Helmets 101………..
While all riding gear is important and designed to save your life in case you call upon it, no other piece is as important that the Helmet. Some parts of the world the Helmet is optional to wear and many go without wearing one. While 90% of you reading this are shaking your head at those who don’t choose to wear one you have to understand why they do not. Those that choose not to wear one have their own reasons, some of which can be: Can’t afford one, the law gives me a choice, ignorant of the risks, feel that wearing a helmet is a statement of freedom, feel that they can do more harm than good, believe that they would never need to ever use one, like the feeling of the wind in their hair, refuse to be labeled. Stories like this one feed the fire not to wear one: “I heard about this rider that wore a helmet and the helmet got caught on the bumper of the car when it hit him, so it dragged him down the road….”
So, with all those reasons, why would you choose to wear one? Studies have shown and riders have reported that helmets not only save lives but can drastically reduce the amount of injuries suffered to the face, head and neck. There is a good expression that motorcyclists use “Either you have been in an accident or have yet to”. While this sounds morbid the odds are not in your favor of never being in at least one minor accident. I strongly suggest you wear one every time you ride, even if it is “just around the corner”.
Remember, a used Helmet is worthless because you can’t tell if it has been dropped or not and damaged on the inside.
Helmets are designed to protect the head and neck (at a minimum) against impact, crushing and friction damage (rubbing over another surface). While helmet construction, style and type vary they all share this same purpose. More on how they achieve that later.
Helmets come in many different types to suit your protection comfort level. The name of the helmet gives you a good idea of how much protection they offer as well as their looks. From least to most protection the types of helmets are as follows:
Beanie/Puddin Bowl:
Positives: Protects the top of the head. Minimum amount of protection over not wearing a helmet at all. Easy to put on and take off and can leave the helmet on in many cases. Manufacturers design the beanie/puddin bowl helmet to not obscure or block peripheral (side to side) vision, and to not obstruct hearing. Usually the cheapest helmet you can buy. Fits in with the bad boy, rebel, cruiser look.
Negatives: Outside noise (e.g. wind) can be harmful to the ears since it does cover the ears. Does not offer adequate protection for any other area than the top of your head in case you need it there. Does nothing much in the way of keeping the rain, wind, bugs, rocks/dirt/dust and cold out from anywhere other than the top of your head. Many are not even DOT approved and even more carry fake DOT stickers. Better than wearing no helmet at all but not by much.
If you can land and skid by using the top of your head alone, then this helmet is for you or if looks outweigh safety concerns.
Half Helmet:
Positives: Protects the top and sides of the head, as well as the ears* (plus possibly the eyes and neck). Offers more protection than wearing a beanie/puddin bowl since it protects the ears. Easy to put on and take off and can leave the helmet on in many cases. Manufacturers design the half helmet to not obscure or block peripheral (side to side) vision, to balance protection and convenience and to not obstruct hearing. Usually cheaper to buy than either a ¾ helmet or a full face helmet. Fits in with the bad boy cruiser look. Some Half helmets have leather ear protectors that fit over your ears and thus offers more protection in that area.
Negatives: Outside noise (e.g. wind) can be harmful to the ears since it does cover the ears. Does not offer adequate protection for the face/chin/teeth/nose/ear/neck/eye area in case you need it there. Does not do much in the way of keeping the rain, wind, bugs, rocks/dirt/dust and cold out from anywhere other than the top of your head.
¾ or Open-Face Helmet:
Positives: Protects the head, neck, ears, and eyes. Offers the third most protection over any other type of helmet (other than full face and flip-up full face). Compared to the full face helmet there is not as many times you have to remove the helmet (take a photo, drink, eat, etc) since you can just lift up the face shield and taking off a ¾ helmet is easier and more convenient to do than other types. Manufacturers design the ¾ helmet to not obscure or block peripheral (side to side) vision and to balance protection and convenience. Usually cheaper to buy than a full face helmet.
Negatives: Can muffle outside noises since it does cover the ears. Does not offer adequate protection for the face/chin/teeth/nose area in case you land there. Also aids in keeping the rain, wind, bugs, rocks/dirt/dust and cold out due to its wrap around design but not very effectively compared to a full face helmet.
