What do I need to know about motorcycle helmets?

Question

I'm signing up for a rider's safety course to get my motorcycle license next month. I know nothing about motorcycles or helmets other than they get chicks, hence why I'm doing it LOL.

I need to pick a helmet before class starts. What do you recommend I look for? I was on eBay. Some of them are around $160-200 while some are around $50. That doesn't make sense to me. Are the cheap ones unsafe?

What color helmet should I go for? I want to get a sport bike but I have no idea what color its going to be.

Answer 1

http://www.motorcyclegiftshop.com/motorcycle_helmets.html has some good general information on motorcycle helmets.

There is also a crash test study at the link below that shows that more expensive isn't always better:
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/
A lot of the really high end helmets are designed to protect against impacts that aren't common for casual riders but that also means they sometimes offer LESS protection in the common kind of impacts. It really is a good article worth the read.

If you don't know what color bike you will get you can always go with silver or black designs because they will go with just about anything.

Answer 2

if u are getting a bike for the sole purpose of picking up chicks, i have a bad feeling 1 or 2 things is gonna happen. 1: u will wind up going down from getting surprized by a left turner because u were looking at that chick on the sidewalk, or 2: u'll go down with a girl on the back because u tried to ride 2-up before gettin used to the bike solo.

ur first 6 months, or 1st full season...whichever comes first is the most dangerous time for a new rider. u seriously need to take noj's advice cause he's right on the money. a 100 dollar helmet not fitted properly will be as worthless as a 20 dollar novelty lid.

i can tell u this from witnessing a lay-down at rather slow speed....of 20 mph. when u go down, the 1st thing that's gonna make contact is the head, and side of the head. a full face helmet might look bulky, seem like looking thru a tunnel, but a half or a 3/4 shell wont have as much protection as a full face. i can tell u from experience that a full face helmet will cut down the noise of the wind blast much better than a 1/2 or 3/4 shell

last season, a buddy of a guy on a harley site i haunt wound up going down hard after a deer was in the middle of a curve at night. he hit that deer so hard he cracked his full face lid in a couple places where it protects the face, and the road cracked the top of the lid also. he lived for awhile, but they wound up having to pull the plug. the rest of him had pretty serious injuries from the wreck. he was on a 'bussa also...didnt even have a full season under his belt either, and ramMedic said he just couldnt keep his hands out of the carbs. he was thrown off the bike into a gully that hid both him and the bike from traffic. took them 2 days of searching to find him.

Answer 3

DO NOT buy a helmet on eBay unless you are CERTAIN that a particular size in a particular brand fits properly. Shoei helmets fit differently than Arai, Scorpion, Icon, Bell, HJC, KBC, Nolan or Shark, and they all feel different.

For example, I have a Shoei head, and Arai fits very nice as well as Scorpion, but HJC seem to run a bit large, and Shark helmets don't feel comfortable at all to me. Your head may vary.

Go to a motorcycle shop and pay good money for a good helmet. How much is your head worth? If you've got a $100 head, then get a $100 helmet. They all have to meet minimum protection requirements, but there are reasons the expensive helmets cost so much. You need to find the right balance between what your wallet can handle and what your head can withstand.

Besides, a well-fitting, comfortable helmet is less of a distraction when riding, and you will need all your wits to survive the first year's learning curve.

Answer 4

Do NOT under any circumstances buy a helmet from eBay or any other mail order outfit - in fact mail order helmet sales should be BANED

The first law of helmet safety is that it should FIT and the only way to unsure is by TRYING ON YOUR HEAD.

A bad fitting helmet is not only dangerous but after about 10 minuets of wearing bloody painful!

Also a lot of the price difference can be explained by the material from which the helmet is made Pollcarb or Fibreglass. Go and find out the difference and do some research as to what is to be your first (or even last) line of protection.

Again - remember it's YOUR HEAD we're talking about here!!

Take a lot of time selecting and this can only be done by going to a shop with a large stock and being "Bloody-Minded" with the shop assistant until you get one that firstly FITS and then narrow down again with one you like.

Take your time - remember It's YOUR HEAD inside that has to be protected.

Answer 5

Helmets are in a few categories, according to style and material. Open face and full face are self-explanatory: full face is much safer and forget about rubbish you read about them breaking necks and so on: this is propaganda put out by the anti-helmet lobby. (Maybe it should be a free choice, but don;t pretend helmets are dangerous).

