I'm well aware that how a helmet ages is a contested issue. One view is that they don't start to age until they get used and exposed to sunlight, sweat, etc. And a lot of the counter-opinions are from companies who are trying to sell you helmets.
I just picked up a new heavily discounted road helmet, that was obviously going to be quite old stock. I hadn't given it a lot of thought in advance, but was expecting something like a 2020 manufacturing date. I was a bit surprised to see a manufacturing date of November 2018, so not far off 7 years sitting around in warehouses and store rooms. For context it has an RRP of £150, is generally available for £130 in this colour, and I've bought it (from a reputable shop) for £55.
So it's cheap. There's nothing wrong with it. But you can't put a price on safety. WWSTWD?
That’s about 5 years younger than my road helmet and I’ve been using mine that whole time.
You'll be fine (as long as you don't crash on your head, of course 😉)
You'll be fine (as long as you don't crash on your head, of course
)
Something I have some personal experience with. However, the Giro Xen that took a fair impact when I went over on my bike at walking speed, my left knee having taken the brunt of it, subsequently de-laminated, ie the clear plastic outer shell de-bonded from the inner foam shell, forcing me to buy a new lid now I’m back riding again.
Would I have trusted it after around a decade of being stored away upstairs, even without the impact? Good question, the peak took the majority of the impact rather than the actual helmet structure, but I don’t think I’d trust it, or even a helmet of the same age that hadn’t suffered an impact, but had just been stored away, foam plastic will degrade even under ideal conditions, and I’m not prepared to put my faith in something that’s known to degrade over time.
My new POC lid has a recommended life of five years before a replacement is recommended - it cost £215 after a discount; will I replace it after a relatively short time? I’m not sure, it’s a big investment, but I’ll spend more on a replacement tyre for my car, and I’d like to think I’ll still be riding at 76 in such a way that a lid intended for enduro riding might be appropriate! 😎🙃
Bike shop worker here.
We would not sell a helmet of that age regardless of it being in "new" condition, it would have been written off stock long before we got to that point. I think its a bit naughty not to be 100% transparent with its age even if it was sold with a big discount.
We sell previous year helmets at 50% off for context, customer gets a decent deal and we recoup our costs and move on.
There has been actual research done on this and apparently helmets don’t degrade as they age (not within the sort of timeframes we’re talking g about here anyway)
Based on these data, the impact attenuation properties of EPS foam in field-used bicycle helmets do not degrade with the age.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10439-017-1842-4
These findings mean that bicycle helmets (up to 26-year-old traditional helmets and 13-year-old BMX helmets) do not lose their ability to attenuate impacts with age
Once more for those at the back. The webbing is the weak point in helmets. A structurally sound plastic and polystyrene shell is of no use if the webbing fails and the helmet comes off due to straps that are weakened by sunlight exposure and nicks in the edges. The shell and it's filling are basically inert, dyneema ages in sunlight and exposure to sweat and its salts accelerated by heat.
If it's been in dry conditions and not exposed to sunlight, it will be fine.
