Big D Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Can anyone recommend a few high end helmet makers. I have been convinced I need to pick one up, especially after taking my first ride on a SIMS Burner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 go to a ski / snowboard shop and buy the helmet that fits your head. I like Giro and POC, but there are a lot of decent helmets out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heroshmero Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 +1 on finding the right fit. I tried on about 20 helmets before I bought my most recent one. Giro makes really nice stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Fit is critical. It has to fit to work. Try on as many as you can get your hands on, you'll know when you find the right one. +1 on Giro. I have a Talon and love it to bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Bear in mind that even different models from the same manufacturer fit differently. So you should definitely try them on in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sxybst90 Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 +1 for fit +1 for giro! And after all the safety talk is done... Its warmer than stupid hat that keep on wanting to fall off.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 If the fit is right, highly recommend POC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelc Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 smashed two Giro helmets, one into four pieces. Not sure i would be here if they didn't work well. I didn't miss a day. All Giro make is helmets. I am definitely a fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colintkemp Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 I like my HEAD Stratum Pro. You can't beat the brand name - for a helmet -either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti_knee Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Just my 2 cents, but I'd definitely get the ones that are built more like a bike helmet inside rather than the ones built more for the park. Second previous poster talking about them splitting into bits... that's the energy not going into your noggin. I think pretty much all helmets have this feature, but having the rock lock type device under the back part of your head is critical to keep the helmet from sliding around, especially forward and backward. 2 fingers above the eyebrows! The micro suede on the higher end ones compared to fleece is really nice on super cold days as it doesn't absorb much water so doesn't get too scratchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertAlexander Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 bell downhill mountain bike full face fits me well, sixsixone fullface does not, got to try them on to see there is a diference, some folks have fuller rounder faces as some have more narrow faces. I do like fullface helmets, but that is just me and my opinion. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Donnelly Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Ordered for myself to replace Leedom & GIRO lids as time to retire and POC are "high-end" . . . Mats said so and I believe. http://helmetsandarmor.com/blog/hab/article/poc-sports-2011-helmet-lineup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 go to a ski / snowboard shop and buy the helmet that fits your head. I like Giro and POC, but there are a lot of decent helmets out there. And bring your googles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 And bring your googles. +1 - you don't want to end up with a gaper gap. :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalka Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 POC is great... If, along similar lines, you decide you'd like a Sweet helmet I have a good one for sale :) Picture: http://bit.ly/hYwzrh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tufty Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 If I wear my hockey helmet, I can't get my goggles on. The grille gets in the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 If you have the chance to compare hockey helmets with other snow sport helmets it's interesting to observe that hockey helmets are better in many ways as far as energy absorption is concerned. In my opinion All high end ski or snowboard helmets are a fashion statement not a safety device their primary design is to prevent punctures not protect from impact two entirely different events. I am eagerly waiting for a real change in helmets before i replace the one i have with another inadequate fashion statement with the politically correct colour for the next season. Hockey helmets might be better in a lot of ways, but apparently they're useless for what most hockey players wear them for. http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/17/the-aftershocks/ (Very interesting article, BTW) And ski helmets are not designed to protect from impacts? Seriously? I agree that if you hit a tree at 60 km/h, putting your faith in a helmet to save your life is probably a little misplaced. But having taken two concussions through a helmet, and a couple of backside slams that gave me whiplash injuries this season, I'd personally much prefer to have even an inadequate helmet on my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 The standards for snowsport helmets and are not as good as most people think they are. Same thing applies to bicycle helmets for that matter. If you're willing to pay for it, my understanding is that the top-shelf of POC's line are designed to withstand much higher impacts than your average helmet: http://www2.pocsports.com/products/showproduct.asp?category=10-Ski&id=10100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Please reread my post i don't advocate not wearing a helmet but i am convinced a better helmet could be made. And yes the shell design, thickness and type of material are designed to prevent puncture. The standards for snowsport helmets and are not as good as most people think they are. A good example of this would be the minimal protection they provide at speeds usually exceded by most skier and riders. As far as using a hockey helmet while skiing or boarding the biggest risk would be in dragging the mesh faceshield and injuring your neck. The best feature hockey helmets have that snow helmets don't is the cushioned lining that may do more to protect on impact than the very ridgid foam. A new design using air cells was introduced to the public last year but has since vanished.I look forward to buying my next helmet but as stated before i'm looking for something with more advanced design in safety not style. What a bunch of crap. Aside