High mileage helmet retirement?

[angrygirafe]

So, I know helmets have a shelf life/expiration date, whatever you want to call it and that seems perfectly reasonable. Your helmet should be replaced after X amount of years no matter what. Foam and glue will degrade even under no use conditions. But what about helmets that see more than average use? My helmet (Shoei Hornet X2) is a little over 2.5 years old. It has about 60k miles on it. Torrential downpours, extreme heat, and even a few snow storms. I have been wondering if benign conditions will degrade a helmet, will extreme conditions degrade it faster? I’ve replaced the internal padding and gone through quite a few shields. The shell looks fine. But what about the foam that’s supposed to save my life? Any chemically inclined people have some insight?

[superfist]

I'm not a chemically inclined person, but my understanding is that the majority of what would cause degradation has to do with UV light exposure, which the shell blocks.  UV could degrade the shell material itself (plastic shells), but the vast majority of helmet manufacturers include UV inhibitors in the plastic materials.

 

The EPS is generally unaffected by things like sweat and normal seasonal temperatures, moisture etc.  The five year recommendations comes from a consensus of helmet manufacturers and the Snell foundation because the glues and resins used  in the helmet as well as any petroleum based oils that might get into the helmet can affect the helmet performance.

 

Some manufacturers recommend 5 years from manufacturing date and others like SHOEI recommends replacing 5 years from retail purchase date.  I assume this is similar to buying tires in that retail storage in a temperature and humidity controlled environment keeps everything nice and stable.  When I worked at Goodyear auto, even the tire storage rooms were heated & air conditioned even though our work area was not!Once you start temperature cycling and wearing a product, it starts to affect it in the same way that temp cycles on a new tire brings that blueish/oily color to the surface for the first few rides until it stabilizes.

 

So yeah, for me it's replace the liners and visor as necessary and don't worry about the rest of it until it's in that 5 year replacement time window.

[daboo]

I've dropped my Shoei Neotec and it hit the curb at a gas station on the top rear.  All it did was to scuff the shell surface.  The shell is still intact and the Styrofoam underneath looks perfect.  That surprised me.

My inner pads didn't smell at all, but they seemed very compressed.  I was at the point where I was going to replace them and decided to take them out prior to a long ride and wash them.  After they dried, they fit like new again.  That surprised me too.

I'm not sure when I'll replace my Neotec.  I bought it on 2/19/16.  That puts it a bit over three years old.  It's seen temps in the 20's and over 100.  It's used virtually every day.  Right now, except for a couple scuffs, it seems perfect.

 

But if you have an itch to buy a new helmet and have the $$$...

Chris

Edited July 18, 2019 by daboo

[angrygirafe]

45 minutes ago, daboo said:

 

But if you have an itch to buy a new helmet and have the $$$...

 

Always the itch, never the money 😄

[angrygirafe]

I guess I thought there’d be more of an environmental impact. Moved to Phoenix recently, and temps going home this week have hit 118 degrees. But if it’s mostly UV that I need to worry about impacting the EPS, then The shell does seem fine. A little scuffed, but not bad. 

[norcal616]

I replace my "everyday" helmet every 3yrs( millage is hard to say) due to most manufacturers testing...but my race helmet gets replaced if I go down and bump my head on pavement/surface regardless of age/miles... I might reuse a race helmet as an everyday/snowmobile one if the lenses just got scuffed but not one with decent scuff marks from a race crash on the shell... 

Yea my everyday helmet gets beat up, rolled a few times across the ground chipping the paint, etc...

[keithu]

UV isn't a concern because of the outer shell, but the EPS is still attacked by ozone and other free radicals. I suppose more riding would increase this exposure because it means more air circulating through the helmet, but I'm not a chemist.

[BBB]

I am a PhD chemist (there, got that out of the way, but it’s also like saying you’re an engineer: the topic is so wide that you can’t know everything).

The properties of most polymers are designed by careful selection of the monomers used (the chemical building blocks they are made out of). But, the elasticity, the flexibility that helps a polymer deform under an impact and deflect the force away from your head is maintained by additives called plasticisers. [For techies, they lower the glass transition temperature]. Plasticisers are much smaller molecules and these are lost over time, making the polymer more brittle as it ages. You can sometimes see this in your car, there will be a slightly smoky film on the inside of your windscreen on a really hot day, that you can wipe off with the back of your hand.; that’s the plasticiser evaporating in the sun and condensing on the glass.

