You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
As per my other thread I'm up in the loft today.I don't own a motorbike anymore but kept all my gear just in case I needed a lift somewhere.
Just looked in the box with my motorbike gear in and the plastic shin pad on my boots has cracked. They have been in a box and out of sunshine for over 15 years.
I'm assuming my crash helmet could be similarly damaged.
Time to bin or worth holding on to?
I knew someone from MIT (Cambridge, Mass), who did some work in conjunction with NASA on helmets including M/C helmets some years back, and they concluded that 10 years was about the maximum. It tends to be the adhesive and interliner breaks down first assuming that there's no other damage an it's stored suitably.
I did realise a few years ago that although I'd replaced my M/C helmet several times, I was still using the same cycling helmet!
Pretty sure they say you should swap em every 4 or 5 years.. could be less i think.
Dont imagine many people do though given the cost of a goodun.
I’d bin it especially if it’s been in the sun.
Besides it will make more room for Christmas decorations...
Arai’s Director once stated a 5yr lifespan in line with PPE and to increase sales.
Their senior sales exec who then went on to work for Touratech dismisses it.
Plastic ones - maybe but fibre ones, nope.
The only thing really that will damage it is UV or being hit/dropped.
Would you throw away your boat?
Your kayak?
Exactly
Took it out and hit it with a hammer lots of times. Seemed to hold up ok but the insides did fall out.
Now in the bin as my leathers have shrunk in the last 15 years and no longer fit!
I gave all my leathers away to a local charity shop, helmet went on Freecycle...
In a previous life I was the Arai Sales Rep for London. I dealt with the European training arm and also the factory in Japan.
The outer shell of most composite ie not plastic helmets will not be the issue. Arai used to leave shells outside the factory and test them 15 years after manufacture with no real degradation. The problem is the inner expanded foam liner as these break down due to a variety of reasons including human sweat. Once the helmet has been worn for a couple of years of normal use the liner will start to break down and lack of use will not stop that process. With that in mind Arai recommended replacement every 5 years or a maximum of 7 years if you are a very light user.
Think of the liner as your shock absorber that has gone rock hard. In an accident the outer shell will perform acceptably but the liner will not dissipate the force as well as it should. The force will then travel to your head/brain. Will you be killed or seriously injured? Only one way to find out.
Oddly enough I grabbed my old lids from the loft (air tight box) when I was getting the Christmas stuff out ready to put the decorations up and low and behold the liners seem to be breaking down, one of the lids was shedding liner at the slightest tap. It's ~10 years (crumbs how time flies) since I last used them so perhaps no surprise but such a pity as they were both great lids and cost a fair bit.
Seemed a shame to chuck em, so tried the Fire Brigade to see if they would like 'em for rescue practice, but it seems not. So off to the tip they go next week - what a waste.
The only positive note I guess is that when I do finally buy myself a new bike I now need to buy a whole new set of gear as well. 🙂
I had a Dainese mtb lid in storage for 10 years, the foam liner all crumbled up
While I was abroad the roof blew off my garage in a storm so 6months later when I got back my leather trousers had rotted away
But in Thailand, if you store MC boots, goggles etc, in plastic boxes, the blastic cracks and rots very quickly
To add to my earlier post, I have had older helmets where the inner liner has started to come away, at that point I have binned them, I always cut the straps off old helmets so they can't be reused.