Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Helmet Life

[Melnie Mouse]

Originally Posted by phil_h

Dont worry about the outer.
Its the polystyrene inner shell that degrades - it age-hardens, and there is nothing you can do about it ... and a hard inner is not what you want if you crash
The acu change the helmet-approval sticker every so often to get old helmets out of racing circulation.

yeah, the polystyrene inner shell, is lots of poly balls that compress with air and made into the shell, that's the most important bit, and as you say, get's harder with time, (as the air dispurses) it leaves no bounce ability if you see what i mean, which is why you must change them in event of a spill and with age.

You get a lot of people riding around with really really ancient helmets sometimes, particularly scooter riders, as they don't think they 'need' a 'proper' helmet, but i've seen people riding around in helmets 20 years old, AGHH makes me cringe! Do they not value their head?