Old crash helmets

[Dr Jekyll]

Is there anything useful I can do with old crash helmets? I think at one time a fire brigade asked for some to practice something or other.

[LosingGrip]

Local St Johns Ambulance might want them for training etc.

[Waynester]

I keep my interesting ones, lined up on the garage shelf..
I bought this Simpson Bandit way back in 1992.. I haven’t obviously worn for years, but it looks too good to just throw away

[stupidbutkeen]

Funny enough I was also thinking the same thing. I have a roofspace full of old lids that I just refuse to take to the dump.

[poo at Paul's]

Just wear it and try not to crash. Or if you do, keep your head from hitting anything.

Jokes aside, I do think the change your life at 5 years is too arbitrary. I’ve got immaculate lids that are 8 years old that have been out in use an handful of times.

Edited by poo at Paul's on Friday 22 April 11:39

[sixor8]

Isn't it UV light that breaks down the material? That's why they should be stored in a bag; shops that keep a model in the window in the sunshine must be wary of selling the 'display' model.

If you are a low mileage rider, I'd agree it's a bit arbitrary to dismiss one purely on age. I'm more likely to drop mine within 6 years anyway.

[bogie]

poo at Paul's said:

Just wear it and try not to crash. Or if you do, keep your head from hitting anything.

Jokes aside, I do think the change your life at 5 years is too arbitrary. I’ve got immaculate lids that are 8 years old that have been out in use an handful of times.

Edited by poo at Paul's on Friday 22 April 11:39

I agree, 5 years of daily wear...yes I would change it. 5 years wearing for couple of hours at weekend then wouldnt. I have a 7 year old Shark Race R pro carbon helmet, kept in bag in my garage when not used, its like new. I have replaced a couple of interior pieces that showed wear. It gets worn for a couple of hours per week during summer months. It was a bargain, found half price on sale in an old colour scheme that I like, and never found anything I like better.

I have another helmet I wear more often and have changed every few years for various reasons.

It would be a different situation if I was a daily commuter and wearing a helmet for 2 hours a day vs 2 hours a week. Im sure I would be changing helmets more often.

[Stuart Fordyce]

Cut it in half and take it to your local training school. Excellent teaching aid for CBTs to show students how the lid is constructed and how the expanded polystyrene compresses when pressed. Demonstrates nicely why we change our lid when we drop it.

[nunpuncher]

Whack it with a sledgehammer and let us know how it holds up. If it doesn't disintegrate then we can all start ignoring the 5 year rule that the marketing department came up with.

[darkyoung1000]

The local Fire Brigade took our spare old lids a couple of years ago, so I think they still use them for training.

[Drumroll]

Have seen old helmets turned upside down and used as a hanging baskets. Also one of the bike museums on the IOM puts a bit of wood on the bottom and uses them as a bird box.

As has already been said, marshal clubs, and first aid organisations will use them for training.

[Tribal Chestnut]

Gave a couple away on a local freebies page last year. One could be used, I just didn’t like it, the other was visibly crash damaged.

[NSR500]

get it out in the garden and turn it into a plantpot, looks great

[Drawweight]

Put them up in the attic along with the other stuff that 'might be useful one day'

Or is that just me?

[mak]

Dr Jekyll said:

Is there anything useful I can do with old crash helmets? I think at one time a fire brigade asked for some to practice something or other.

Liberate your self and throw them in the wheelie bin. Unless its special.

[stupidbutkeen]

Drawweight said:

Put them up in the attic along with the other stuff that 'might be useful one day'

Or is that just me?

I did the very same, Then I cleared out all the usefull stuff and took it to the dump and kept the old lids......Oh how i wished I had kept that old bit of underlay when I bought a bike tent and had to put carpet down without underlay for the bike to keepcosy at night.

[underwhelmist]

nunpuncher said:

Whack it with a sledgehammer and let us know how it holds up. If it doesn't disintegrate then we can all start ignoring the 5 year rule that the marketing department came up with.

My local fire brigade didn’t want my old Arai, they said they had a room full of kids to practice with, so I took it home and “tested” it with a 4lb hammer. The hamme just bounced off it and barely left a mark.

I’ve no idea what state the polystyrene stuff inside was in though, so it went in the skip anyway.

[Simon_GH]

Does anything other than UV age helmets? Genuine question. If not, then surely it’s hours used / exposed that matters?

[Rozzers]

Simon_GH said:

Does anything other than UV age helmets? Genuine question. If not, then surely it’s hours used / exposed that matters?

The polystyrene goes hard, I compared a 10 year old one with a new one and that’s the main problem I seen. Mine are all in black fleece lined bags, so no sunlight other than when in use.

[Simon_GH]

Worth knowing - thank you