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Old 11-04-03, 09:22 PM
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Allister
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Originally Posted by demoncyclist
Besides, isn't your brain worth the money?
That's certainly what the marketing people tell us. Personally, I have no idea what the market value of a slightly abused, second-hand brain is these days.

What you're really buying is a styrofoam hat and a false sense of security. How much is that worth to you?

Originally Posted by fatman
Aren't bike helmets overpriced?
The answer is simple economics. Prices only go as high as the market will bear. Clearly there's a market for expensive helmets however much they're actually worth. I'd never go for the more expensive ones myself - it seems the rule is: the less foam in the helmet, the higher the price.

Of course when they've got a captive market such as exists with mandatory helmet laws, they'll gleefully push the prices a little higher. If they can use guilt marketing typified by the above comment, even better.

And I think your estimate of $40 of materials is out by an order of magnitude. I'd say it's more like $4. Bear in mind however, that materials make up only a very small proportion of the costs in getting a product to market.
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