cartesian

Responding to this b/c I've been thinking about getting a Bern. Notice that they tested the Brighton, which is not advertised as a bicycle specific helmet. Bern makes other cycling specific caps: Brentwood and Allston, among others. I'd be curious if anyone has any comments to offer about those two.

vol

Are bike helmets bullet-proof? Not those with many vents (like Giro Reverb or Bern), but with few vents? I guess not?

FBinNY 

If you mean literally, no absolutely not. Even military steel pots won't stop most bullets hitting squarely, though they will deflect angular hits. Bike helmets are designed to reduce impact G-force in direct head strikes on flat pavement. They do that OK (not great) in many cases, but that's about all they can do.

kickstart

When in the Army I was a tank crewman, we were issued 2 helmets, the CVC for impact protection in the tank and a standard steel pot and later a Kevlar for protection from projectiles when off the tank. When I was in the Coast Guard we weren't issued a helmet, but for some tasks that required impact protection we used helmets that were similar to contemporary urban style bike helmets.

Identify the need, and use the correct tool for the job. If impact protection is the need, combat headgear isn't the correct tool.

keyven

Very informative thread. I guess what I'm taking away is to find a somewhat well-established brand with features found in most decent bike helms, and get the one you really like (and thus will wear often).

"The perfect helm" is a matter of opinion, so as long as it has the the standard features found in decent bike helms, then you'd be better off getting a color, fit and design you love than spending weeks or months looking for the absolute best.

Fastfwd01

I just went through a brief research into what new helmet I wanted to get after having purchased my first helmet based almost purely on lowest cost.(Giro Rift). I ran across the following website that seems to provide some insight into the function of a bicycle helmet and recommendations based on at least their opinions of what makes a good bicycle helmet beyond styling.

https://www.helmets.org/guide.htm

I didn’t read every word of it btw, but I did more or less let their advice guide my personal final decision in purchasing a more rounded helmet style without the ‘points.’ They say the points snag on the ground, etc. I was super tempted by the cooler looking Giro Atmos especially when the price dropped at the last minute in my size and color combination I was looking for.

I ended up ordering the Giro Foray - $65. It’s the less expensive little brother of the new top of the line Synthe $250. Not reviewed on their website, but I would presume it would rate well with them. I didn’t order a high visibility color though. I’m not so concerned about the safest helmet that I totally dismissed style. It came in the color combo that I liked.

They also go into detail about how the helmets with all of the vents cause them to need to have harder foam to pass the testing which results in more energy transmitting to the brain on impact – or something like that. You’ll have to read it. They cite research on these topics. They mention that the pointy aero helmets have been known to require to have duct tape used to keep the helmets from being pushed away while testing even though the straps are on as tight as they can be because of the points.

These guys could be some kooks for all I know. They sound like they know what they are talking about more than I do though.