You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I'm typically using open face helmets and the liners don't last very long at all. All the helmets I have owned for many years go the same way where the black fabric membrane that attaches to the velcro pads on the helmet peals away usually within 3 or 4 months. This makes various parts of the pad dangle down and within another month the liner is unusable. At first I put it down to leaving my helmet after a ride, not always washing it and the sweat attacking and rotting the adhesive. So the last year or so I've been putting them inside my socks in the washing machine and washed them after every ride but this doesn't make them last any longer. I suppose hand washing them would be an option after every ride which seems too much of a faff. My latest helmet is a TLD A2 and the liner is lasting as above, replacement liners are £32 so not a bad little earner for the helmet manufacturers. Thought about buying fabric glue to glue back together and hopefully get a few more weeks or months out of them. Anybody have any suggestions to make these last longer.
I always wear a Buff or cap under my helmet, that gets a regular wash but not the pads. Seem to last much longer since I started this. Current lid is due replacement due to minor dents and scrapes, not mingy deterioration.
Next set of pads you buy, get them stitched around the edges. I had to do this after maybe ten different Giroux montaro helmets. Only way I could get them to last more than a week and they've been fine since.
I've used helmets from various manufacturers over the past 30 years and never had this happen. I normally replace my helmets after 5 years, assuming I've not had a bad knock. Specialized do pad sets for their helmets from £6 or so. Maybe try one of theirs?
Do you have a shaved head/really short hair?
My stubbley bonce rips helmet pads apart unless I wear a buff under my lid.
Buff do a really thin helmet buff for when it's hot.
you have gone from one bad thing to another.
Leaving them with sweat on isn't great but over washing them is also bad.
I would consider hanging the helmet after use but mop the pads with some blue roll first and then wash every month or so depending on how much you use it.
Same here, with both Giro and Bell pads.
Stitching is the only answer I think.
Urge helmet pads are terrible for this. Fall apart as soon as you look at them.
Sweat definitely kills them quicker, as does over-washing. I now take my helmet in the shower after every other ride and rinse the pad and helmet/straps.
Also sorts the hard, salty helmet straps that you get in summer.
So many double entendres 🤣
If you hang your helmet in direct sunlight to dry the sweat on the pads, the UV in sunlight should kill the bacteria that makes it smell...
Hence you can wash it less!
God knows what the UV does to the polystyrene ....
I periodically stick my helmet pads in a sock and wash them on the usual 30 degree bike kit wash cycle. Do this 3-4 times a year. Seems to work - but only if the pads are removable which they aren’t in all cases.
I think the only pads I have that haven't fallen apart is my Giro Feature, but their pads are so thin there's nothing to fall apart.
The Troy Lee A1 pads were at least easy to sew up at the edge - they've since lasted very well.
My commuter helmet (Specialized something or other) I used to have about 6 sets of pads and were used & machine washed on rotation - because the pads could be got for cheap.
My current Bell needs new pads, just need to figure out what model it is...
You lot must have some abrasive heads.
The only pad damage I have ever sustained was to cheek pads due to my stuble/beard.
I periodically stick my helmet pads in a sock and wash them on the usual 30 degree bike kit wash cycle. Do this 3-4 times a year. Seems to work – but only if the pads are removable which they aren’t in all cases.
That's what I did for years after I started riding but in the last 5 years or so not a single set of pads has come out of the machine without delaminating.
I simply dry mine out with kitchen roll after every ride. Pads last for years and don't smell of anything (I am quite sweaty, but not at all smelly!)
Oh, I do do the "brow waterfall"* after every ride, but that's for my own entertainment. Or to attract any laydeez in the area.
*press firmly on front of helmet. Nuff said.
it's salt from the sweat that does it. i.e. rots not only the liner but the glue holding it to the polystyrene/whatever.
Wear a cap or some such other item underneath to soak up the sweat.
I've always washed mine on a 30 with my other bike kit probably once a month, however I recently bought a giro foray with mips helmet for my road riding and I sweat buckets more because of the plastic liner in the helmet. Not fun when out riding, I've tried riding with a buff over the noggin to mop up the excess but gets a bit tight due to my apparently melon sized skull.
Thanks for your various comments and suggestions, some good ideas there. I think I'll try to get the next pair stitched and may try a light buff to absorb some of the sweat and wash them less frequently. I did read somewhere about taking your helmet for a shower which cleans up the straps and something I never do so this might kill two birds with one stone although my missus will think I'm even more weird than I am.
@Dezb I'm glad I'm not the only waterfaller! It seems I sweat predominantly from my head, so it's multiple 'falls per ride for me!
Prob removing them from the helmet and reattaching them doesn't help either. My cleaning routine now is to immerse the whole helmet in a bucket of water with some of that Dettol anti bacterial liquid (or Milton) for a few hours, then rinse. Seems to do the trick and haven't had issues with the pads disintegrating.