| Author | Message | ||
     Fubar |
I am in the market for a new helmet and am wondering if modern venting systems make color less of an issue on hot-hot days. Inquiring minds... fubar | ||
| Buellistic |
"WHITE" | ||
| Court |
White is nice. I have a brand spanking new Arai RX7RR whatever that I'll likely break out of the box this year. I also have an identical one in black I've been wearing for a couple years. But.....this is like the old "leave the windows open a crack on 100oF days" wifes tale. Fact of the matter is...it make not one iota of difference. More important, speaking as one who has traversed the desert a number of time and spent 10 days in 120oF temps (wearing a black helmet and black Aerostich) the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing is hydration. You'll seldom find me without a water bottle in the pocket of the Aerostich. Can I say Aerotich and Arai?  Just my opinion. P.S. - in the interest of full disclosure and avoiding potential conflicts of interest, I do not pay nor choose the color for my own helmets. | ||
| Court |
Since someone will surely demand to see the study from Stanford. The Cars develop killer heat, even on cooler days 16:19 05 July 2005 NewScientist.com news service Anna Gosline Related Articles Third of Europe's child deaths environment-related 17 June 2004 'Diagnostic' child abuse sign can be misleading 26 March 2004 Hi-tech vest could cool heat of battle 17 February 2004 Search New Scientist Contact us Web Links Stanford University Pediatrics Sunlight can heat car interiors to lethal temperatures in just 30 minutes, even if the weather is relatively cool, a new US study has found. The researchers strongly urge parents not to leave children alone in parked cars, no matter how mild the weather. “Even on relatively mild-temperature days, the internal temperature of a vehicle left in the sun quickly gets very warm – the average rise in one hour is 22°C," says lead author Catherine McLaren at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. "My guess is that parents would be surprised that leaving children in the car is very much like leaving them in a sauna.” In 2004, 35 children died of heat stroke in the US after being left unattended in a parked car. Previous research has shown that when ambient temperatures rise above 35°C, sealed cars reach a suffocating 65°C in just 15 minutes. But research on car heating has all been conducted on hot days – never less than 28°C. So McLaren and her colleagues wanted to test how hot cars could get on cooler days, when the dangers of enclosed vehicles might not be as obvious to parents. Open windows On 16 cloud-free days in Northern California, the team measured a car’s inside temperature at 5 minute intervals for one hour post-parking. Ambient temperatures on the study days ranged from 22°C to 35°C. They found that, regardless of outside air temperature, the car heated up at a similar rate – gaining 80% of its final temperature within 30 minutes. Cars that started out comfortable 22°C, for example, rocketed to over 47°C after 60 minutes in the sun. And keeping the windows open a crack hardly slowed the rise at all. Young children and infants are much more susceptible to heat illnesses than adults, write the authors, meaning that such temperatures could prove dangerous. Toddlers’ body temperatures rise faster and they lose proportionally more water than adults in hot weather, for example. The team suggest that laws against leaving kids in cars could help to raise awareness of the danger. But they note that because these heat-related deaths are mostly unintentional, additional public education is probably the best way to decrease the number of these preventable tragedies. Journal Reference: Pediatrics (vol 116 p 109) Here's another, from a seperate study, that show how car color impacts interior temps. Bottom line is opening the window makes NO difference, changing colors makes an insignificant (i.e. changes the duration of time until you'd die by seconds, not minutes)  | ||
| Fubar |
I am not worthy... Thanks for the great info. I shall stick w/ black. fubar | ||
| Jlnance |
I am in the market for a new helmet As long as your looking for color suggestions ... Something bright makes you much more visible, particularly in the rain. I of course realized this after I purchased my original helmet, which was black. My new one is Red. | ||
| Bandirola |
White is the most visible color helmet and makes a big difference with dark clothes and a dark bike. | ||
| Lorazepam |
