Landed nicely on my head the other day. Bit short on cash so I was wondering if anyone had any experience in crashing a cheap and cheerful helmet? (its from from Aldi and meets German standards).

If it meets EC standards is not far off as good as expensive ones – I would expect expensive ones to exceed standards but there is little way of knowing for sure. Certainly doubling the price will not double the protection. Standards testing is only fairly basic.

More important is how well it fits. More expensive ones will probably have more comfy interiors and be better vented. If it fits fine then it should be fine.

Just had to re-read your post. Are you asking whether or not you should replace a helmet you've already landed on? If so, then the answer is a big fat YES!

replace. tomorrow 1st thing.

The helmet I was wearing was a good quality Cratoni one with a faily hard outer shell – more of a roadie one to be fair.

When I landed on my head even though it was on fairly soft ground there was a big crack – it wasn't the helmet! Its got to be changed but i'm still suprised there was no visible damage. The forces really jarred my neck. Its got me wondering if a softer shell one would have absorbed the shock a little better by allowing more of the material to compress.

Already got the Aldi one, its brand new, just given it the once over. The outer shell is noticeably softer than the Cratoni. Given the way my neck jarred, I think this may be a benefit!

rather a jarred neck over a cracked skull mind 😮

haddock – Member

…………….. The forces really jarred my neck. Its got me wondering if a softer shell one would have absorbed the shock a little better by allowing more of the material to compress.

there is a school of thought that some heavily vented helmets use harder foam than would provide optimum absorption in order to pass the testing – I know that sounds daft but it is a recognised opinion. Less vented helmets might actually be better as they can get thru the testing with softer foam.

Think your on to something there TJ, just been having another close look at them with my uncle (a keen roadie,) the less vented cheaper Aldi helmet is a lot softer material and the outer shell is flexible. The Cratoni is like concrete but really well vented.
If I had to choose which one to re inact my fall i'd stick with the cheap one. It fits really well and looks fine. German supermarkets – great! 🙂

Just from stuff I have read – it really depends whether you are going to land on a pointy rock – hard helmet better or a flat surface – soft helmet better.

Its all in the literature about helmets and its one of many criticisms of current testing regimes.

Fit is the single most important factor according to TRl research IIRC

I always seem to land on my head, I know that! 😕
Should spend the money i've saved not buying a posh lid on some skills training!

Back to the original question, my current helmet is a 25 quid Edinburgh Bikes one bought as a quick replacement for a Met Veleno. Fit is alright, ie the Veleno was more streamlined, but I'm yet to test out the suitability of it in a crash