I forgot. Helmets and wrecks. Myth vs. reality?

jfz6

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I meant to mention in my poll but I am wondering about the reality of the widely known saying of " Throw away a helmet after it has hit the ground in an accident no matter how hard."

Many of you saw some of my pictures of my leg after my wreck but that is healing. If not feel free to check them out at Motorcycle

It is my helmet that I am worried about. XXXL Fulmer Modus

It only has a few scratches on the face plate and the Modular part doesn't stay flipped up anymore so I try not to ride with it.

I do have a KBC TK-77 I am borrowing but it is too small XXL and is really loud and it is raining here a lot and my rain hood will not fit inside of it so I am having to ride with it.

Do you really have to get rid of a helmet after it has hit the pavement?

oh, if you have a suggested helmet for me price doesn't matter. Geico is paying. I love Geico.
 
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Saw your pics from your slideshow. Now that's a very detailed report on the extent of your injuries. Were you wearing any riding pants and boots, or was it just jeans and regular shoes? As far as the helmet, I'm no expert, but once the helmet has absorbed energy from the blow, it no longer has the same effect to absorb that same energy. You should get a new one. Now if it's just your chin guard, you might be able to get away with keeping the same helmet, but that's just my opinion.
 
You know the thing is it will only matter if if if if if your head hits the ground. The consquences of that can range from a bump, to death.

Since I like my brain to work (as warped as it is) the way I woke up this morning, I wouldnt wear a helmet that has hit the ground.

Think about this.
If you head wieghs 8 lbs (more probley since you wear a xxl) and it hit the ground at just 10 feet per second.

You have 8lbs x 10 fps squared energy (around 11 newtons) transfered into that liner. Since your here talking with us, it did its job. Say next time (99.9$ it wont happen before you get your new helmet) it can only absorb 8 newtons and it has to take 25 newtons. You will not be here to talk with us about it again.

the .1% that it happens before you get the new helmet is what would worry the crap out of me.
 
I would say it is not worth the risk, i know some people that work at hospitals that x-ray helmets when they are bored, or have a rider with a head injury and more often than not they have spider web fractures all through the helmets after an impact...
 
if you really don't want to get a new one,t here are companies out there that will retest the helmet ot make sure it is still up to par. but, if you're gonna pay someone to do that, you might as well jsut get a new one and know it's good.
 
Ponder this, the helmet may appear to be sound but nobody on this board is likely qualified to say whether it is or is not. So, why not allow the experts to articulate on the helmets ability to protect you. Put the helmet in a box and ship it back to the manufacturer with an explanation of the incident. In two cases I have known folks to do this. One was a crash and the other a dropped helmet. Both were found to be sound by the manufacturer. One did however require a new face shield which the manufacturer put on and charged for.

Just a thought..
 
I meant to mention in my poll but I am wondering about the reality of the widely known saying of " Throw away a helmet after it has hit the ground in an accident no matter how hard."

Many of you saw some of my pictures of my leg after my wreck but that is healing. If not feel free to check them out at Motorcycle

It is my helmet that I am worried about. XXXL Fulmer Modus

It only has a few scratches on the face plate and the Modular part doesn't stay flipped up anymore so I try not to ride with it.

I do have a KBC TK-77 I am borrowing but it is too small XXL and is really loud and it is raining here a lot and my rain hood will not fit inside of it so I am having to ride with it.

Do you really have to get rid of a helmet after it has hit the pavement?

oh, if you have a suggested helmet for me price doesn't matter. Geico is paying. I love Geico.
Get rid of it mate. It has saved your life once and unlike a cat does not have nine lives.

Nelly
 
Here's an idea...

Go outside with your broken helmet, hold it up as high as you can and drop it on the concrete.

Take a picture of it and show us what it looks like! Maybe THEN we can come to a definite decision. I mean, you plan on crashing while wearing that thing again right? Why not try it now?
 
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