This is kind of a general, not commuter specific question, but WTH.

I just bought a helmet the other day, a Trek something or other. An LBS has an annual
clean-the-closets sale and I've gotten my last three helmets there because they get
very cheap in the last few hours. If it fits relatively comfortably, I buy it.

So, I've got a $15 helmet that retailed at about $40. Have I sacrificed anything? What
value is added to a $110 helmet vs. an $80 helmet or a $40 helmet? I'm only concerned
that the helmet keep my brains intact, that it's ventilation be okay, and that the strapping
system work to keep it in place, all of which this helmet seems to do. So what's the
difference between my new helmet and some helmet three times more expensive?

The key word here is Ventilation.

Your standard of ventilation may not meet mine because you get what you pay for when it comes to helmets. Having said that, I would not buy a $110.00 dollar helmet if it did not come in white because that color is cooler in the summer.

A helmet with 15 vents is going to cost money any way you look at it. I think the cheaper helmets are perfect for the winter.

Styling, ventilation and marketing.

Emphasis on marketing

BIG emphasis on marketing. I bought a 30 dollar Bell helmet that I believe will provide just as much protection in an accedent as the more exspensive helmets. And, it is comfortable.

I have two helmets. One is a $10 Wally World Bell and the other is a $40 LBS Giro. The cheap helmet is not adjustable. You stick these pads in to fit when you first get the helmet. They can't be removed. The Giro has an adjustable fitting system and the pads can be removed for cleaning. I use the Giro about 75% of the time. I can't see spending more than $50 on a helmet.

Well folks. If Lance is wearing the helmet, you gota pay more! It just makes sense doesn't it? ;-)

All helmet designs sold in the US are tested to the same set of conditions, so whether you buy a $30 or $300 helmet, you will get at least the minimum protection.

I recall a consumer magazine did their own tests on helmets a few years ago and determined that many of the lower priced helmets provided better protection than the higher priced helmets. This is probably because the cheaper helmets, with less ventillation holes, have more styrofoam.

That's not quite true. There are a few different standards (for example Snell is more rigorous than CPSC). Any helmet sold as a safety device must comply with CPSC standards but may or may not comply with more rigorous standards. More expensive helmets may comply with more rigorous standards though there's very little (no?) evidence that those standards have any practical impact on injury rates.

Or more expensive may be less effective, as you mention. I'm just offering an alternative.

Pesnally I'm of the opinion that a helmet is a helmet is a helmet.

That's been my opinion as well. Thus, I wait for the unacceptably ugly helmets to be sold for
$10-15 at year's end.

Hmm.. pesnally?

That must be some of that "new spelling". Personally, I meant personally...

Helmets haven't changed in terms of impact protection for the past like 20 years.
Where they have exceled is in addressing weight and ventilation.

Since I also Telemark ski, it was a natural progression for me to wear Boeri ski helmets in -30 F (real feel-real numb) commuting in Boston. Also brain buckets are not only about preventing TBI but also about enjoying our sport.

I personally feel safer, more secure, and definitely warmer (since I'm genetically endowed with an NBA style head ;-), in a Boeri than when I'm wearing a highly vented, high-tech Giro.

In fact, I have two Boeri - a tough, heavy (fullback) Beemer Blue model for commuting in Boston traffic in blizzards and a lighter silver QB or place-kicker model (with a Patriots' decal) for most of the winter. I also wear a North Face hat under the Boeri and attach a flashing red light to the convenient strap on the back of the helmet.

https://store.yahoo.com/skishop/botaskihep.html

But of course, in Durango during July, I wear a white Giro Eclipse and fancy I'm Ned Overend doing single track ;-)

https://www.touringcyclist.com/clothing/model_14572.html

I thought it might be a Boston accent!

It's so worth waiting for last year's helmets to go on sale. That being said, I feel like there is a huge difference in weight and ventilation between a $15 helmet and last years $100 helmet on sale for $50.

