veganbikes

A rear light belongs on the bike because nobody cares where your head is going they need to know where the bike is going. Any helmet lights are just neat accessories that can help with some visibility after you have bike lights. Most higher end helmets don't come with them because the dinky little lights in the helmet aren't very useful even with good on bike lights. If you really desire helmet lighting Light and Motion make an excellent helmet light or if you are into goofy gadgets Lumos makes a helmet with built in lights and turn signals that is $200 or so. Honestly though I would prefer to have a nice bright solid front white light and a nice bright rear light (flashing or solid it doesn't matter to me) A light on the helmet would really only be for off road or super dark roads at night where I am using it to illuminate things for myself not so other people can see me.

As someone who has had their share of low cost helmets and also has some top end helmets and some mid priced stuff, I can say for sure that the top end helmets are super light and feel really nice on the head. I don't give two poops about aero but having a helmet I forget about being on my head and one that allows plenty of air in, is quite nice. You can find some great mid-price helmets that are good too but they will generally weigh a bit more and in some cases not be as well ventilated. When I got my Giro Synthe it was life changing, super comfortable and fit my head really nicely (after trying on a bunch of helmets from different manufacturers) and just was pleasurable to wear for a long period of time. I didn't feel like I had a weight on my head so my neck wasn't under as much strain. I do not believe that my Giro Synthe or Lazer Z1 are safer but they are certainly lighter, more comfortable, have a much better retention system and way better ventilation than previous low cost helmets. Plus the Lazer matches one of my bikes, which is a very vain and silly plus.

Spending money is OK, it can hurt sometimes but in the end you will get something hopefully more comfortable and that is the important thing. If you are someone who is crashing a lot, you should figure out how to not crash (don't be afraid to ask for help, pride cometh before the fall) and maybe find a mid range helmet rather than spending a lot or find a helmet with some crash replacement offer if one exists.

As far as online helmets, they don't fit your head...unless you have tried on the helmet and know it fits. A helmet is a safety item and should be tried on and made sure it will fit and be comfortable. That money you saved will not save you if it doesn't fit and if you don't want someone's returned safety item, then you shouldn't do it to anyone else. The big box store helmets typically look like they came from old discarded molds from the 80s-90s. Not saying that is necessarily bad but just an observation I have had. They also tend to have cheaper retention which leads to poorer fit or more likelihood of broken parts, which actually is a bad thing!

All bicycle helmets in the U.S. should be rated to CSPC standards and if they aren't don't waste your time on them.. Helmets should be replaced every 3-5 years or if they have been crashed or dropped significantly. It is a safety item for cripes sake would you want to use old safety items that may fail simply to save a few bucks? MIPS or non-MIPS I don't really care. Maybe MIPS or the newer POC technology is super excellent but I am more concerned with getting a good quality helmet that is comfortable luckily though MIPS doesn't cost a ton so you can usually find a similar helmet in MIPS for usually no more than $20 more so if you want it go for it.