So, the shell of a helmet will get progressively more brittle with time, but faster in hotter temperatures and so will the inner EPS shell, but normally at a slower rate as it isn’t exposed to the direct sunlight on hot days. I presume that is why there is a general time guideline for replacement even if the shell has not been dropped.

[angrygirafe]

5 hours ago, keithu said:

UV isn't a concern because of the outer shell, but the EPS is still attacked by ozone and other free radicals. I suppose more riding would increase this exposure because it means more air circulating through the helmet, but I'm not a chemist.

Those are my concerns as an also not chemist. 😄

[angrygirafe]

@BBB thank you! Definitely helps my understanding of what’s going on. Suspicions confirmed 😒

[nhchris]

So this issue is why I've switched from expensive helmets to economy helmets.

I am wearing a Bilt modular that costs $119.  It is DOT (FMV55 No218) and ECER22-05 certified, but not Snell.  I plan to replace it every 3 years.

While the fit n Finish is not quite as good as my old $650 Shoei, it is pretty darn good. 

What do you folks think?  Are you really buying more protection with an expensive Arai, Shoei or Scubeth lid?

For those interested, here is a link that describes how the various helmet certifications are performed and what they mean.  I admit I used to be a Snell snob, but I've evolved into a DOT dude!

[betoney]

6 minutes ago, nhchris said:

What do you folks think?  Are you really buying more protection with an expensive Arai, Shoei or Scubeth lid?

I have no idea about crash rating comparisons, for me its about comfort.  I had a $200+ Scorpion that gave me a head ache after a few hours, I went to cycle gear and tried on every brand, when I tried a Shoei it fit like a custom made suit, no more discomfort after an 8-10 hour day.

[1moreroad]

2 hours ago, nhchris said:

So this issue is why I've switched from expensive helmets to economy helmets.

I am wearing a Bilt modular that costs $119.  It is DOT (FMV55 No218) and ECER22-05 certified, but not Snell.  I plan to replace it every 3 years.

While the fit n Finish is not quite as good as my old $650 Shoei, it is pretty darn good. 

What do you folks think?  Are you really buying more protection with an expensive Arai, Shoei or Scubeth lid?

For those interested, here is a link that describes how the various helmet certifications are performed and what they mean.  I admit I used to be a Snell snob, but I've evolved into a DOT dude!

Modular helmets aren't Snell rated.  Shoeis and others included.

[1moreroad]

I kept my Shoei's for the full 5 years and regretfully replaced them on the time schedule.  I was ready to replace my Scorpion by 2.5 years but forced myself to last the full 3.  The pads were so compressed that I had a headache after 2 hours.

I've never considered mileage when replacing a helmet whether I was riding 10,000+ miles annually or 3,000 miles.  Regardless of mileage, the helmets seem about the same amount of worn out when I replace them (except the Scorpion which was so much worse).

[superfist]

3 hours ago, nhchris said:

So this issue is why I've switched from expensive helmets to economy helmets.

I am wearing a Bilt modular that costs $119.  It is DOT (FMV55 No218) and ECER22-05 certified, but not Snell.  I plan to replace it every 3 years.

While the fit n Finish is not quite as good as my old $650 Shoei, it is pretty darn good. 

What do you folks think?  Are you really buying more protection with an expensive Arai, Shoei or Scubeth lid?

For those interested, here is a link that describes how the various helmet certifications are performed and what they mean.  I admit I used to be a Snell snob, but I've evolved into a DOT dude!

 

You're right in that you don't necessarily get more safety from more expensive helmets.  You generally get more features or comforts.  There are cheap helmets with ECE or Snell rated certifications as well.

 

With that said, I still won't buy a helmet that is only DoT certified.  I'll look for either ECE or Snell, and sometimes also check the SHARP ratings to see if there are any issues.  For one, the DoT standards are pretty old, but also that the certification for the DoT helmet sticker is a voluntary self certification.  The NHTSA does not require helmet manufacturers to submit production helmets to any independent labs before claiming self certification.  There are labs that test random samplings from production helmets that were purchased through retail channels, but this means any issues with the helmets aren't caught until after the helmets make it to customer heads.  Some helmets may not get tested at all due to the sampling methods.

 

Here's a good article on the most recent standards as well as some of the things they test for:

Helmet Safety Standards 2019: FIM FRHPhe, ECE 22.05, DOT FMVSS 218 & Snell Updates

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Snell has some new things now with the M2020D and M2020R certifications with compatibility with either DoT for the D designation, or ECE 22.05 with the 'R' designation.