A sub £200 helmet as good as £2k plus helmet?

[RF_Racer]

I got an interesting email this morning from Motorsport ads. Black Cat Helmets being made in the same factory and at the quality and standards as the Top 3? Well I consider Arai to be one of the very best, along with Schubert and then Bell. A lot of R&D has gone into developing thse Helmets, then a claim is made to say that a sub £200 Black Cat helmet is just as good as the top 3?

Am I missing something here?

[ptclaus98]

Yeah, the fact that Bell has found another small manufacturer to buy up so that they can sell their cheaper helmets. Same as Pyrotect in the States. They're good helmets but they aren't anywhere near as good as Arai, Schuberth, or Bell's higher range.

[mountainstar]

I guess probably the difference I notice is that many of these helmets meet certain safety standards and where the price difference comes in, is in the lightness of the materials and quality of the materials used.

In the states, brands like G Force and Pyrotect are popular but they also weigh a ton. If you have to wear them all day like I do, it gets old with this cast iron weight on your head.

In my opinion when it comes to stuff like this, you get what you pay for. Many friends of mine like the cheap stuff like from Impact or other brands, but I prefer to pay a bit extra, for something a bit nicer.

[RF_Racer]

I would never buy these cheap helmets, but I am curious how they can claim it is made in the same factory as the top 3??

Arai for example with the GP6 RC meets the standards and exceeds them.

[midgetman]

Yeah to a certan extent it's true. The factory in China churns out helmets by the ton and brands them up whoever wants to buy them. There are now 4 brands to my knowledge in the UK selling identical helmets at slightly different prices.

As for protection, well Snell 2005/2010 is NOT a "ten bob" standard and Snell regularly buys up helmets for check test so they will all protect to a pretty high standard. As mountainstar says, the difference in price boils down to weight, comfort, fit etc - but surprisingly not necessarily quality. Although grab hold of a £150 f/f helmet alongside a £400 one, and the weight will tell you which is which.

As ever, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

While there is one importer who "designs" his own helmets others are standard items badged up at source. That doesn't make them bad, far from it, it ensures there is a good supply of cheap helmets. Remember the "exclusive" import deal applies to the brand name, not the helmet, and it's always worth shopping round!

If price is important to you, my advice is to shop around and look for similar helmets with different names on.

[Tim Falce]

I know it's not quite the same but this reminds me of a company I used to collect rubbish from in Peckham. They used to bottle condiments and pickles etc. I kid you not, outside in the yard there was a long chute, at one end one guy was pouring stuff out of a drum on to it, at the other end a couple more guys were filling bottles of of say mint sauce. After that someone else was sticking labels on them and the labels had names such as Harrods, Fortnum and Masons and Marks and Spencer's. It was all the same crap going in the bottles but the prices would be very very different depending where you bought them.

[Chris Y]

Was the company called 'Trotters...' ?

[RF_Racer]

Yeah the Chinese company would churn out the helmets in their thousands, but often quality would suffer. I have bought cheap junk from ebay, often copies of the real item and to be honest its junk.

[Robyn Slater]

Originally Posted by Chris Y

Was the company called 'Trotters...' ?

No,that was Peckham Spring,,,,,bottled tap water

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

Yeah the Chinese company would churn out the helmets in their thousands, but often quality would suffer. I have bought cheap junk from ebay, often copies of the real item and to be honest its junk.

Think you're being a bit hard there. I bought my son an expensive Uvex karting helmet, it's deteriorating much quicker than the Chinese stuff we sell. And it's European made. I am quite impressed with what you get for £150 from China.

Yeah, you pays yer money and you takes yer choice, but from inspection it is more fit and comfort that distinguish the expensive helmets rather than build quality.

[Finn]

I stripped my Bell helmet down the other day and I didn't think that was well made.

[RTH]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

I know it's not quite the same but this reminds me of a company I used to collect rubbish from in Peckham. They used to bottle condiments and pickles etc. I kid you not, outside in the yard there was a long chute, at one end one guy was pouring stuff out of a drum on to it, at the other end a couple more guys were filling bottles of of say mint sauce. After that someone else was sticking labels on them and the labels had names such as Harrods, Fortnum and Masons and Marks and Spencer's. It was all the same crap going in the bottles but the prices would be very very different depending where you bought them.

20 + years ago I went round the Romford brewery (long gone now)
They had a common manifold that spread to 5 production lines filling cans & bottles with 5 different brand names.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by RF_Racer

Yeah the Chinese company would churn out the helmets in their thousands, but often quality would suffer. I have bought cheap junk from ebay, often copies of the real item and to be honest its junk.

Well, like anywhere, there is good stuff and bad stuff from China. Ebay is probably not the most reliable place to get stuff.....

With regard to Helemts, I'm of the opinion that once the helmet is of the correct safety standard, anything more you pay is for comfort and weight only.

For example, if you have two helmets that both reach the same, highest safety standard, but one manufacturer claims theirs is 'safer', what measurements can be applied to that extra safeness? None, because there is no standard based test to support it.

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by JamesH

For example, if you have two helmets that both reach the same, highest safety standard, but one manufacturer claims theirs is 'safer', what measurements can be applied to that extra safeness? None, because there is no standard based test to support it.

Standards lay down minimum acceptance levels for a range of tests. For example, impact testing in which the deceleration imparted to the head is measured, with typical acceptance threshold of 300g. A helmet which produces a figure of 295g will meet the requirements of the standard, one which gives a figure of 250g will also meet the requirements of the standard, but in real life it will be much "safer". As helmet manufacturers don't publish their test results it's not easy to make a comparison - for this reason the UK government set up the SHARP motorcycle helmet testing scheme. Take a look at:

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/