Anyone bought one of these? How would you rate the quality, bang for buck, are they OK?
I got one of their dirt bike helmets, and I''ve been happy with it. I'm looking for a new road helmet soon, and am considering one of them as well.
The thing with helmets is that they all have to pass the revelant standards, so it really comes down to comfort.
They're frequently used to keep the weather out, and infrequently used to keep your brains in. -----sharks
....and price. I wear these almost daily (have done for about 10 years): http://www.motorcyclemart.com.au/item.php?section=onRoad&idx=1943 Gary ($119 from CMC)
So they're ok if you only want to occasionally slam your head into the bonnet of a Nissan Patrol? If you wanted to crash into a Volvo stationwagon say once a week, or maybe a bit more frequently than that... What helmet would you recommend for that? Nev.. '03 ZX12R
On the other hand, there are differences in how well they pass the standards. This article, while not covering Australian standards, has an interesting discussion of the test methods and standards, and in particular, includes test results on some helmets that are made to pass the DOT, Snell, and ECE standards. They compare the G forces generated in standard drop tests. The average over four drops varied from 152 to 211 Gs, which the authors seemed to suggest was significant. The article is longish, but that's the price of detailed information. Interestingly, the results did not reliably reflect price. The best performer (on this test) was one of the cheapest. The Arai and AGV were not the worst, but pretty ordinary. They didn't test the BMW helmets, but I am told they are made by Schuberth, and are supposed to be exactly the same. http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/hatz/index.html So while all helmets do pass the standard, perhaps there *are* still differences in the degree of protection. Moike
Great article: "Even though many motorcycles were capable of running the quarter-mile in 11 seconds (or less) and topping 140 mph back in '81, not one of the 900-odd accidents investigated in the Hurt study involved a speed over 100 mph... ....And the COST 327 study, done recently in the land of the autobahn, contained very few crashes over 120 kph, or 75 mph. The big lesson here is this: It's a mistake to assume that going really fast causes a significant number of accidents just because a motorcycle can go really fast. "
contained very few crashes over 120 kph, or 75 mph. The big lesson here is And you don't have to go fast to be in an accident. I used to think my brother would kill himself when he used to travel between towns on 220+ km/h on his fireblade. The accident did eventually come but not as expected ... he was taken out by a wanker in a car in town ... and my brother was only doing 50km/h in a 60 km/h zone. The guy in the car got done by the police for dangerous driving and my brother woke up in intensive care after major surgery.
HJC's are pretty good for the coin. You can often get them on special and even the lower end ones are comfy'ish. You dont get the fancy quick connect buckles or anything, but thats that. while im at it, here's a whinge; why do we so much f***ing money for basic safety equipment in australia? Is the goverment trying to discourage people from saving their own lives? I've ridden in a few other countries (most especially south east asia) where they pay about 1/3 or less than we do for the same products! same certification, same models, not cheap knock offs and they go for a lot less. In these countries you can get cheap helmets for about $10 equivalent to about a $150 helmet in aus, and my HJC which i bouth in South Korea cost me $130 there and was on sale for $600 in Aus. Ditto clothing. I had an excellent leather jacket tailor made by a specialist riding leathers tailor reccommended to me by some of the guys in the US air force over there who also ride.... top quality leather, bent elbows, ventilation, back protector hi-vis night strips etc etc better than anything i've seen on the shelves back home for up to $900, and i pade $240 for it.
