Helmet testing (post crash)

[BUDDINGGEEZER]

Back in the late 60's when I was a strapping athletic football player we had a kid playing quarterback that had a concussion. Instead of a football helmet he wore a crash helmet. It had holes drilled into the top and a single bar for a face mask. Back in those days the linemen had a t-bar face mask.

I played middle linebacker against a team that had a highschool all american tailback and he wore a crash helmet and I guarantee you he hit me with it more than once. Back in those days it was legal to hit helmet to helmet, block below the waist and no water.

I know those helmets took some pretty good licks lots of times.

Replace a light hit

Ralph Sims

[Boingo]

When i smashed my helmet on/along the highway i knew i would have to get a new helmet, but for kicks i took out the liner. The only thing from the inside that i could tell was different was the foam was spongy where the helmet hit and not as firm as the rest of the foam in the helmet.

Pedro in OKC, OK

Ding, you hit it right on the head Pedro.

It is the energy-absorbing foam that protects your head from the rapid deceleration that occurs when your head smacks the ground. The OP flipped off the bike, so it had to have been a hard hit. This foam only works once, so IMHO, the helmet is toast. If it falls off the bike empty and hits the road, no problem.

For cost conscious, there is some good news. The dot/Snell 2010 certified cheaper helmets being sold today are scoring just as high in the safety tests as the expensive ones.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...ide/index.html

Also check out the Snell Memorial Foundation at http://www.smf.org/

If you want to learn way more, I would start here:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...iew/index.html

[dhgeyer]

if you hit hard enough to knock yourself out, I'd say it was time for a new lid.

Absolutely! That's a "no brainer". It's the foam inside the shell that does the work, and you must have deformed it if you hit that hard. Helmets are not designed to protect you from high speed impacts, only relatively low speed ones, and only once. It did that. Say thank you to it and retire it honorably. My opinion only, of course.