I wear a nov helmet, it is a pretty decent one. I am all about the rider should be able to make his.her own choice as to if they want to wear one or not anyway. Have had 2 friends in bad accidents. One they told him if he would have had a full bodied helmet on it prob would have broke his neck, he was wearing a nov, came out beat to hell but nothing permanent. Just had another buddy wreck his quad, same thing, broke his neck, most of the reason was from the added weight of the full helmet. I always wear one while on the quad though. People shouldn't be so fast to judge. They can hurt ya as much as help ya in some instances. So don't jump the gun, remember it is up to me and only me to make that choice for myself..

 

Ouch...low blow!!!

 

There are no thickness requirements with helmet standards. They test them by dropping weights on them and electronically measuring the transferred impact energy that gets transferred to the head form inside the helmet. If it absorbs a minimum amount of specified energy it passes, otherwise it fails. This is why all real helmets use special crush foam. It may look like Styrofoam but it is not. That's what works the best for this purpose. It allows for the thinnest shell that can still dissipate the required amount of energy to be considered protective to your brain. If memory foam, which is much cheaper, worked for this purpose I would expect to see approved helmets use it. So far I have seen none. It is up to the engineers that design a helmet to figure out how much crush foam and what density and thickness will work best. Better helmets use multiple densities of crush foam applied in layers to provide the best impact absorption.

Although legitimate helmet manufacturers produce helmets that contain carbon fiber in the shell none sell helmets with a pure carbon fiber shell anymore. If you look at the few approved helmets that advertise carbon fiber none are actually made of pure molded carbon fiber. This is because while carbon fiber is very light and strong in tensile strength it is extremely brittle and does not absorb impact unless it is laminated with other materials like Kevlar, arymyde, etc.. In a Bike magazine test they found cheaper helmets with an ABS shell out performed the stiffer and lighter shells of many high end helmets when it came to impact absorption.

Also DOT, ECE, Snell and other helmet standards test the strap to see if it will hold the helmet on in a wost case scenario. It must take a specified amount of force to pull the strap off the shell. This is why you never see a DOT helmet with the strap stapled or riveted to the inside of the shell like so many non DOT helmets.

Personally I want my helmet designed by a team of engineers that can do sophisticated computer modelling of impact/crash forces and wind tunnel testing. Not some guy in the back of a small shop who says this 1/4 inch of memory foam from the fabric store otta do the trick.

 

I second that! After a rather large Beetle hit me in the forehead at 55mph I never go without a full face. Two years ago I had a small bird explode on my face shield. Can only imagine how that one woulda' felt without the full face.
Anyways to each their own as long as you own up to it if your decision is ever put to the test.

 

OK, now there are three things never to discuss at parties:

1. Religion
2. Politics
3. Helmet Laws

We all make choices in life. Most of us have made up our minds. We know the differences and the consequences of our choices. Everyone just pick your own helmet and get on with life. If you wear a full face/DOT whatever, go hang in the full face/DOT thread. Your input on novelty helmets is useless since you don't wear one. You don't see me preaching to people in the DOT thread! Wear what you want, and extend that same courtesy to me, you're not going to change my mind with a post in a thread on an internet forum.

 

Had you read my post you would realize I did not bring up mandatory helmet laws. Only correct a miss-truth in a statement made by the poster I was responding to about the helmet certification process.

 

Windshields Rock!
If I wanted to be in a cage, I'd take the truck, so no FF for me. I defer to my right to provide myself with the LEVEL of protections that I want, and take my own personal risk at the others, like no bulletproof jackets in summer or wearing tennies when I want.
You SURE ain't gonna see no dayglow lizzard vest on me, either.

 

I take offense. Do you realize the effort it took me to go in the closet, grab my DOT FMVSS No. 218 Certified helmet, read the inside label and then post the newly discovered information !!! lol

 

I've heard that in helmet law states, that if you file an insurance claim for a crash and you weren't wearing a DOT approved helmet, they can refuse your claim.
Don't know for certain, just heard it (on this forum I think).

 

Never owned or wanted a novelty helmet. As a kid on my Honda CL350, I wore a 3/4 with a bubble shield in the winter.
Many years before CA decided to remove our choice in the matter.

I've worn either a FF or modular since the early 80s. I got teased when at the dealer and they saw my FF. I told them my belief why most wore half helmets.
To be seen.