DOT vs Snell vs ECE vs BSI

I think that showing the amount of protection by area is actually very useful. The temporal areas of the head are much more sensitive to impact, due to the bony protuberances within the skull.

I may look into switching helmets based on the SHARP review. I like the way that all of the bell helmets are five stars.

The peak G's allowed by a helmet only tells part of the story. How long the G load is sustained is just as important. It may seem that Snell only allowing 275 Gs is better that the 400 G DOT standard but that is not necessarily the case. DOT limits the time allowed for over 200Gs and over 150Gs. Snell has no provisions for limiting the time that the G load is sustained.

As several have stated earlier, buy a helmet that fits and meets your needs. I would not worry about Snell or ECE certification. I certainly would not pay extra for Snell certification.

This is why racing organizations require Snell approved helmets. It's also the reason I use them.

This comparison (the second of 4 links in Kbetts post) compares older standards including Snell 2005. The Snell 2010 standard is much "softer" and far more comparable to European standards.

The 2005 Motorcyclist article emphasized that any full-coverage helmet meeting any modern standard works better than the best helmets available a couple decades ago.

The SHARP tests are for helmet versions available in the U.K. It was common for manufacturers to make different versions of the same model to meet European standards or Snell (which helps a helmet sell better in the U.S., but isn't required). With Snell 2010, there may be less difference between U.S. and other helmets, but be aware that the SHARP tests are not for U.S. models.

I DID use SHARP to select my current helmet, but with the understanding that I was looking at overall performance of the manufacturer instead of impact data for the model I can buy here.

If you are interested in a flip-up, SHARP gives the % of time the chinbar stays closed during impacts.

If you are going to wear a helmet why not just wear a full face. I mean we wear a helmet just in case of a crash. Why wouldnt a person want a helmet that would provide the MOST protection. I ride mostly in Florida and my buddies are always on me about "in this heat how can you wear a full face helmet". What they dont know is that I am actually cooler wearing a full face than they are wearing half helmets because of the insulation. It is true, they dont believe it. Just my opinion

The facebook link above is a good one. The MSF article is way too old. The original Dexter Ford article is out of date.

DOT only tests a couple of dozen helmets a year. The manufacturers self-certify. I had dinner with the owner of a low cost Chinese maker, and she told me that they send their helmets to a Swiss testing company's Chinese lab for DOT testing and to a German lab for ECE testing. They don't do Snell. Snell does test the visor and the chin bar on full face helmets submitted to them. It is only recently that DOT allowed helmets sold in the U.S. to have both DOT and ECE stickers on them, even if the helmets had met both standards. I think the DOT spec is the bottom of the barrel. I'd prefer ECE and I also trust the new Snell M2010 standards.

The U.K.'s SHARP testing scheme tests the extend the helmets exceed the ECE minimums. Their article on helmet fit is a good one.

I am wearing a Nolan.....

Someone hates every motorcycle built, magazine testing is simply an aid to use in researching for anything. Also it seemed few realized how much work it was to do valve adjusments on that bike and that it would rev to the sky - with no rev limiter - with valve float at around 12,000 rpm causing bent valves. One missed full throttle full rpm powershift could eat all eight intakes... happened to a friend. From there, all is personal preference.

By the way if Parelever is so damn hot for handling, why is BMW NOT running it on the superbike? Face it, your preferences just don't match some writers, it's hardly about being fired for writing the truth. It's about trying to relate what is going on in a particular model. They now tell when cruisers handle good... for a cruiser. The reader has to equate that with their preferences. I was in sales and knew the competition in 83. That Sabre was a departure from the norm and worked great other than the rev limiter thing. It wasn't my kind of ride, but it was far superior in power and power delivery than most any other 750 at that time. It had sport touring or even touring potential as well as being a great standard. The power spread was immense and smooth. That was part of the problem, too smooth, too easy to over rev. 1983 saw rev limiters on the V45s and V65s.

Back to helmets...

Fact is from the only reliable research so far most any helmet would work in most all accidents since the blows are usually glancing and of low impact since falling off a bike is only about 4 feet to the ground maximum. Falling off a bicycle is worse due to the height. Of course that is only the fall to the ground. The glancing blows are what would tear up one's bare head, thus the fact that any helmet would work.

