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Most helmets are covered in scoops that will dig in to dirt, catch, and wrench a riders head around. Arai vents snap off or pop out. Fox/fly helmets are effectively shovels in comparison.
I won't wear anything else because that's all they do. They make great helmets; not gear, boots or neck braces. 100% of their focus is motorsport helmets.
Of course if I’d known all this at the time I would have waited for the whambulance.
Injuries. Hope you are making progress and the pain is minimal.
Pit Row
Having said that, imo there is a need for a new objective 'safety ranking system' in the MX helmet industry.
If i look for a helmet and visit one of the bigger online retailers (regardless of which retailer) they offer a bunch of different makes and there is no way to objectively view which helmets offer the best protection. Basically all helmets above $ 100 are snell approved and then you have 30 makes, 100 models and price ranges from $100 to $800. But no way to see testdata or some kind of ranking (a to e or whatever).
Good idea!
Would also encourage companies to increase the safety of their cheaper units as well, forcing competition and then the consumer would benefit from better tech at lower price points!
The law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred.
The energy that went into destroying that helmet had to go somewhere, its either his head or the helmet. All of the support that goes into keeping a helmet together is more energy transferred to your brain. Think about it, ideally for a heImet to absord everything, it would be something around your head that is a giant crumple zone. The thing is manufacturers know consumers dont want to buy a new helmet everytime they bump their head, because theyre expensive, so they use materials to keep them together. All of the strength keeping it together is less energy than can be absorbed.
If the helmet stays in good shape it goes to his head n destroys his brain. If it destroys the helmet then it transferred that massive amount of energy into destroying the helmet before it got to his brain. This is actually the best Ive seen a helmet work. Maybe a little too good because he still got cut, so maybe make it a tad stronger... but then thats more energy passing into his head. Its all about compromises in safety. Compromise a destroyed helmet for a healthy brain.
Id much rather have a destroyed helmet and a couple cuts, then a destroyed brain and either be dead or in a coma... After that horrible crash did he have a concussion?
This helmet transferred a shit ton of energy from the impact into crumpling the helmet, that otherwise would have transferred into his brain.
This is a design failure with the crash helmet but thankfully it would seem without serious consequences for Brad.
Thats why I said its a compromise. You compromise the longevity of the helmet for it to crack in places that otherwise would have been your skull. The crash impact forces were apparently so high that if this were transferred to his skull/brain hed be muuuch more jacked up than a broken nose and some cuts.
We dont know the forces involved here, but like I said Id rather have some cuts and a destroyed helmet that be in a coma. Leatt makes high quality products and they have stringent safety standards to meet.
Wed have to see how severe the crash was. The interior is meant to disperse the impact but theres only so much a couple inches of foam can do with extreme forces involved. The shell is there to protect the skull from fractures. If the helmet fractures it means your skull would have fractured. These helmets have to meet stringent safety standards. Its illegal for Leatt to sell a POS helmet that doesnt meet safety standards and will explode in normal crashes. This will happen if forces are beyond what a little foam can do.
Its the same concept as crumple zones in a car. The energy HAS to be absorbed somewhere. In a severe crash the car will be destroyed, but all that destruction absorbs energy that otherwise would have been transfered right through the occupants. What would you rather... a car that can survive crashes in tact but the people inside are scrambled eggs or a car that crumples, absorbs energy, and is destroyed, but everybody survives with minor injuries?
The concept might be the same as cars but then vehicle manufactures have considerably more material to work with. You may have noticed that automobiles are much larger than what they were back in the 80's/90's. What is considered a small car today would have been family size three decades ago. That concept cannot be used in helmet manufacture as you will end up with shell sizes that are way to big in comparison to the riders head, that in its self would be a hazard for the rider.
I would much rather suffer a concussion and have NO intrusion through the shell verses a helmet that has all the bells and whistles regarding MIPS and other absorption technologies but allows a foreign object to pierce the shell and through the skull. I think that has the bigger potential for a more brain damaging injury compared to a concussion, don't you?
Post a reply to: Leatt Helmet doesn't look good at this crash...