from snowboarding I ride bicycles and motorcycles, and both of those sports have good helmet standards in place. My snowboard helmet shares its basic design with them, with an exterior shell with a thick expanded polystyrene foam interior. That "very rigid foam" is designed to compress on impact, absorbing the energy. It has to be rigid and thick because there's a lot of energy to absorb in a big impact. A cushioned lining isn't going to absorb much impact energy, it's simply going to rapidly compress, and then transfer the impact energy to the head. The soft lining is more comfortable though. Snow sport helmets are primarily designed to absorb energy, not to prevent punctures. If that was the goal, they'd be using a thicker shell, and a lot less foam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 ...my understanding is that the top-shelf of POC's line are designed to withstand much higher impacts than your average helmet: That's not always a good thing. How much energy a helmet is capable of absorbing needs to be matched to the activity it's involved in. For example, my motorcycle helmet is capable of absorbing a lot more energy than my bicycle helmet, but because of that, it also transfer more energy to my head in lower impact situations. Because of that, if I go over the bars of my bike with my motorcycle helmet, it's going to hurt me more than with a bicycle helmet. With a higher impact helmet, you're usually buying ability to keep you alive at higher impacts at the cost of more injury and pain at lower ones. This was illustrated nicely in 2005 when a Snell vs. DOT comparison article was released: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/index.html For the record, I keep riding a Snell helmet because I'd rather be more hurt than more dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhD Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 1. Trees are hard. Not as hard as rock, but go try head-butting one for awhile and see who gives up first. 2. Smith and Giro both make helmets I find comfortable, cut above the ears and with removable earflaps. 3. Riding deaf is dangerous, and I'll leave my diatribe on headphones for another thread. A light beanie or balaclava is almost always sufficient to keep my ears warm and preserve hearing. 4. Helmets should (and generally don't) include a feature to keep goggles in place (not squirting off the helmet and flapping down the back, gathering snow and looking stupid) when you want to set them up on the forehead area while shooting photos, getting the inevitable bit of fuzz out of your eye or freshening your mascara. 5. Little visors on the front of a helmet exacerbate the goggle problem (4). 6. Little visors all around the helmet make you look like some kind of Nazi sympathizer (my opinion) but they may be useful to stiffen the shell. Just sayin'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 I agree on all six points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltan Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 So let me get this right. In order not to injure my brain the foam in the helmet which is more dense than my brain has to compress to absorb the impact so that my soft brain tissue doesn't smash against my skull and then slosh back and impact the other side of my skull. Seems to me that my brain is absorbing the shock to protect the inside of the helmet. I might agree with your theory up to about 10 kph but the hydraulic pressure on you brain isn't going to be able to disipate quickly on impact if it can't be transferred somewhere and i don't think the ridgid foam is enough. Sure your head is going to be the same shape on the outside because the ridgid foam and shell are still intact but how does it look inside? Here's a neat trick to try to illustrate my point. Place a golf ball on top of a basketball and drop the two together to the floor (outside). The energy of the basketball is transferred to the golf ball and it takes off like a rocket. Now deflate or wrap the basketball in a towel and repeat. the golfball hardly bounces like a softer helmet lining the enrgy is absorbed. The weight of your brain and fluids is a portion of the mass of your skull, helmet ,goggles etc. but because it is still moving after everything else stops all that other energy is transferred to your brain.Something is needed to absorb and dissipate that energy and i'm not convinced the hel mets i use now are really very good at doing that. They do a great job of protecting the skull but is it really the skull that should be the focus of the protection? First manufacturer that makes a helmet that addresses this issue will be selling me my next helmet:biggthump Where does the energy go? Into the crushed foam. Energy is energy, and having something absorb it, other than your head, is the key. The foam is hard to crush, therefore it absorbs more energy. Soft padding is easy to crush, therefore it absorbs much less energy. In an impact all the soft padding is rapidly compressed, absorbing almost no energy, and then your head impact the hard shell, and virtually all the energy is transfered directly to your head. This point isn't really open for debate. It's fact, proven by years of testing and product development across various industries. Your problem is you're vastly under estimating the how much energy the foam can absorb, and vastly over estimating how much energy your soft padding can absorb. B the way, your example is useless, as the weights and energies are so far off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 5. Little visors on the front of a helmet exacerbate the goggle problem (4). 6. Little visors all around the helmet make you look like some kind of Nazi sympathizer (my opinion) but they may be useful to stiffen the shell. I wouldn't buy a helmet that doesn't have a visor: it better protects your face from branches in the trees, and reduces glare on bright days allowing you to use the same lens for bluebird and greybird conditions. Never had any problem with my visor messing with my goggles, when I want to put the goggles up, the visor goes with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 3. Riding deaf is dangerous, and I'll leave my diatribe on headphones for another thread. A light beanie or balaclava is almost always sufficient to keep my ears warm and preserve hearing. So Hearing impaired people shouldn't ski/board? 6. Little visors all around the helmet make you look like some kind of Nazi sympathizer (my opinion) but they may be useful to stiffen the shell. Just sayin'... Dude...Godwin's Law :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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