You are 100% right, it's primarily all about fit first. Bad fit is a bad fit, whether on a $100 special or a $700 top shelf. Then it is about quality of interior, venting, features, and finish.

The point of the orginal Motorcyclist helmet expose was to bring out the point that price didn't always equate best protection AND THAT SNELL WAS RUBBER STAMPING AUTO SPECS ON MOTORCYCLE HELMETS. Snell did not have separate specifications for motorcycles. That caused Snell helmets to transmit more shock to one's skull. Snell also did not differenciate between head size which equated head weight. Now they do all this. It took that article, pissed off helmet manufacturers, and Snell being proven faulty for bikes to get it changed. Part of the drive behind the article were the people involved, to whom Snell would not listen. One specific one, Dr. Thome, a leading expert in helmet safety in design having worked with Dr. Hurt and others, gave the whole thing huge credibility. Learning from what they demonstrated I wouldn't be concerned over ANY helmet that has a bit of a name, regardless of price. Vega has good stuff, Z1R has good stuff, obviously Arai and Shoei have good stuff. I wouldn't be concerned with any of them on my head, other than fit.

That and THIS:

Funny that the 19.4% and 15.2% areas are so large when a lot of riders don't even consider full face helmets. I learned early on about full face helmets thanks to crashing in the open face/MX mouth guard setup popular when I was starting out in the 70's. But I went to full face as soon as they became commonly (read cheaply) available.

And it was a good thing I did because I retired that first cheapo full face almost immediately. I did a literal face plant right into the engine cooling fins off a big (well big for Pig Horn) dune jump. But even that ceap full face helmet did the job and kept me from straining my face through those fins. That would have been gruesome in an open face.

I bought a nice Shoei after that and, again, took one right in the chin bar. That was my hardest motorcycle helmet hit. It broke the chin bar on that Shoei, knocked me out for at least an hour and gave me a nasty concussion.I would have been killed or VERY seriously injured if not for full face coverage and the good design of that Shoei full face.

All of which is why I started buying Snell. All of my hard crashes seemed to involve hitting everywhere except around the crown of the helmet. Which that diagram seems to indicate is actually normal.

Kind of a funny after thought, going full face all the time also saved me in the fire department. I alway kept my face shield down even over my air mask. And one night I took a cooked off bullet in the face shield. Obviously it wasn't full velocity or I wouldn't be typing this. But stopping it with a plastic shield was way better than using my face.

This....is correct

If you plan on racing, you have to have a Snell rated helmet.

thanks for the updated graphic -- the one i constantly link people to is based on the bitchin' 70s technology of old bell helmets.

In another thread you asked me why i bitched about modular helmets. This figure is why; i don't trust manufacturers to make a respectably solid hinge that won't snap on jaw-plate impact. More than a few of the ones i've seen have been polymers, too.

Prove it, AMA makes no such stipulation....drag racing? Yeah I guess so, but that is a holdover from Snell SA (auto)....for fire protection.

AHRMA requires it. The object is to eliminate the cheap cheesy helmets with DOT stickers. I'd be interested in running some of that garbage through an actual Snell test sequence.

I have retired three Modular helmets that did their job and protected my face.

I currently have a Nolan N102 Modular, a Scorpion EXO 900 Modular and my latest and greatest the Nolan N43E. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEa_mNXZkH0
<<< Favorite helmet I have ever owned >>> It is NOT modular... The chin bar comes off.

I also just picked up an LS2 Modular that I like very much.

Miss-informed old codgers running the show there.

Do you think Rossi races with a Snell helmet?

DOT helmets will not pass the Snell tests....for a good reason....they are not meant to. A MFR does not build a helmet and then decide to throw on a DOT sticker if it fails SNELL.....they decide to build DOT right from the start.

I'm not saying Snell is bad.....I'm saying it is not perfect in all situations....same for DOT.

Funny, The SNELL 2010 standard is much closer to DOT and ECE than it ever has been......ECE & DOT did not change....SNELL moved that direction, wonder why.

Ece <3!

Fuck you. I ran AHRMA tech for a number of years.

Rossi races with the FIM. He doesn't race with a DOT, either.

The Snell rated helmets here are all also DOT approved. The intent of the rule is to eliminate substandard DOT rated helmets. After you've seen polycarbonate helmets split down the middle from impact, you don't want them out there, DOT or not. There are also legal reasons for this.

What sanctioning body do you race with?