[Black_peter]

KatanaO215
do you have a link to that response??

[Anonymous]

Walmart is hands down the cheapest place to buy Mobil1 oil.

[The CyberPoet]

I have read that article, and I still wont wear a helmet unless its SNELL certified. Ive also seen Snells reaction to that article, both very informative

Everything I've read (including the originating European studies) ditto's what Motorcyclist published -- that snell has become a marketing firm rather than a technical research firm, and their testing standards are outdated at best.
But if you want to trust snell (who make money on the helmet industry) instead of the rest of the world (motorcyclist has no vested interest beyond that of their readers), go ahead

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[The CyberPoet]

Walmart is hands down the cheapest place to buy Mobil1 oil.

Walmart carries Mobil 1 MX4T mtorocycle oil?

Curious...
=-= The CyberPoet

[tdrcomm]

Lisa became my backpack on the Busa for the first time this weekend in a $69 PepBoys "Raider" helmet, the one tested in the Motorcyclist Mag article. Needless to say I was more than surprised by the article. All helmets are "one-and-done" and for the amount of riding she'll do, picking up a new lid every year for less than $100 seems reasonable. It's true, you get what you pay for, but if the passing standards all the same I think the worries are minimal.

We choose our doctors by reputation and experience, but do we ever check there class standings upon graduation. Not really. We rely on the knowledge that med school is a b!tch to get through and the standards are high. So does it matter if he/she graduated 5 out of 800 or 786? They passed the standards. After reading that article I feel that way about DOT. I'm also in advertising so I'm aware of the SNELL dilemma, too.

[Black_peter]

All helmets have to have a DOT sticker right?
Other wise you can get dinged at a traffic stop?

[KatanaO215]

I have read that article, and I still wont wear a helmet unless its SNELL certified. Ive also seen Snells reaction to that article, both very informative

Everything I've read (including the originating European studies) ditto's what Motorcyclist published -- that snell has become a marketing firm rather than a technical research firm, and their testing standards are outdated at best.
But if you want to trust snell (who make money on the helmet industry) instead of the rest of the world (motorcyclist has no vested interest beyond that of their readers), go ahead

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

thats an interesting take. So Motorcyclist doenst get advertising money from helmet companies?

[KatanaO215]

KatanaO215
do you have a link to that response??

sure do

http://www.smf.org/response.html

[midqetsex]

I was looking for a good, inexpensive helmet and noticed the ones at Walmart. I passed them up for a Scorpion EXO400. It got really great reviews and did pretty well in the helmet test above. I wanted something comfortable and quiet and this helmet was just what I was looking for. I figured they had to have cut a few too many corners to keep the cost of the Bell helmet down. I bought a Bell cable lock from Walmart and you could pull it apart while it was locked with no key, so I returned it for a refund.

[The CyberPoet]

thats an interesting take. So Motorcyclist doenst get advertising money from helmet companies?

Motorcyclist magazine is very unlikely make any more money off advertising by slamming the snell-2005 standard than by not slamming snell-2005 standard. In other words, the article is very unlikely to affect their short-term advertising revenues at all (esp. since most helmet manufacturers, like most vendors, normally buy ads by the year), and most unlikely to affect their long-term revenues either.

Most helmet companies will continue to seek out the snell-2005 endorsement and spend the 60 cents fee per helmet for it for exactly the reasons listed in the article -- because it lets them up-price the same basic product by $40 to $60.

Nothing in the bigger picture has changed except your knowledge level. Whether you use that information is up to you...

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[WildKat]

A bell helmet is a bell helmet. If walmart is carrying it and its meets dot and snell certs, then why pay more somewhere else?

Now personally walmart isnt the first place I'd be looking for a lid even if they did carry them in our area.. u can find PLENTY of great deals on line for good, certified lids.

That article in motorcyclist was most enlightening. Have read it several times

[MinnGreenGT]

I too was very surprised by the Motorcycle magazine article on helmet standards. I bought a new Fulmer helmet last night - (DOT approved, but not Snell) for $60 from a cycle supply store. Worth every cent. And had I not read that article 2 days ago, I would probably not have purchased it due to it not carrying the Snell approval.

The helmet I've been riding with prior to that (a $300+ Snell SA2000 certified Auto Racing helmet - Bell X15) is not even DOT approved - but in a race car accident, the Snell double impact test would be much more appropriate & realistic (banging your head on a rollbar or similar).

I definitely feel more comfortable knowing that my $60 helmet is equally (if not moreso) suited for motorcycling than my $300+ helmet was. (and it doesn't hurt that it matches my bike!)

[fulcrum]

That article made me think twice too.

I did just see an ad in a local magazine down here for one of the "good" brands (Shoei I think it was) that stated their helmets come close to 150G's showing when the Snell test is run.

I still have to dig the ad up and check (I hope it was Shoei as I have one), but it does make you think... if Shoei (or whoever) thinks they should provide a reduced impact (by a factor of 50%) then why don't Snell gradually (or not so gradually) reduce the level of G that the helmet must provide. It can be done... start making companies do it.

What would be best is if helmets started coming with stats on the tests they went through. That way you could compare apples with apples.

eg: Snell double impact test (300G maximum) - 154G

That way you could look at all the tags and see which is really the best helmet for the $ you have to spend.

And the standard size head thing is just dumb... bigger heads are heavier than little heads (and it concerns me as I wear an XL helmet ).

[The CyberPoet]

if Shoei (or whoever) thinks they should provide a reduced impact (by a factor of 50%) then why don't Snell gradually (or not so gradually) reduce the level of G that the helmet must provide. It can be done... start making companies do it.

The ECE standards will push that over the next 15 - 20 years -- a gradual decrease in total G's

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[MinnGreenGT]

That article made me think twice too.

What would be best is if helmets started coming with stats on the tests they went through. That way you could compare apples with apples.

eg: Snell double impact test (300G maximum) - 154G

That way you could look at all the tags and see which is really the best helmet for the $ you have to spend.

I'm all for that... not only would it be a great marketing tool, but we'd have more informed buyers as well!