Buying the Right Motorcycle Helmet

The most important piece of equipment you will ever buy to use with your motorcycle is a helmet.  Today’s helmets are designed using advanced technologies and perform better than ever to do their job and protect from injury.  On the other side, there are so many choices available that it is often difficult to figure out what is the safest and most appropriate helmet for your needs.  

 

The most essential thing about a helmet is that it must meet the DOT (Department of Transportation) and updated Snell Memorial Foundation’s standards of safely.  Together both of these recommendations ensure that any helmet with their approval provides protection from impact, penetration, and retention.  

Impact protection is provided by expanded polystyrene or EPS foam inside the shell of a helmet and is designed to absorb the energy and to cushion your head when in an accident.  The shell resists penetration of any foreign object touching your head and distributes the impact load.  Retention is simply the helmet being the right fit and shape for your head to stay on in the event of an impact. 

Basically styles of helmets include full-face, open-face, shorty, and one that is designed for off-road motorcycles.  The best protection is provided by a full-face helmet with a chin bar and a face shield.  Check the face shield to make sure your vision is not distorted when wearing it and that the shield stays in position when raised.  A shorty helmet looks like helmets from the past, but it also meets today’s safety standards. 

      

It is recommended that you wear the helmet you want to buy for a period of time to really get an idea if it is comfortable.  Different brands offer selections of options such as one model that helps to increase visibility at night with battery-powered red LED light in the back of the helmet.  Another offers small air channels to help keep you cool and removable pads that can be washed or replaced.  

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