Why use a helmet?
The helmet is a safety gear to save your head from serious injuries in an unexpected situation. You know well that danger is uncertain.
You don’t know the time of a crash. A helmet in such situation helps you to minimize injury to the brain or head.
We can say well that the first step prevents injury. This step also minimizes the possibility of a crash. It is better not to hit something by wearing a helmet.
One can show some logic in this statement. Helmets fail to face all probable impacts in some situations.
The impact can overcome protection of helmets in some cases. Helmet fails to protect all the parts of the body. If you can overcome head injury, you can get broken bones, a smashed face or worse.
Safety is the main thing of a helmet. A helmet saves the head of the riders from every huge impact on the road. A strong strap keeps the helmet its place.
Helmets are made to preserve impacts within the limit of human brain tolerance. The brain becomes less flexible or more brittle or what may be if it is injured by accident previously.
Present helmet standard doesn’t support this idea. Eliminating hard objects, or removing the crash is the most effective way to address the head injury.
It is better than wearing a helmet. The benefit of such approach is that a helmet doesn’t save the body after all.
How Motorcycle Helmets Work
A motorcycle helmet is a safety thing for your life. It saves you from a serious accident. It is proved true from time to time. The block version can damage your hearing, break necks and brigade, it is now disproved.
A good helmet can ensure your safety. It reduces the possibility of serious injury to your face, brain, and head. After all, helmet ensures safety for the riders.
Motorcycle Helmets – How They Work
Different helmets are made to do various things. Cycling helmets are different to motorcycle helmets.
These are other different forms football helmets or other helmets. Every helmet is constructed to deal with the particular job. It is natural that motorcycle helmets are made of 4 different components.
- An outer shell –Made to withstand abrasion and penetration.
- A liner designed demands much force of any collision
- Wonderful padding makes wearing a motorcycle helmet enjoyable.
- A safe system of retention – straps!!
The outer part of the helmet is made from some fiber-reinforced composite and polycarbonates. It is very hard to crack. The outer cover is made in such a way that it comes across really very hard.
The internal linings of a helmet are absorbed in the extended polystyrene. If you face a hard accident, your helmet might be damaged, even though you fail to express to the naked eye. This indicates that it fails to save you as successfully as the accident happens.
It seems to you that your helmet is in a perfect condition. You should better for you to change the helmet after an accident.
The following part of the helmet is made to ensure comfort. If the helmet has a soft pad, it will fit your head relax. You can remove the helmet for washing.
The retention and strap system of the helmet is very important parts of the helmet. It keeps the helmet in its place when it is a must.
Any helmet is not the finest helmet if you do not fasten it well. The helmet will fall from your head before you head hits the road.
When you use a helmet, fasten the strap every time. The straps are very simple to use and take only a few seconds.
What are helmet standards?
When a helmet passes the test for an activity or sport, it ensures enough impact protection. A bicycle helmet may not pass the hard motorcycle helmet tests.
A construction helmet can’t pass severe bicycle helmet tests. These helmets don’t give more protection against shrapnel which is a must for the military helmet.
To ensure standard, there are other ways. One can measure many things like shell configuration, strap strength, the head coverage and visor attachments.
There are lots of standard setting organizations who measure standards of the helmet. ASTM, the American Society for Testing and materials is a famous organization. It publishes lots of sports helmets and measures standards.
Helmets should fulfill the demand of the National Operating Committee for Sports and Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE). The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) measured the standards of the helmets for this. But it is now outdated.
There are some other types of helmets which are used by pilots, infantry, and others. Likewise, some helmets are made for astronauts who are examined by NASA. Many organizations measure the standards of the helmet.
Other countries of the world also measure the standard. The mentionable countries are Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, European CEN and so on.
A typical test specifies strap tests, impact test, required coverage, features of the materials used here, labeling, and other demands.
Some tests are done to stimulate hot performance, low-temperature performance, sunlight aging, and wet performance. Test’s standard is defined by the test equipment also.
If you like to get a complete idea of helmet standard you may consider Snell Memorial Foundation site. This gives you lots of standards. You may go through the US CPSC bicycle helmet standard.
Maybe, this is the most used standard in the whole world. If you like to look at the point by comparison of the bicycle helmet standards, you can observe short comparison or detailed long comparison.
How is testing done?
There are lots of ways to test the standards of the helmet.
You band the helmet with the headform, move it from up to down so that helmet can hit the anvil first. Then drop it onto the anvil. To test the helmet, it is oriented before every drop to test it well.
The matters of the test include the shape of the anvil and the drop height. Round, flat, ridge-shaped, shape and pointy excite a horseshoe. The unit is measured with g which indicates gravity.
There are other ways of impact tests. To do so, somewhere a striker or weight is dropped instead of dropping headform or helmet on an anvil. This is called penetration tests where a sharp object falls on to hit the helmet shell.
Testing demands cold, hot and wet helmets and those at ambient area temperature. Some foams are greatly affected by heat whereas some are stiffened in the cold.
It may take up water and lose its effectiveness as water fails to compress. At the time of designing the helmet, the temperature may vary.
Strap testing is static or dynamic. A dynamic test is delivered by hooking a rod on the strap, by weight on it, lifting the weight, and falling to stop to the end of the rod.
The production machine of the lab can reduce this effect. On the other way, a static test is done by hanging a weight on the strap.
William Demello is a professional biker and racer with over 10 years of experience. He believes in safety first, that’s why he analyzes the helmet before other relevant elements. With this long experience, now he has decided to share his experience with others. Know more at the about page.
