Helmets are designed to save lives, plain and simple. Football players wear them, astronauts wear them, heck even construction workers wear a form of them. Helmet laws on motorcycles vary by state: only three (Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire) don’t require helmets at all, while the other 47 either require helmets at all times by everyone, or have age restrictions on not wearing them. Everyone has their own opinion on whether you should be able to choose to wear them or not, but the simple fact of the matter is that it doesn’t take much of a fall to cause some serious damage to your brain.
Helmet Safety Standards
There are two main safety standard classifications of helmets out in the US market. The first is DOT, which essentially means that the helmet meets the minimum requirements set by the federal government for crash ratings. Snell rated helmets meet the federal requirements, but also undergo additional testing by the Snell Memorial Foundation (a private organization) and are generally considered to have higher impact resistance. All Snell rated helmets are DOT compliant, but not the other way around. There is also a European standard, the ECE 22.05, which is used by over 50 countries worldwide.
Styles Of Helmets
The three main styles of helmets are: Half (aka Lid or other variations), ¾ helmets (these cover the top and sides of the head and often have a face shield in some form), and the Full Face (these have the chin protection and offer the best protection from crashing). Half shells are generally the minimum requirement for riding legally in the US, whereas the ¾ and full face helmets offer substantially more protection.
Sizing
While helmet sizes are far from universal, major helmet brands try to keep their sizing uniform throughout the many different models they produce. For your own sizing, you can measure the circumference of your head and use the sizing charts provided by the manufacturers to match up, or you can just try them on. The perfect fit is one that is snug enough to stay on your head without flopping around, but loose enough that it doesn’t cause a pressure headache minutes after putting it on. While there are too many manufacturers to mention, a few that produce consistently good products are Arai, Shoei, Fulmer, Bell, Scorpion, Shark, KBC, HJC, Nolan, and SparX. Keep in mind that there are new brands being introduced all the time, too, and as technology improves, helmet materials will get stronger and lighter. Just because you’ve had a helmet for 20 years and never crashed with it, it’s never a bad idea to look at something new.
Read all of our helmet reviews below:
The world of motorcycle helmets is like an evil weed in the flower bed of life. The more you dig to find the roots and try to take out the problem plants, the more you destroy the habitat of the growing wonders you wish to enjoy. I'm relating this directly ...
Are you indecisive by nature? Are you afraid of picking out a color of helmet, or one with a designed graphic, only to fear that you will have immediate buyer's remorse and wish you had picked door number two instead? Sure, you can just stick more stickers over that hideous ...
How thin is too thin? Well, it really depends on what you're talking about. In the world of motorcycles, "thin" might be a word that's used to describe the gas tank, or perhaps tires. It is also used to describe the thickness of your helmet, too, and some ...
Have you ever heard the phrase "Oh my God, it's so cute I just want to squeeze it until it explodes its cuteness all over the place" exclaimed by a woman? I'm sure you have, especially if you have kids and walk around a grocery store once in ...
"It's not so much of a problem having to deal with helmet hair as it is trying to deal with not being able to ride my bike because of the weather." This was told to me by a seasoned woman rider who I noticed pulling off a Harley-Davidson half helmet after ...
I'm a firm believer that helmets should be worn when riding, but I can also understand that a lot of them on the market feel bulky and heavy. It's not always the thicker or heavier helmet that protects best, either. Sometimes, just having the right material can make ...
There's a lot of helmets out on the market today that have fancy graphics painted all over them, or high visibility paint to help be seen from far away, but there aren't a lot of helmets that look like they were made by hand or have nice finishing touches on ...
While the fast food industry is working on making things twice as big as the competitors by doubling up the amount of meat that they pile on their buns, there are also people in the motorcycle helmet industry who think that doubling up the number of visors is a good ...
Modular motorcycle helmets can be a really handy thing to have, especially if you're someone like me who enjoys yelling at the people who cut you off and nearly run you over. I feel like the full effect of my concern of my well being and the frustration that ...
When vanity gets in the way of having a truly safe experience, there's always a chance that you're not going to make it out just as you predicted. Take skydiving for example. What if you decided that your parachute looked a little too big, making you look too fat, especially ...
| CURL error code = 6. (Could not resolve host: rest.ebay.com) |
