How good is your helmet ?

[jasonbc]

how come most of the shoei off road range were never legally br4ought into the uk ? by a uk destributor ?

They have been ever since i can remember, Feridax do import them into this country lots of offroad shops down here sell them and the Arai offroad lids are sold down here aswell as BELL. the Shoei are on here

http://www.shoeiassured.co.uk/

[ritosxf]

feridax in halesowen ,,,, importers of shoei and airoh

steve the manager is an old matey of mine from the kawasaki city westbrom days ,,,,,,,,,,,

[icenian]

the Aria Corsair which is used by and tested by racers is only a 3 star lid and the Condor is a 2 star lid.

Arai lids always get marked right down because they do badly in the side impact tests.

Arai say they make helmets strongest in the places most prone to impact, and that doesn't include the place SHARP tests side impact, which is directly above the shoulder.

SHARP say that they reviewed accident data and that quite a high proportion of impacts are on the side, and AFAIR they weight results according to the observable frequency of impacts in each area.

Arai counter that the data were analysed to call something a "side impact" in it was anywhere within a 90 degree arc towards either side. Imagine a clock face where 12 represents straight ahead (hmmm, this is getting a bit Top Gun...): 10.30 through to 1.30 is "front", 1.30 to 4.30 is "side", 4.40 to 7.30 "rear", and 7.30 to 10.30 "side". So in other word an impact at 10 or 2 o'clock (above your temple) would be classified as "side impact". However the SHARP side impact tests are all at 3 and 9 o'clock (i.e. over your ear), and so these are not in fact necessarily testing the same places that real world impacts occur.

Arai claim they put strength (and weight) away from 3 and 9 o'clock as they are least vulnerable. In other words, the SHARP test has been designed to target the Arai weak spots.

Choose for yourself who you believe!

I'm happy to wear an Arai, though I'm not convinced it is safer than other decent brands. The main thing for me is I trust it not to fall to bits even with very regular use over 5 years. And the vents work. And the peripheral vision from the newer models is really excellent (though other makes can be good too; if you like a good field of view check out the Shark Vision-R...)

One thing I don't like about SHARP, is they ignore open face helmets. Yeah, of course they're not as safe in a frontal impact, but that's not the whole story. And if you don't believe in risk compensation (the theory that feeling vulnerable makes you behave in a less risky way; so feeling safer make you behave in a risky way), let me assure you that the impact of a bluebottle in the face at 80mph is enough to make anyone reassess their riding

I have tried several helmet makes and have always found Bell Helmets fit me the best. They are comfortable and the new ones are a lot lighter than those of the 1970's/80's.

They're a totally different company now.

The original Bell were an American company, who went bust. They were rescued but now only make bicycle helmets.

The rights to the Bell name for motorcycle helmets were sold to two different companies. One of these has the rights to the US; and the other has the rights to Europe (not sure how the rest of the world divvied up). So, a Bell helmet in the US is not the same as a Bell helmet in the UK.

The ones we see are made in Italy. They really are very nice helmets too, though sadly don't fit my head. Only odd thing is the visor has no quick release; you have to unscrew it with an Allen key...