Sunday, December 1, 2013

Time to hang up the helmet.......

There comes a time in every motorcyclists life when they finally decide to hang up their helmets, this is one of those times, but not what you think.........


During my last ride on the weekend I noticed several times when I was riding at 100+Kph that my helmet seemed to be a little bit on the loose side. I hadn't really taken much notice before but did notice on this ride. I know that I've had my Shoei XR11 for quite some time now and it has been a great helmet over the years with easy, tool-less clip off visor making it easy to clean and put back together. I had previously had 2 Arai helmets before this one.



Upon inspection during the week after the ride I found the following. The Australian standards sticker had faded quite badly due to age, no biggy. Looking for the stamp to tell me the helmet age I couldn't find it for a bit as it wasn't on the chin strap like on the previous Arai's I owned. I finally found it under the inner lining in the top part of the helmet. It was manufactured on the 11/2004 which is well outside the recommended 5 years life span of a helmet. The following is shoei's recommended replacement guide

Helmet Replacement 
Ultimately, the useful service life of a safety helmet is dependent on the intensity and frequency of its use. Helmet replacement is recommended even if only one of the under-mentioned points applies:
  1. The helmet was subjected to an impact.
  2. The comfort padding or the retention system has become loose due to heavy use or display signs of deterioration.
  3. The synthetic foam padding displays signs of heavy use and the helmet feels too loose. Test: with the retention system fastened, the helmet turns to the side when you gently shake your head.
  4. There are indentations in the EPS liner and/or white scratches can be seen on surfaces with black paint.
  5. Even if none of these is applied, we, SHOEI, recommend replacement in 5 years after it's first purchased at retail.

I've had this helmet for almost 9 years way past what it should be replaced at. It just goes to show the quality of the helmet, it's been a bit of a motto of mine that you only get what you pay for and if you are paying top dollar for a helmet you get good quality. That's precisely what this helmet has been.

The other thing that I noticed was that the internal foam lining was now crumbling into fibre dust. Yep its had it's day and it's now time to go looking for a new helmet. This also happened with my last Arai. It's time for this helmet to go into retirement, but I'm not ready to stop anytime soon.......


14 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear that it is just the helmet going into retirement…. You had me worried for a bit.

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    1. Hehe thought the title of the blog post would cause a bit of a stir

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  2. I too, am glad you're only hanging up that helmet and not "the" helmet!

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    1. Too right, it's only that helmet not the helmet!!

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  3. Woohoo, new helmet time. And here I thought you were just putting a hook on the wall for it and hanging it up.

    It would be cool to take the old one and put it in the shrub bed and grow flowers out the visor. That would be a good use of an old helmet.

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    1. Woo hoo indeed. Just wondering what the heck I'm going to get.

      I don't know about putting it in the garden, I'm a hopeless gardener and would be sprouting weeds more likely than not.

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  4. Good move Steve. Every new helmet seems to be an improvement on the old in terms of comfort, field of vision and visor change mechanism. But my, how expensive they are in this country of ours!

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    1. Your not wrong about the prices here they are expensive. Still a new helmet should be more comfortable than the old one with less sweat in it.

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  5. Had me worried for a sec...I just got a new lid - it's a lot nicer inside it than the old one...

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    1. hehe got you too - I better start checking out helmets now.

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  6. Yep you had me worried ... First time I've checked out my blogging mates for a while and when I saw the title of this post I groaned a little .. oh noes! But then it became a yay instead :)

    Exciting getting any new kit but a helmet is the best .. we spend so much time in them and they also act as handy handbags at times :)

    Have fun shopping!

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  7. Hmmmm.......mine says 12/98. Is that good? Old stuff is good....right?

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    1. Don't fall over at walking pace in it. It'll probably shatter and you'll bust you head open. Save me Jebus!

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