dot vs. snell, great artical in the june Motorcyclist

[hogkrazy]

they tested quite a few helmets and the results are eye opening. fiberglas shelled helmets vs. plastic, conventional thinking was the fiberglass was better at absorbing the measured forces transmitted to the head but in these tests the exact opposite was true. plastic shelled helmets actually performed better. the presumtion was that thepolycarbonate shells flex rather than crush and delaminate and this lets the shell absorb more energy rather than transmit it to your head. One paticular helmet the Z1R ZRP-1S which is under$100 did very well compared to all the helmets. the artical brought of interesting points of how the different test, Dot vs. snell, are not indicative of real world crashes. A good read

[hogkrazy]

At the newsstaands now ;D

[motorep]

That Z1R helmet can be found at dealers, known as the Strike.

very good read. I liked how they said helmet manufactures make helmets that sell, and not necessarily helmets that crash well.

[hogkrazy]

sort of like the cars we drive [cheeky]

[mmoore]

You know, about 90% of the time what gets printed in moto rags is crap - regurgitated press releases. This article is a shining exception - really well researched and not afraid to tell the whole story (well, they puss out on the conclusions a bit, but if you read the article you can come to your own conclusions pretty quickly.)

It does make you think about the "conventional wisdom" and how wrong it can be. Now, am I going to mothball my Shoei and go out and get the Z1R? Probably not, but if I had to buy a new one I'd definitely think about it.

It does make you wonder how much other stuff we "know", but hasn't been subjected to any rigorous testing, is flat wrong.

[ducatania]

Originally Posted by Michael Moore

You know, about 90% of the time what gets printed in moto rags is crap - regurgitated press releases. This article is a shining exception - really well researched and not afraid to tell the whole story (well, they puss out on the conclusions a bit, but if you read the article you can come to your own conclusions pretty quickly.)

It does make you think about the "conventional wisdom" and how wrong it can be. Now, am I going to mothball my Shoei and go out and get the Z1R? Probably not, but if I had to buy a new one I'd definitely think about it.

It does make you wonder how much other stuff we "know", but hasn't been subjected to any rigorous testing, is flat wrong.

The Suomy ranked the best of the "premium brand" helmets. I guess I need to clearcoat Hodgkins autograph on my replica and start wearing it again. [thumbsup]

[mysfitt]

I read that article as well and agree that it was a gem among moto-rag articles. They back up their conclusions with research from multiple studies on actual crash data. I only wish that they had compared more helmets in the article. My HJC CL-14, which is a very common helmet wasn't on there, and they didn't list a single Shoei. Still, I was already thinking about a new lid, and this article is definitely going to affect my choice. I'd rather have a fully functioning brain than the coolest looking helmet out there.

[license2ill]

Response from Snell:

http://www.smf.org/pdf/btlo_response.pdf

[mmoore]

Originally Posted by license2ill

Response from Snell:

http://www.smf.org/pdf/btlo_response.pdf

Thanks for posting that link. Interesting response.