| Author | Message | ||
     Essthreetee |
How often should a helmet be replaced??? | ||
| Bomber |
my schuberth sez 5 years in it | ||
| M1combat |
4-5 years. I like four because as I recall the new safety standards come out every four? In any case... four or five years is the recommendation made by most of the safety foundations if I remember correctly. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
The normal life span is considered to be five years. There are a couple of caveats. The Penquin Racing school recommends every two years if the helmet is used all the time, including racing. They say that the shell doesn't deteriorate, but the interior does. On the other extreme, a five year old helmet that has never been used, does not deteriorate very much if at all, and occasionally these come up for sale as new old stock, and can be a very attractive bargain, especially to cheapskates like me!  | ||
| Djkaplan |
One thing I found out is that helmets get better every couple of years anyway. I am stunned that the cheap HJC CL-14 helmet I bought just recently is as good as it is. It's lighter, quieter, more comfortable, and more aerodynamic than any helmet I've had, including the very pricey 5 year old Shoei it replaced. | ||
| Jayvee |
They last longer than 5 years, the good ones anyway. Of course the helmet makers are going to put an expiration date on it, they sell new helmets, after all. But I just threw out an old helmet I'd had for about 15 years, because the liner foam and stuff had just turned to dust, you could shake it and the stuff would fall out. It didn't occur to me to try to use one of the replaceable liners, like Arai sells, in it, that might have worked. The shell and the poly foam impact absorbing part of it looked great, just like new. It was a Snell helmet, so if it "degraded" to only be DOT level, that would be fine with me. The Z1R helmets that the magazine Motorcyclist tested as the best helmet was only DOT rated, not Snell. But I just bought a new-old-stock Arai helmet, it's a 2003 leftover. Mostly got it for the paint job... |