since the interior of the helmet is mainly a crushable *styrofoam* that absorbs the energy in a crash. It also insulates pretty well, and I think your body heat combined with ambient temps does more to heat it up than the sun does. | ||
| Captainxb |
When travelling along, a good venting system over-rules whatever colour helmet you have. I have a gloss black helmet, and haven't felt heat affected at any time, either standing still or moving. Maybe matt black wouldn't be the best for standing around in 40deg+, but who does that anyway? If you want to be visually safe, go for fluro orange or yellow, they stand out a mile! | ||
| Jessicasdad |
Silver Arai for me | ||
| Bandirola |
White may be cooler in hot weather, but the most important advantage is visibility.  The stripes are reflective ribbon from a fabric store that I wear over my jacket at night. | ||
| Trish |
My black Arai is a lot cooler than my white HJC was--in more ways than one!  I'll second you, Court...ARAI | ||
| Bomber |
color Machs Nix on temperature Machs BIG difference re: visability -- btw, screaming yellow (like stich Hi Viz) is more visable than white, in most lights -- in an urban envirnoment (lotsa traffic), white has a tendancy to get lost in lights around you -- Signed -- the guy in the black schuberth ;-} | ||
| Court |
I have 9 Arai RX7RR and I'll be darned if I can tell the difference. I just got a white one from Arai and am looking forward to wearing it this year, it's been like 12 years since I've had an all white helmet. I posted, a long time ago, the research that shot down the myth that leaving car windows open a crack changes inside temps (it does by about .0003 degree) and I'd suggest that helmet color, in a properly ventilated helmet makes little/no difference. If your helmet is hot, you likely need a BETTER, not different color, helmet. Black absorbs heat faster, it also radiates it faster. Moral of the story. . . buy a better helmet and ride a bit faster. | ||
| Fubar |
Thanks for the feedback/data. I decided to get a Schuberth C2. It has *incredible* venting. I did a multi-day desert blast and was always completely comfortable at temps in the 90's. | ||
| Nvr2l8 |
Underarmour makes a helmet liner. Helps keep the sweat/head oil/nasty smell off the inside of your helmet. The liner will leave a nice indentation/line on yer noggin' if ya got no hair, like I do. Looks like you just got a frontal lobotomy. | ||
| Alchemy |
As for cooler, maybe a roofer can confirm this but I asked a roofer if white shingles were cooler to work with in the Summer. He said no they are the worse. Black shingles absorb the heat (think of your head) and only your feet get hot standing on the hot shingles. With White shingles they reflect the heat away from the roof (think cooler helmet) back onto the whole roofer so they get the heat from the sun and the reflected heat from the white roof which is more unpleasant. As for visibility, if white has less visibility then I would expect the animal kingdom of hunters and predators to have white coats and feathers making them less visible to their prey. I don't really see that much white but rather stripes, jet black panthers, brown lions and darker colors in camouflage. White is a concern against the light colored sky and in fog or haze however. I think some of the undeniable appeal of black in fashion and motorcycle culture has many levels. | ||
| Ara |
Court - 0.003 degrees? That's so counter-intuitive that I have to ask where you got that. Can you share the source, please sir? I'd really like to read about that! Thanks! | ||
| Aesquire |
I read a hot dog in car study, the difference, black vs. white sedan, to killing heat was only a few minutes. I admit it's hard to buy .003 degrees, but if that's the difference between closed & partly open windows, I suspect it's true. That would be in still air. In a 20 mph crosswind, you would get a bigger difference, depending on ambient temps, aero effects & opening size. As far as lids go, My black Symax from HJC is lots hotter than my fancy colored ( but lighter ) Suomy. If the colors were reversed, the HJC would still be hotter. The Suomy has better air flow. Reflective is better for visibility, but remember the study that shows that unless someone rides, or has a close relative who does, they won't see you even if you are on fire, horn blaring, waving & screaming like a banshee. The retina has the image, but the brain does not process it into a meaningful thing. They can look right at you, seem to make eye contact, & ram right into you. The never saw you. Makes you wonder about some car drivers response to a "Jumanji" situation with a Rhino running at them.?? |
