BC

Orange County, San Diego County - I would like to try some on before I buy anything. I have one of those big melons.

Anyone know of any places that have helmets on shelves?

Thanks

Cory M

Dave Turner Motorsports in San Diego has helmets on the shelf. They mostly sell Bell, Simpson and Pyrotech but they may have others in stock.

BC

Awesome, thanks.

BC

Went down there today. Great guy, James, helped with all my crazy questions. The simpson (voyager?) seems to fit better because A) I have a huge head, and B) My head is Long from front to back.

369, and it seems its a pretty good price.

bruinbro

If you can get up to Burbank, Werks II has a huge selection of virtually every size helmet made. You aren't going to get the rock bottom price on a helmet, but you will most likely find the perfect fit. I walked in thinking I was going to get a Bell M2 for <$400 and walked out with an Arai GP5-K for ~$800. Fits like a glove.

Bro

BC

Thats what I heard about Arai. I need to get into racing before i deserve an 800 dollar helmet.

bruinbro

WRONG!!!! Crashes don't discriminate as to whether you are racing or not. The reason I got an Arai was not because of brand name, construction or looks, it was because it fit my head better by orders of magnitude than all of the other helmets I tried on.

You should get a helmet that fits. Period. End of discussion. If there is more than one helmet that fits the same, then other criteria can apply such as cost, weight, construction, etc. If the helmet that fits happens to be 4X the cost of the one you thought you wanted, then so be it. How much is your life worth?

Bro

BC

I'm a life insurance agent, so right now about 1.5M for forseeable future, as long as I keep paying the premiums.

I see your point. I have not had the opportunity to try one one. Honestly, if it was on the shelf next to the Simpson and Bells, I would have. I wish I could.

So werks II in Burbank. Thats a ways. Are helmets sold easily on ebay? like if you buy one, and need to sell it to get another?

bruinbro

One of the big things to remember about modern helmets is that they are now made out of fiber composites that are brittle by nature. What this means that if they have bee subjected to a sharp impact, they will often develop defects which will propogate to failure when subjected to another impact. Dropping a helmet on the ground from hip level can damage a helmet to the point it is unsafe to wear, and the damage usually cannot be seen on the surface (inside or outside) of the helmet. Think of helmets as nose pieces on a Formula car. Once they get into a wreck, you don't reuse them. Same with helmets, except that the damage often is not visible.

All that being said, determining the risk of buying a used helmet on e-bay is predicated on knowing the helmet's complete history, including how roughly it was handled (i.e storage, transportation, use on the track). Buying a new helmet should be fine from a reputable seller, but again buy the one you know fits, not the one that looks good or has a good price.

Bro