Also, I wonder if anyone else does this? I rotate last year's helmet with this years on a daily basis to give them time to dry out between rides. Seems to keep them a little less funky. I swear there have times when I can smell my gloves and helmet across the room.

I don't want to turn this into a helmet debate and I would never support a helmet law, but I just don't get why anyone wouldn't want to wear a helmet today. New helmets are light, ventilated, and pretty comfortable. I feel naked riding without one. I hear all of the arguments against helmet use, but I just imagine if I was going to get beaned in the head with a baseball bat and was given a choice of wearing a helmet. I think most people would go with the helmet, but I could be wrong.

That's a good helmet. Too bad the winter is almost over or I would have seriously thought about buying one. Less vents in the winter is better. I agree.

from the BHSI @

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

Vents and Square Lines:
Problems with some designs

A major theme in the helmet market since 1997 has been more and larger air vents. All major manufacturers now have hyper-ventilated models following in the footsteps of Giro's 1997 Helios model (now discontinued). Manufacturers tout the number of vents in their helmets, a meaningless parameter. If all else were equal, more vents would be a Good Thing, but as usual, all else is not equal. Unfortunately opening up new vents usually requires harder, more dense foam and squaring off the edges of the remaining foam ribs to squeeze out the most impact protection possible from the narrower pieces still there. Since we believe that rounder shells and less dense foam are virtues in a crash, we don't recommend hyper-vented helmets unless you can't live without the added ventilation.

And dorky looking, like most bike 'gear' is. I prefer hard shell old-school, BMX-style and hockey helmets to anything sold today for road cycling. I can understand the desire for more ventilation, though...at least in those parts of the country with hot, humid summers.

I thought I'd never see the day when you have the tinest bit positive to say about helmets but thank god for THAT. Cause when it's 90-100 degrees and I'm pushing at 85%+ of my MHR in the sun, I'd suffer heat stroke pretty quickly without any vents. So thank god the helmet institute recommends hyper-vented helmets for people like me who can't live without the added ventilation.

Dorky looking? I'd love to see you in a full hockey or bmx style helmet climbing up one of the Canyon roads in 100+ heat of the summer here in Los Angeles. Anyways style is all about attitude if you think you look like a dork, you probably look like a dork. I'm guessing if your biking in a hockey helmet you're out on the Napolean Dynamite end of dorky, but maybe so dorky your cool again? But I doubt it.

$40 Helmet - Stinging Insects Bounce off your Helmet

$100 Helmet - Stinging Insects Sucked into the Front Helmet Vents

$200 Helmet - Stinging Insects Sucked into the Front Helmet Vents and Out the Back Helmet Vents

I have several Trek helmets that I got on sale for around $25 or so. I like them because they are white, and reflect heat away from my hair-challenged dome, and they have a "dial" on the back that allows easy "fine tuning" of the fit. Two of my friends bought the same helmet after I "raved" about mine, and they are both very pleased with theirs.

I have only bought one "mega-buck" helmet over the years. It is not as comfortable as the Trek helmet although it does look very spiffy.

I have noticed that when someone with lots of hair is using a helmet with zillions of ventilation holes, I can see their hair up against, and in, the vents. If a helmet fits in such a way as to put your scalp or hair directly against the vents, it is hard to see how much air circulation would occur. On my head, just lots of little sunburn spots would appear. So, I go with white or silver helmets and get the "cooling" effect of reflection, rather than hope for much air circulation.

You wouldn't catch me doing this in any kind of gear, ever...

And hockey helmets offer way more protection if you actually crash and hit your head than any bicycle helmet, either cool or dorky, cheap or expensive, ever will.

You ought try to find an old Kiwi helmet. Now those are old school cool.

I think if most people thought they were about to be beaned (or likely to be beaned) with a baseball bat, and were given a choice of preventive actions, would permanently step out of the box and not depend on a piece of ineffective plastic for protection from such a serious hazard.