I was reading a Full Throttle magazine I had picked up at OC Road House, and read an interesting article in there about DOT helmets vs. Snell helmets vs. skid lids/brain buckets/novelty helmets. They dropped a 30 lb brick on a full face helmet (DOT and Snell approved), a half or shortie helmet (DOT approved) and a novelty helmet (Satan approved). The first two helmets had a slight indent where the brick had hit, but held up otherwise. The novelty was crushed.
The article went on to point out that Snell only approved solid, full face helmets (they have yet to approve modular helmets), while the minimum thickness to receive a DOT approval was 1 1/2 inches of solid foam. The soft padding doesn't count, only the hard stuff. It also said that it is illegal to sell or purchase a novelty helmet with the intent of it being worn on a motorcycle. Even in states that don't have helmet laws, it is still illegal to wear a skid lid while riding.
I just thought that was interesting.
Edited to add:
Rider was nice enough to add the following link in my comments. It is from Motorcyclist Magazine, June '05 Issue:
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/
Very informative and in depth. If you don't know how your helmet was tested, I recommend reading it. More $ doesn't equal more safety.
14 hours ago
1 comments:
illegal to wear a novelty helmet when you're in a state where you don't need a helmet? that's a little odd. doesn't surprise me that the novelty helmet was crushed though...eep.
snell and dot differ in other ways as well. here is an interesting article, if you haven't seen it already...
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/motorcycle_helmet_review/
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