head injury

[fasteer]

Zomby, I remember that article as well.
Motorcyclist, the big m/c magazine did it.
It was on their website for a while, but was pulled down.
Rumour had it the helmet mfg were NOT happy.
http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2...st-caved-to-advertiser-pressure-fired-editor/

 

[NephronRacing]

I started reading this thread and went looking for that article. I was about to post it and boom, there it was! It's a great article shows what branding and marketing can do.

 

[rappster]

thanks for all the info, now i'm almost more confused partly from the concussion and loosing 45 min. from my memory. i was wearing an AFX with a dot 22 rating sticker, from the scratches i took the entire impact from the crash to the back of my head. worst spot. and yes i was moving rather fast. the helmet did it's job and i'm thankful, getting knocked out made my body limp and i didn't break anything, and yes i'm glad i had on my leatt, and knee braces. think i'll look for a Bell,

 

[Dirtdame]

The explanation of that article about the 2005 Snell rating explained a lot about my two low speed crashes that hurt my head so much. I usually wear an XS or a S sized helmet, and both the helmets that I fell on were Snell 2005 rated helmets. I will have to check carefully when I buy my next helmet, especially if it's a closeout. I don't want to buy another "headache" helmet!

 

[LandofMotards]

That article was a great read! To be honest, I like the idea of the 6d helmet even more.

I wish there were full on ratings available. Who exceeds the standards and by how much? Snell is a non profit group funded my helmet manufacturers?! Wow...

One thing that has always bothered me about helmets is the differences in street and dirt helmets. Should the best design be the basis all the way around as far as safety goes? I've really questioned this with supermoto and how most wear dirt helmets.

 

[LandofMotards]

thanks for all the info, now i'm almost more confused partly from the concussion and loosing 45 min. from my memory. i was wearing an AFX with a dot 22 rating sticker, from the scratches i took the entire impact from the crash to the back of my head. worst spot. and yes i was moving rather fast. the helmet did it's job and i'm thankful, getting knocked out made my body limp and i didn't break anything, and yes i'm glad i had on my leatt, and knee braces. think i'll look for a Bell,

On a more serious note, be careful. If you notice it's more difficult to drive at night or short term memory loss and even coordination it's time to make another appointment with a Doc.

What always bothered me about remembering events was trying to figure out what I actually remembered and what people were telling me happened.

 

[bud7041]

Well when I had the buster the helmet was not even 1 year old,as just 21 years old on a Yamaha wr 250z 91modle. The boeri helmet I was wearing has a prod date on the in side of the helmet 12MAR1991. The date I had my buster was 10June 1992.So the helmet saved my life!

 

[Kyle Tarry]

www.westcoastweasels.com/archives/PDF/Blowing_the_Lid_Off.pdf

This is a good article, but I think many people have gone and drawn extreme conclusions from it.

-The article shows that one particular (or MAYBE a few) cheap DOT helmet does better than SNELL helmets in one particular test. Do not take this to mean that DOT helmets are superior to SNELL helmets. Some DOT helmets may be worse, and some other types of impacts may be more favorable to SNELL standards. There is not nearly enough data to say that all DOT helmets are safer than SNELL standard helmets. Given the lack of testing for DOT standards, this seems unlikely.

-SNELL standards have been revised for 2010. The new standards are "better" than the 2005 standards this article criticizes.

-In the end, all of the standards are just some attempt to come up with a lab formula that approximates the real world and can be reliably tested.

Snell is a non profit group funded my helmet manufacturers?! Wow...

Are they? I tried looking for some evidence of where their funding came from, but I can't find any.

Given the rigorousness of their standards, I can't see how it would be any kind of conspiracy. SNELL rating is not a legal requirement, and it's more expensive and more difficult to make a helmet to this standard, than the regular DOT standard.

One thing that has always bothered me about helmets is the differences in street and dirt helmets. Should the best design be the basis all the way around as far as safety goes? I've really questioned this with supermoto and how most wear dirt helmets.

Many dirt bike helmets are DOT and SNELL rated...

 

[LandofMotards]

The article stated that the non profit organization is funded by helmet manufacturers.

Also, I didn't mean anything about dirt not being dot or snell rated. I simply mean that the safest helmet overall should carry the same shape and design. MX and street helmets have an entirely different shape.

My dad always used to bust on me because I didn't buy GSXRs. One day I made a comment about how all their bikes look the same. His argument was that Suzuki developed the most aerodynamically sound product they could and that why the bodywork was similar rather then Yama that designed them to look cool too. It just made me think of helmets in that fashion too. I know he was mostly busting on me again about my bike choice but there is some truth to it also.

As for Snell, I still believe in it but as the article states, the issue is for kids or people with smaller heads because the foam density may be to firm to really brace the impact. Thankfully, I have a fat head.