Okay, in materials, helmets are either thermoplastic or fiber composites, usually fibreglass but also including kevlar and carbon fibre. Plastic is not very strong but is cheap to make. It's also lighter. Some companies, notably Lazer, have tried to make high quality plastic helmets but personally I wouldn't use one. Plastic also is damaged over time by UV rays, if it isn't protected by paint.

Composite helmets are themselves in two categories: those laid up by spraying, and those laid up with matting. Spray-moulding involves spraying the fibreglass into the mould. The fibre strands are laid out in all directions, randomly. This covers most cheap fiberglass helmets. They are okay, but an but heavy because they use sheer weight of material to achieve strength. And the fibers are not as structurally strong as fibres laid up in a mat.

Almost all quality helmets are laid up with matting: the fibreglass (kevlar, carbon fibre or a combination) are hand- laid into the mould- a slow and expensive process that has to be done by hand, hence the steep price of top helmets. But they can make the shell very strong, with a thin layer.

You can tell a good helmet in the shop: turn it upside down and pull the hole you put your head in apart. A good helmet will be rigid and hard to bend, a cheap helmet will flex like crazy.

That's the shell. A good helmet will also have a comfortable liner that is actually head-shaped, cut from many pieces for a snug fit. The visor mechanism will work for ages and be tight. The vents will actually work. It will last for years and not fall apart. These are all nice things to have, long after you've forgotten what the helmet cost.

Get a helmet that fits tightly, but not so it feels like your head's in a vice. You should be able to shake your head around and the helmet won't move. If you feel pressure in a certain point after wearing it for 5 minutes, either it's too tight or the helmet just doesn't suit you- some brands just don't suit some people. Ignore advice to throw the helmet away after a certain number of years: it's actual use that degrades a helment and I keep my Arais and Shoeis for at least 5 years.

Throw it away if you crash in it, but don't worry so much if you drop it on the ground: it's squeezing the liner that kills it, because it can only do this once: if your head isn't in it, the liner does not get squeezed.

Get a colour you like: some argue white is best, but bikers get hit because drivers don't look: not because we are invisible. It makes only a very small difference.

Answer 6

If you're not sure about the color of your bike black would be a good bet, though grey or white will also work.

Don't buy a used helmet off ebay, helmets which have been down lose much/most of their protective ability. Check craigslist to see what people are selling in the area. I scored a beautiful mint condition Arai Quantum 2 ($400 something) for $200 from a guy who had sold his bike. If you are getting a sportbike go for an arai/shoei/suomy... high chance you will just end up buying one within a few months anyway.

If you want to buy new on a budget, take a look at HJC's cheaper stuff. I've heard that they are noisy, but at $140 brand new for a CL-14 (?) how can you go wrong?

My first helmet was a scorpion exo 400 for $140 dollars brand new. I hated that helmet, it was heavy, bulky, and stupid looking. Also it started to smell very quickly!

Answer 7

Try to stay with a light color, dark colors make the inside of an already hot helmet even hotter. The safest are DOT and SNELL approved. Personally, I have an HJC helmet it is approved by both and it was $150.00, if you want something that looks cool you can get a really expensive one but then you'll have to carry it everywhere because someone would probably steal it if you leave it on your bike unattended. The $50 helmets are usually crap helmets that aren't even DOT approved. Watch out, some helmets have DOT on the back and they aren't DOT approved. A good rule is if you can cover up the DOT with your thumb, it isn't really DOT approved. The approved ones have big DOT and SNELL lettering on the vack of the helmet. Also, try them on, you don't want something that's really heavy either.

Answer 8

Get a full face helmet that has a DOT (department of transportation) sticker and a "Snell Rating." Oh yes, it has to fit, too. That's about it.

Color? Get something that is going to stand out and be visible from a good distance. Don't get a black or gray helmet. Far better to get an orange or yellow one.

Answer 9

yes- just like everyone said. make sure it is a D.O.T. approved helmet and make sure it isn't loose on your head. i live in rhode island and have couple of extra helmets if you're near here and need one for the class. the person that talked about different brands fitting differently is absolutely correct. don't just buy one online. go to a bike store.

Answer 10

Get a branded helmet irrespective of its price.as far as colour is conscerned go for one which has reflective stripes on it.so u r visible in dark too.
P.S.-Change ur helmet every 3 to 4 years.the materials used detiorate after time.