ASRA - Australian Skateboard Racing Association

Helmet Safety vs Aerodynamics

Here's what Grayham Rayne has to say about todays helmet options, which i found very informative;

"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: 1328

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cooked on June 21, 2010 at 20:01
Get the 661 Comp

charlie harris said:
im trying to decide between a 661 comp II and an Rjays Dakar
thoughts?

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by charlie harris on June 22, 2010 at 22:26
ok thanks

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Roni Dylan Villanueva on June 23, 2010 at 0:19
just tried on the rjays dakar this morning at a motorcycle shop..looks aero if visor is taken off (which it can be)..but way too heavy..tried on different motocross helmets too..they are lighter and aesthetically better as it doesn't look too big on the head..but just needs to be kitted out with a face shield..

also found some acrylic sheets at bunnings which states that it is shatter resistant..i think it was 4 or 5mm thick..might not be too easy to bend to form..any thoughts on these acrylic sheets?

Callum Hogg said:
Get the 661 Comp

charlie harris said:
im trying to decide between a 661 comp II and an Rjays Dakar
thoughts?
Permalink Reply by Will Smith on December 23, 2011 at 9:53

hate to dig up an old thread but.. 661 comp 2012 vs  661 evolution 2011? i can get them for the same price so any advice on whats safer, cheaper, better? thanks

Permalink Reply by Alexander on December 23, 2011 at 11:40

i personally use the evo and its really good at speed its light and doesnt really feel like it drags if you keep your head down

the comp will probably be exactly the same so its your choice

Permalink Reply by Mike River on December 23, 2011 at 16:55

Good to drag up this thread. Bell drops are sick, I got one a couple of years ago, loads of my crew did as well, we were all wearing charlies or skyrunners, after enough of us had seen the weekness of those lids from crashing, we wanted something more suited to the job. Mountain bike racing helmets are definately more protective than a paraglider for sure. And to be honest, I didnt notice any difference in wieght, speed, or any of that other stuff that people get concerned with.

protect your noggins!

Permalink Reply by Cents on December 23, 2011 at 19:06

I'm more interested at where more modern dedicated longboarding helmets such as the predator lie in terms of protection. Worth the mulla?


Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Benbro on December 23, 2011 at 20:44

Definetly worth the mulla,.pretty sure most helmets are ment to be replaced after the first hard impact,.therefore i believe all the mentioned helmets are going to save your skull when it matters..

in the worse case scenario when your head is going to collide hard with a fixed object,i think a bad outcome is likely with any helmet.its a risk we all take.

this is somthing that can never be proved,in the event of a tragedy,nothing is to say a different type of helmet would of saved you anyway.

i hit my charlie hard on the ground twice in one day,impacting both times on the same part of the helmet,(back) and it saved my head fine,it has since been retired,as any helmet would of been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Dani on December 23, 2011 at 20:44

http://www.triple8.com/blogs/archive Scroll down to see it

You will have another option next year too. I dunno about you but I really like Triple 8 as a company and I like the gear that they have already. I think this will be my new lid for sure.

Permalink Reply by Alexander on December 23, 2011 at 21:15
that is a sweet lookin bit of kit Dani and its got sme good specs as well
Permalink Reply by Kam Kite on December 23, 2011 at 23:50

charlie by far the best downhill helmet!

-Being so light its perfect for small neck people. Wip lash can do allot of damage. and your neck will get sore on long days of skating with the extra few grams the other helmets offer.

-The vision is second to none Han-gliders are horizontal and need to see in the same fashion we do.

-The shell absorbs allot of the force when crashing unlike the harder shell helmets (Iv never hit my head in mine but witnessed on 3 occasions it taking and massive blow, one was a standing high side the biggest crash you can have in a helmet with out including a car or brick wall)

-It is fitted! straight off the rack unlike the predator. I have seen someone who did not fit the predator with the right padding get a mega concision and black eye all because a grom will rarely reed the instructions be for rolling out the door in the new helmet.

-I can tell you now if you hit your head hard enough you die in a charlie, it would not matter what your using an impact of that magnitude you would be DEAD.

-and most important its the raddest looking helmet on the market.

Permalink Reply by Alexander on December 24, 2011 at 10:49

looks pretty sweet and yeah not bad on the wallet

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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