I had a great little ride up at Farleton Knott today – very short but great fun and I was feeling good on the descent, until I came off and hit a tree with my head.

It wasn’t the hardest of knocks but a fairly decent wack (glad I was wearing the helmet 😉 ). There’s no obvious signs of damage to the helmet – can’t see any cracks inside or out. If it was damaged would I be able to see it? I’ve written off a helmet before and there were obvious cracks inside.

Personally Id keep riding. I crash pretty much once a week and have done for years.

On Saturday i did manage to crack my helmet, finally after about 3 years of falling off quite hard.

If you cant see a crack keep going. Its made of polystyreen, so a crack would be obvious, try twisting it a bit and see.

Im sure others will post up and tell you as soon as you drop it you need a new one, but I ride into trees regularly and its not that easy to bust a helmet.

I will still wear it bust till I find a new one.

(But I also run in corridors)

Personally Id keep riding. I crash pretty much once a week and have done for years.

That’s what I wanted to hear. 🙂

I realised recently I’d not had a proper crash for a while, and thought that perhaps I wasn’t trying hard enough/going fast enough. Tried to let go a bit more today and it felt great – I even quite enjoyed the crash in a weird way.

Even after the crash I did a drop I’ve always bottled before, and got some accidental ‘whip’ on one of the jumps, which was fun. 😀

cracking isn’t the only sign of a broken helmet.
the polystyrene can compress and crush without any obvious visible signs – this is what it is designed to do.

I only replace Bike helmets when I’ve visibly broken them, last time I head butted a tree in Thetford, I split the front of the helmet in two, a few months later I coughed up and bought a new one…..

Your head so it is your call. I would say that the helmet is in theory a one hit wonder, same as motorcycle helmets. They are designed to absorb the energy of the impact and allow the skull to slow down that bit slower and therefore less energy passed through to the brain. They do this by allowing the lining of the helmet to deform. The expanded polystyrene that is used does not regenerate itself after this has happened. It stays “crushed” so it is not able to dissipate as much force as when it was originally made. This means more force get transferred through to the skull. That is the theory and I can not test it to prove it. I guess you could test it by hitting some expanded polystyrene with a hammer or similar and see the damage.

I do replace after a blow to the helmet when riding. Some manufactures do have a crash replacement policy so cost may not be as much as full replacement.

brakes – Member

cracking isn’t the only sign of a broken helmet.
the polystyrene can compress and crush without any obvious visible signs – this is what it is designed to do.

it crushes, then de-compresses?

Given the limited circumstances in which a helmet actually does much beyond stopping cuts, how easily they break, I’d keep riding if it’s not crushed or cracked.

it crushes, then de-compresses?

Yeah I don’t get that bit either.

I do replace after a blow to the helmet when riding. Some manufactures do have a crash replacement policy so cost may not be as much as full replacement.

Thanks – a new Hex is still £40 with crash replacement though, and last time they sent me the wrong helmet 3 times!