I will stick with snell. I have had horrible accidents that I'm thankful to walk away from and some lesser where I didn't even get a headache with my Arai. On my cheaper AFX and ICON helmets I've low speed crashes with heAdaches that lasted for days.

The truth is that it may have been more luck then it was helmet manufacturer. After all, there are a lot of factors. Honestly though, I don't care. Sometimes peace of mind is more important. Also, I don't need any mental blocks, I'm already slow enough. Lol

 

[rappster]

the interesting thing about my get off and being knocked out is i ended up with no headache at all, it has been 4 days now and i'm headed in for a routine check up, i was surprised that the ER doctor told me i was OK to drive myself out of the hospital.

 

[Zomby woof]

This is a good article, but I think many people have gone and drawn extreme conclusions from it.

My only intention in posting the article was to point out that, although almost everybody so far has said to buy a Snell (and been critical of DOT) approved helmets , they've likely done so with little actual knowledge of either helmets, DOT testing, or what Snell is or does.

FWIW, my only serious head injury on a bike was while wearing a $450 Snell approved helmet, at very low speed and impact. I don't think it means anything, but I don't feel uncomfortable wearing my $100 Gmax DOT approved helmet, either.

Ask any race organization that requires Snell helmets, why, and see what they say. I find that interesting.

 

[Kyle Tarry]

Sorry man, I didn't mean you specifically! What I meant was that, when that article came out, it seemed like some people were like "oh, DOT helmets are safer than SNELL helmets," but I think that's far too much of a generalization. I worry that there are people out there who only buy crappy helmets under some misguided belief that they are guaranteed to be safer that way.

That being said, any helmet is better than no helmet!

 

[Zomby woof]

I know that.

At least nobody was stupid enough to say $50 helmet, $50 head

 

[TemecuCoastie]

well i got knocked out for about 3 minutes yesterday while practicing at the mx park, so far i can't remember the crash or about 40 minutes after, question is what DOT rating on the helments should i be looking for to help with preventing another concussion.

Dude, go see a Doc.

 

[rappster]

i did go back to the doc yesterday and she was amazed that i don't have any symtoms to support a concussion. on thing for sure i've got a new helment on order, went back to the EVS, snell approved and i ordered a large and a XXXL so i can wear both at the same time.

 

[ohmygewd]

Regardless of price, that helmet did it's job and saved your melon...it wouldn't matter if it's an Arai or Shoei or Airoh, if you knocked yourself out for 3 minutes, it must have been a fairly hard fall and lucky to survive IMO so that helmet worked!!
I had a big stack road racing in the 90's and all l can remember was me being ejected and waking up with my racebike in half, the helmet l wore was a Shoei X9 it was fairly scratched, felt no dizziness until 2 days later when l collapsed at work (post concussion) - my next helmet will be by this inventor (Aussie who had to go to the US to make this happen):
http://www.coneheadhelmets.com.au/

At the moment Kali helmet has this technology and when you think of it logically, a crumple zone that can take the heat of a bump before hitting your skull could be the difference in just seeing stars or permanent memory loss due to a blackout - l really hope the cone-head technology becomes the standard as there really hasn't been any innovation in the actual foam padding in the helmet for eons.

 

[TemecuCoastie]

i did go back to the doc yesterday and she was amazed that i don't have any symtoms to support a concussion. on thing for sure i've got a new helment on order, went back to the EVS, snell approved and i ordered a large and a XXXL so i can wear both at the same time.

Well, glad you're ok. Used to play hockey and had a few nights where I couldn't remember the license plate of the truck, I mean much bigger guy, that hit me. Plus, that humming noise would stick around for a bit.

 

[rappster]

temecucoastie,
i think that playing hockey during the winter months is what saved me, if i just sat behind a desk and jumped on or off the bike however one looks at it, could have been worse. just turned 50 this year and it does take longer to recover.

 

[TemecuCoastie]

temecucoastie,
i think that playing hockey during the winter months is what saved me, if i just sat behind a desk and jumped on or off the bike however one looks at it, could have been worse. just turned 50 this year and it does take longer to recover.

I sit behind a desk - it's torture!!! Sadly, it was a wise-ass with a cross check followed by a tackle on the way down to the ice that ended my hockey playing days. Who knew muscles and ligaments could sound like stretching rubber bands?!?!?!
It does take longer - a lot longer. But, you gotta keep your sense of humor about it or you'll go nuts - right? Statying in shape is key for sure as is playing those sports that require more of us. Sports like hockey.

 

[ray_ray]

I'm still going with common sense, a reasonable helmet and any wisdom I might have gathered to protect my melon ...

This is the track I'll be on tomorrow ... I'll be acting my age for sure and will strive to live to ride another day and remember the entire event as it will be fun ...


It rained last night so the track is very wet and the soil is clayey and sticks to your bike very bad ... The crowd here luvs mud races :0 )