Re: [ST] Helmets and standards

[Gavin Lawrie <gavin.lawrie@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 19 May 2005, at 17:56, Matt Knowles wrote:

> On May 19, 2005, at 8:09 AM, Rich Rumble wrote:
>
>
> > But in all of this, and 50 years of Snell, no one has ever written  
> > a requirement for what a helmet must do.
>
> Um, I'm pretty sure the DOT considers their spec a requirement for  
> the US. I'd imagine other countries have similar rules.

There is a really interesting article in the May 2005 edition of UK  
Magazine RiDE (page 96 for those who want to read along...).  They  
destruction tested 28 helmets using various tests drawn from three  
different standards.  They list three standards that are relevant to  
bike helmets in the UK / Europe:

*  BS6658 - the 'old' British standard for motorcycle helmets which  
until it was replaced by the new EU standard was a legal requirement  
for any crash helmet used in on the UK public highway.  This standard  
was / is more stringent in some ways than the Snell requirements -  
the popular Simpson 'Star Wars' helmets were never legal in the UK in  
the past, as they failed to comply with requirements in the BS6658  
standard regarding helmet construction, for example.  I have not seen  
the BS6658 standard in print, but recall from reports in various  
magazines over the decades that it covers a wide range of  
characteristics of the helmet - from resistance to impact from steel  
spikes, through to rules about what the helmet can / can't be made of  
and so on.

*  ECE 22-05 - this is the new EU standard for crash helmets.   
Currently to ride a bike in the UK both rider (and pillion if there  
is one) must wear a helmet that complies with either BS6658 or ECE  
22-05 (or both).  Again, not seen the text, but the RiDE article  
suggests that the specifics of the EU tests are different from those  
used in BS6658.

*  ACU Approval - To participate in motorcycle racing in the UK you  
must wear a helmet approved by the British Auto Cycle Union -  
traditionally this approval is more difficult to achieve than BS6658,  
as not all UK helmets are ACU approved, but all are (presumably)  
legal.  In the past, ACU approval was typically demonstrated by the  
presence of an ACU 'Gold Seal' on the outside of the helmet.  It  
seems from the RiDE report (which lists what standards each of the  
helmets tested has passed) that these days not all ACU approved  
helmets have the seal attached - but I may be wrong on that.

The RiDE test combined a user test (i.e. riding with helmet on) with  
three tests chosen from these standards.  These were (in summary)

* Impact - helmet (with a 'head' inside) crashed side on into a  
surface at 16.8mph, deceleration of the head inside measured  
(anything over 250g apparently would cause brain damage)...  Test  
repeated on same site at 11.9 mph, and then both tests repeated with  
impact on back of helmet.

* Penetration - a 3kg metal spike dropped from 3m onto helmet.  If  
spike penetrates far enough to reach 'head' helmet fails test.  This  
test is part of BS6658, but not part of EU standard.

* Chinstrap retention - Chinstrap done up and 10kg weight attached,  
and allowed to drop 0.75m.  Test done twice, the amount the chinstrap  
stretches measured.

Given that this is a subset of the tests done, I'm pretty happy to  
put my trust in any helmet that reaches these standards.

The results of the tests were also interesting, and echo the other (? 
similar?) test reported in this list last week - many very expensive  
helmets didn't do so well, while others that were cheaper out  
performed them.  Nine of the 28 helmets failed at least one of the  
non-riding tests - including Three AGVs and the Shoei Z-one (cost  
£300).  The cheapest helmet that passed all the tests (and came joint  
6th) cost £34 (a Nitro N311).  The most expensive (Arai Astro Race,  
Shoei Z-one (£369), and Schuberth S1) came Joint Second, Joint 9th  
and Joint 3rd).  The top results were:

First place - Shoei Raid 2 (£205) and HJC AC-11(£200)
Second place - Shoei XR1000 (£250)
Third place - Arai Astro Race (£400), Arai SV (£220), Schuberth S1  
(£359)

I am not sure if the names assigned to helmets outside EU (USA, Oz  
etc.) are the same - it may be that some of the high scoring helmets  
from the US test reported before are actually ones with different  
names that appeared in the UK tests.

Anyhow - hope this helps...

Regards

Gavin Lawrie
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