[Closed] Do helmets have a lifespan or degrade?

Manufacturers say 3 years,justifications are woolly, I've googled for eps degradation by light and found sweet fa.

I think the last one I looked at said 5 years primarily due to the plastic they use degrading over time.

Might be utter rubbish though!

Wether the materials degrade, I'm unsure/sceptical, I change mine every 3 years, partly because of the dropping, general knocks and things, partly because I'm a tart.

Mine get changed every five years, "just in case"

Or more often if I bang my head 😳

I'm sure I read recently that a study had been done at found no significant degradation of the helmet by UV over 10 plus years.
The whole '3 years' thing came about because none of the manufacturers had really bothered to research it properly so it seemed to be a good figure, plus of course they want you to buy a new lid every few years...

Here is an article on the subject: [url= http://www.bhsi.org/replace.htm ]bhsi article on helmet replacement[/url]

And another: [url= http://www.bhsi.org/up1505a.htm ]age doesnt affect integrity.[/url]

i tend to land on the ground in mine long before any sell by date

There's no doubt plastics degrade over time when exposed to UV, it's been well documented and understood within the plastics industry for years, they use UV stabilisers to delay the onset of it.

Regardless of the shell or body degrading over time, I find after a couple of years the straps (and Roc-loc on Giros) are so manky I want a new helmet anyway.

Or the hat gets crushed by my car's electric seats when I move the seat back forgetting the helmet is on the floor behind it...

Thanks for the opinions, I found some interesting articles, linked below...

http://www.bhsi.org/replace.htm

http://www.bhsi.org/up1505a.htm

Thoughts?

My brother's got a 10 year old helmet and you can feel the difference in the eps, it's hard and brittle and it's shrunk a little. I kind of had to bully him into replacing it. It was a cheapy mind, I'm sure different eps chemistries exist (if you ever find old packaging, it often goes very crumbly and brittle, but sometimes it's as good as new)

Just realised I linked exactly the same articles as mattbee....Doh!

Of course I'm just trying to justify a new one but it does look like a subject that hasn't beet that well researched, which considering how important your head is, I find a bit strange...as a few have said, it sounds like a marketing decision not to do the appropriate research....

Was it MET who said that helmets are fine for much longer than the industry as a whole tries to make out?

Mine must be a similar age if not older, it looks fine. I'm keeping it 🙂

I have 3 helmets, the oldest is 2 years and I'm about to buy another.
I am happy that if in good condition and not crashed or dropped they will be fine but who wants to be seen in a manky old out of fashion bin lid? 😉

It's BS and any aging is marginal given the minimal protection bicycle helmets offer, if you want something new though buy one.