Hman

If you look better in Giro, then why Bell

allgoo19

Very interesting. So, who else is out there? Isn't this against anti-trust law? 50 to 70 % market share isn't very far from being called the monopoly?

lungdoc

This site https://www.bhsi.org/manufacs.htm seems to have everything you ever wanted to know (and then some) about helmets. Reading this stuff made me nostalgic for my circa 1979 Bell Biker white geek lid....

srf

Not that it matters but it's not at all illegal to have a monopoly.

K6-III

Just like to chime in that there are plenty of other great helmet makers, such as Limar, Lazer, Louis Garneau, Selev, Shain, etc...

robotkittenarmy

my ellipsoid-ovoid melon requires a pneumo; had to send the bell back. "It's like sputnik--like an orange on a toothpick! It's a virtual planetoid!"

allgoo19

Sure, monopoly comes in different degrees. Some are not qualified to be illegal. The bottom line is I don't know any positive effect of monopoly to the consumer. Do you know any?

I just want to make sure you know this. The companies work hard and trying to get monopoly is a good thing, but once they get there and taking advantage of it is a differrent thing.

Raiyn

Same company

G-Unit

Never mind!!!

khuon

I used to wear Bells exclusively... even had one with the lycra cover that kept threatening to fly away. They worked well enough for me. Then I switched to Giros and found that they fit me so much better. I've been wearing the E2 for the last 5 years. I've had three of them so far. I keep crashing. It's considered a MTB helmet and thus has slightly larger vents to work at slower speeds but in general helmets are discipline-agnostic. I use it for both RBing and MTBing.

Fit and comfort first. And as others have mentioned, there are plenty of other companies besides Bell/Giro. Try as many as you can find and see which feels and fits best.

Raiyn

Hopefully not the same one

khuon

Nope. I guess you responded before I editted to add more detail. I'm on my third one now.

lilHinault

Giros work for me! The Pneumo's great but I just got a Skyla, $100 cheaper, and fits almost as well, and seems to fit a bit more securely.

26mi235

There are more constraints on becoming a "monopoly" when you do it by purchashing a competitor than when developing the market yourself. However, the poliy depends on particulars of the market and the situation. For instance, if a firm is going out of business (or might do so) the treatment might be a little different. Thare are measures of industry concentration that are used for merger review. The simple measure is uses and index where they sum the squares of the market shares (in %). An industry that is a pure monopoly has an index of 10,000 (100^2 + 0^2 + 0^2 + ...); values over, say 2,500 show concentration. However, policy also rests on ease of entry the "definition" of the market. The market definition is key. Is it just bicycle helmets or is it all sports helmets or is it all helmets.

As for the statement that nothing good ever comes from "monopoly", if you use the term to include Bell here, this combination saves money several different ways that are not bad for the consumer. First, there may be manufacturing efficencies (returns to scale), and there are almost certainly distribution efficiencies in this case.

If you want a good background, take an economics class in Industrial Organization, but not from me, my days fo teaching that subject are almost 20 years behind me.
the 4-firm conc

johnny99

The main problem with monopolies is that the cost savings are not passed on to the consumer, they just increase the company's profits. Competition puts more downward pressure on prices than efficiency.

darryldavy

HaHa,

For those that don't know, the GPS is a little adjuster thinggie on the back so you can adjust it just right - great feature

srf

You've been implying that having a certain percentage of market share is in itself illegal, I was merely stating that that is not true.

allgoo19

Let's say if I was in charge of the company with 70% market share and has better efficiency than the competitors, what I would do with the extra money that company makes is either use the money to keep the retailer, distributors out of dealing with the competitors, or spend more money on the advertisement which keep the buyers blind to the other companies. When the competition has financial disadvantage, you don't need to compete in price, you spend the money to squeeze the competition out of the market. It's the investment that pays off big when the company gets total control of the market. Last thing comes to my mind is to give the money back to the consumers by lowering the price. Am I wrong?

toomanybikes

I have both Bell and Giro. The main difference I find is this; the sweat bands in the Giro come across the brow, in an unbroken sweep.

On the Bell Ghisallo the bands are in two pieces with a split right above the bridge of the nose. End result; in hot weather if I wear the Bell I get a lot more sweat streaks on my sunglasses than if I wear the Giro.

That said, I prefer the fit of the Bell.

darryldavy

And to think, all I wanted to know was which helmet would fit beter...