought into this and had a Shark helmet for several years which was ECE certified. Did a little testing on that too. More recently I bought a Joe Rocket helmet because it was ECE certified, had UV protection in the face shield and was good value. BTW, I don't profess to be an expert, just passing on what I have read. Someone, anyone please correct me if I am wrong. |