Full face helmet:
Positives: Protects the entire head, neck, ears, eyes, face and chin. Offers the most in protection over any other type of helmet. Also aids in keeping the rain, wind, bugs, rocks/dirt/dust and cold out due to its wrap around design. Manufacturers design the full face helmet to not obscure or block peripheral (side to side) vision and to offer the most protection from a crash and the environment.
Negatives: Can muffle outside noises since it does cover the ears. Even with a flip up face shield there are many times you have to remove the helmet (take a photo, drink, eat, etc) and that takes longer to do than other types. Can be an inconvenience for those who wear eye glasses since you cannot put the helmet on while wearing them. Usually is the most expensive type of helmet to buy.
Modular/Flip helmet:
Positives: Protects the entire head, neck, ears, eyes, face and chin. Offers the most in protection over any other type of helmet. Also aids in keeping the rain, wind, bugs, rocks/dirt/dust and cold out due to its wrap around design. Eliminates many of the negatives that normal full face helmets have such as removal, taking it off to drink/eat and to put on/off glasses.Manufacturers design the flip-up full face helmet to not obscure or block peripheral (side to side) vision and to offer the most protection from a crash and the environment.
Negatives: Can muffle outside noises since it does cover the ears. Even more expensive type of helmet to buy than the full face helmet. MAY not be as good in a crash as a full face helmet because the chin can come open on impact. Brand new “technology” so we don’t know how safe this helmet design is yet.
What standards?
When choosing a motorcycle helmet take a look at the back bottom of the outside shell and see what safety standards it carries. (See photo). If it does not have a safety sticker there, then check into the helmet for a tag attached to the liner. Still no indication of any safety standards… put it back on the shelf.
Safety standards are either set by the helmet manufacturer (DOT) or by an independent research lab (Snell) for North America anyway. You can read up on either standard by following these links: SNELL , DOT and Internet Articles on both standards: 1, 2, 3 and then you can decide for yourself what one you are most comfortable with. My first helmet (which I crashed in) was a DOT only approved helmet and it performed great. My second helmet is both DOT and SNELL approved because I got a great deal on it. Hopefully I will not be testing it anytime soon.
DOT is the united states Department Of Transportation safety certification. It is the MINIMUM requirement for any approved motorcycle helmet and must be clearly displayed for yourself and for an officer of the law if he/she wants to inspect your helmet (it does happen in rare occasions). If the helmet does not have a DOT certification on it then it probably does not even met the minimum safety standard! Basically, DOT certification is placed on the helmet in an “honour” system where the government DOES NOT test the helmet but trusts that the manufacturer did test it or else would not be selling it with the DOT certification on it. To make matters worse, there are helmets that are sold with a fake DOT certification on it that do not offer adequate protection either. These helmets would more than likely would fail a DOT test and not meet the minimum requirements you are looking for, but they sell them in the name of good looks and to possibly fool an unwary police officer. A word of advice, usually these are the cheap, puddin bowl or beanie type helmets manufactured by an unknown manufacturer (or the manufacturer is not even listed). If the DOT certification suits you just fine then use it and put any bad thoughts of it out of your mind. Buying a DOT helmet for a well known manufacturer is as close to a guarantee that it has passed the DOT standard.
SNELL is another standard used in North America and it stands for Snell Memorial Foundation (http://www.smf.org/). They are an independent testing laboratory which tests helmets further and under more tests then the DOT standard. The SNELL standard is not just given to any manufacturer who conducts their own tests on their own helmets, instead the manufacturer must submit X amount of the same helmet to SNELL who does the tests themselves. Unfortunately, the SNELL tests are very expensive for manufacturers to do for every helmet they want to sell and the amount of helmets SNELL receives from the manufacturers vary in quantity but are of course a lower amount then the manufacturer doing their own tests.
How experienced motorcyclists see it: If you can afford, like the colour/style and fit of a particular SNELL certified helmet then buy it. It does not mean that the DOT standard is any worse or won’t protect you any better over SNELL. What is does mean is that the majority of SNELL helmets are also DOT approved so you are sure of getting at least good quality helmet designed to protect you.
No matter what standard you buy, feel good that you value your head and brain by protecting it with a helmet.