Originally Posted by
Acquaspin
+1. Styrofoam with a hard coating and a couple straps. Absolutely necessary. From a business perspective is a product that milks incredible markups based on very inexpensive features. A few grams less, more vents, and some plastic levers to allow for adjustments and that's a $100-150 markup. A $50-80 lid will work just as fine as the $150-200 one. From the protection standpoint, both do the exact same job. Once/if the industry begins rating helmets for crashing forces and we see stats from tests of dummies on bikes going head on trees or cars all claims of expensive helmets being stronger or safer than less expensive alternatives is just BS.
A. Some helmets fit better than others. For some folks helmet "A" will fit better than helmet "B," for others it's the opposite.
B. Some helmets are lighter than others.
C. Some helmets ventilate better than others.
These are facts. I agree that it's difficult if not impossible to verify the veracity of any claims that one is safer than another. But the three statements above are all that's required for me to justify spending more on a nicer helmet.