Helmet Safety vs Aerodynamics
"the charly visor fits pretty good, but needs some tape. You definitely loose some useability since you can't flip your visor up, but if you can forego looking ultra-sleek then this is the helmet.
Once you take off the visor of the stock helmet, the form factor for the bell drop is like inflating the surface area of a charly by .5" to 1" all around. It IS bigger, but it is also much, much safer. The helmet was made specifically for downhill mountain bike racing and spoke volumes to me.
When Justin Metcalf was injured, the road wasn't what did the damage, it was the trees and rocks off the side of the road. While Charly's are a great shell, and in most racing situations I believe they are safe for road impacts. It is the non-road impacts I worry about and was confronted with after Justin's accident.
So, the shopping began and the Bell Drop was what I found to be best.
To outfit it for longboarding was easy. A charly visor fits with electrical tape and the aero fairing is dead simple, but takes some revision to make it fit just right. The important thing to mention here is that the emphasis of building this helmet was to make something FAST, but very safe. The Bell drop was a starting point. Adding a visor and sealing up vents with electrical tape was step #2. The final step was really to point our that aerodynamics do not have to come at the expense of safety.
The aero helmets on the market right now have some fatal flaws that we should all be aware of:
-Paragliding helmets are made for light impacts. This is ok for road impacts, but trees - bad news.
-RISCH and LID TECHNOLOGIES: This is a topic I haven't breached because it is opinion, but it should be voiced. DON'T TRUST HELMETS MADE BY SKATEBOARDERS! they may look good, but they have not been tested. The guys behind these helmets NEED to invest in proper testing before exposing themselves to liability, and to ensure that their trusting audience isn't going to break their neck. This is a SERIOUS warning. DO NOT BUY THESE HELMETS. Pressure the manufacturers into extensive testing.
Also, I have concern for Concrete Wave for publishing ads that advocate helmet use, yet also publish articles about untested and potentially unsafe helmets (RISCH).
My primary concern about these helmets is the testing - it hasn't been done, or if it has there is no rating. The second concern is their usability. Before embarking on making my helmet fairing I read a few books on aerodynamics and my conclusion is that shoulder fairings are completely useless. Shoulders are aerodynamic on their own. In the dynamic nature of a downhill skateboarder the rider changes stances and in many situations shoulder fairings add additional surface area (increased drag if you are not in a tuck). Complicating matters is of course the fact that there are shoulder fairings. They get in the way and in the case of a crash, my prediction is that before long we will see broken collarbones as a result of these shoulder fairings.
What I did glean from my aerodynamic studies is that on Aero Helmets the tail fin is adding a significant amount of benefit. In the case of aero helmets this is a fixed composite construction. This concerns me. In event of a crash we do not know what outcome this will have on the rider. The fact that most helmets on the market for virtually EVERY sport allow the neck to move in the event of a crash is testimony that fixed tails are a bad idea.
My SOLUTION: For the fairing I used a piece of snowboard P-Tex because we have a lot at the shop and it fit my safety requirements. This was used because if taped on it will crush in the event of a crash, leaving the helmet to take any impact. I made 3 revisions to the fairing before it worked really well for me and as a comparison test I have ridden a LID helmet and had similar benefits speed-wise in comparision with a charly, or a Bell Drop sans fairing".
this is what he uses
thoughts?
Tags: Aerodynamics, Helmets, Safety
Views: 1285
Replies to This Discussion
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Jacko on -
what everyone looks for in a helmet is whats 'safe' but like many people have mentioned here, they are ALL safe!
predator, charlie, mtn bike helmet, triple 8, 661, bell, they all cover your head and will all save your life. Like Kam said and benny both mentioned (which i have mentioned to people before many times) if you hit your head against a solid object (car, wall, fence) while skateboarding so hard that causes you serious injury, you will DIE, no matter what helmet you are wearing. the only helmets that might take some of that punishment are motorbike helmets, which are just stupid to use for downhill skateboarding as they are too large, too heavy, to not allow enough vision and are designed for someone sitting upright on a big heavy motorbike, not in tuck on a skateboard...
when buying a fullface helmet, the first thing one should consider is how much vision it has, not if its 'safer than X brand' or all that stupid shit, if you cant see enough your not safe enough. Then the next thing you want to thing about it how much quality they put into their helmets, you could buy yourself one that looks ok and is easy on the wallet, but you could get some dodgy chin strap with it too... when i was in Saffa, some dude from Singapore was there and had one of that gay Speed Masters (Icaro lookalike) and sure enough it looks legit, but the chin strap could come apart with little to no force. as it would happen, he crashed and his lid flew off. he then facegrinded the road for a good 10m before coming to a complete stop. he survived but it looked like he got in a fight with the Alpha Male baboon and lost, 10 stitches in his head, black eye and cuts all over his face...
your thinking about protecting your life in a dangerous sport, is it worth it buying a cheaper helmet? why not just save up a little more dollar and get a helmet thats PROVEN to be a good AND safe choice for the sport your doing?
Here is a little list of helmets you SHOULD buy for downhill skateboarding, which are light, offer a solid amount of vision and are built tough with quality bits like propper chin straps, padding and inner shells:
Charly
PredatorRisch
....that is all. dont waste your money with anything else. you know what you SHOULD get, so why not just get it?
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Permalink Reply by Mike River on
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seems like everyone has an opnion on helmets for DH but there is no defintive answer. Get what you think is best based on your own judgement.
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Permalink Reply by Cents on
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It is a great looking helmet! Apparently the medium weighs in at 1.6kg so lets say 1.50kg without the shade. The Drop is a little more than 1 kg- would 500g make a big difference in terms of neck strain?
Mr. Bastard said:Fly do a nice helmet, try this, I think it will be a good with the visor removed and not too shabby a price either.
http://www.flyracing.com/street/apparel/helmets/trekker-helmet
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Benbro on -
neck strain is possible no matter what the weight is,i had mega whiplashed neck for a week after hitting the road hard wearing a charlie,..the helmet had minor damage,..maybe a heavier helmet may of strained my neck more.
this is another question that noone can actually prove,crashes come in all forms,i would think the way in wich you crash poses more risk of neck strain than 500 gr of weight would,.you either get neck strain or you dont
Cents said:It is a great looking helmet! Apparently the medium weighs in at 1.6kg so lets say 1.50kg without the shade. The Drop is a little more than 1 kg- would 500g make a big difference in terms of neck strain?
Mr. Bastard said:Fly do a nice helmet, try this, I think it will be a good with the visor removed and not too shabby a price either.
http://www.flyracing.com/street/apparel/helmets/trekker-helmet
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