My Arai Chaser is 5 years old now, always been stored in the helmet bag when not in use and been worn roughly 20 to 30 times per year. It has never been damaged other than stone chips but reading on Arai`s website and MCN, the suggestion is that you change a lid every 5 years regardless of wear. What do you guys think, is this something most of you do....... If honest I was fancying a change anyway just struggling to find anything other than Arai which is comfy and not £700....... Off to the NEC on Sat so might see if I can get a RX7GP reduced Thanks Dave
Bloody nice lids the RX7GP, I have one in Ducati colours with a Vee engine outline on it, trouble is it's difficult to find a good flat spot in the right place for a helmet cam, so I might sell it as I rather fancy a AGV Pista.
Just replaced my Arai Viper GT after 6 years of use. Found a beautiful Arai RX7-GP in the sale at MOTOCARD.COM, very happy with it. And only £498! Including delivery. Check the website. I live in Spain so just collected from store, but they have some cracking deals on good kit. ARAI RX-7 GP AOYAMA REPLICA 2 HELMET
My advice might be a bit old school as manufacturing processes have doubtless changed. Thermoplastic helmets should be changed every 3 years recommended by manufacturers, but in reality you can get away with 5. Composite helmets every 5 years (manufacturer recommeded), but if cared for you should be ok with an extra 2-3 years. The Arai Chaser is composites, so you should be OK for a few more years.
Anyone chucking out a £500.00p helmet 58cm that's 5year old, I know someone that would love it. Mike. My head's not considered precious.
Sorry to contradict you, but thermo plastic helmets do not degrade as they used to. I used to sit on the BSI helmet committee and the BSI actually did an experiment a few years ago where they left a load of polycarb shells on the roof of their building exposed to all weathers and conditions for about 3 years. The structure of the helmet was then tested periodically and there was found to be no significant degrading of either the shell or the lining. However, the styrofoam liner reacts to sweat which is noot something that the test helmets were exposed to. Therefoore, good well maintained helmet should dependent on use, last about 5 years, however this rule is dependent on a number of factors.* If you are a high mileage user, or you perspire a lot, then you may need to consider changing it more regularly, say every 2 – 3 years as the degradation of the liner will be accelerated. If like me you have experience of living in your helmet (as I used to be a 100,000 miles a year rider) then it may need to be changed every year or twice a year. But someone like the OP who only wears it 20 or 30 times a year should not have any issues. Easy way to di a check is press your thumb into the liner around the forehead area. If it still feels compliant with some give then it is fine. If it feels like a lump of concrete, then the styrofoam liner is shot and it would be advisable to change.. On a tri-laminate, carbon fibre or glass fibre helmet, the shell does not degrade at all because of the materials used, again it is only the styrofoam liner that can degrade and in some cases the straps can fray or degrade as well, but this is uncommon. My wife still has a Shoei GRV Lawson Replica, so it must be at least 15 years old. I checked it the other day, as she has not worn it for several years, but it is stored in its bag in a wardrobe, and it is still factory fresh as if it has just come out of the factory. But back to the original point, 3 year rule really does not apply any more, same rules apply as they do for any other crash hat of even a higher value, and an occasional user could get several years of use out of a hat quite easily. If anyone ever gets the opportunity, go on the visit to the Lazer factory in Belgium and see how the technology that goes into the perceived lesser quality helmets far exceeds even some of the big price big brand names, and I have been fortunate enough to go to a number of factories (as a consultant to a couple of helmet manufacturers) and some of the helmet technology on the pipe line for the future is mind blowing. But that is a subject for another day.
Good Information there, I will update my knowledgebase. I did say it was a bit oldschool in my defence. Obviously I've been knocking about on these damn noisey motorbike things longer than I thought
Great information TC, very interesting. As a matter of course I change my helmet at least every five years and if it gets any kind of hard knock, ie dropped on the floor etc. It gets binned, but not before I drill it full of holes and put a hammer through the top to ensure it doesn't reappear in the food chain to some unsuspecting soul. I would also never sell or buy a second hand helmet.
I seem to change lids about every 3 years, I loved my RX7 until I rubbed it along the road a few years ago
I've had my Viper GT for 4 years now and was toying with the idea of replacing it but I reckon I'm just going to buy a new liner and cheek pads for it instead.
No expert on this but from experience with climbing and downhill bike helmets it seems that UV exposure is the biggest degrader. So how much riding in sunny or southerly lattitudes is an important factor along with storing in the shade.
Had my Viper GT for nearly 5 years now and have relegated it to very occasional track use, lining is still fine though.
I hear also one of the worst things you can do is put your gloves etc in the helmet. The contaminants eg petrol, diesel can really degrade the foam and linings.
It has no bearing at all. It was a factor 25 years ago when the plastics used to degrade as a result of exposure to UV, but as a result of the tests done by BSI, modern plastics do not degrade at all and that is after 3 years of constant exposure to direct sunlight, wind, rain, cold, temperature changes, and that was several years ago. The new thermo plastics have moved on to yet another level since then. In respect of the more expensive materials, well it does not even worthy a mention because the likes of carbon fibre, Kevlar and so on do not degrade at all. However, putting oil and petrol stained gloves inside a helmet is a different issue, especially if gloves are soiled heavily (although this will still take quite a time to have an affect), but if gloves are relatively clean, then again this is not such an issue.
Just had new custom built cheekpads and new visor and pinlock in my RX7 Corsair, no issues with the liner going hard, always worn a balaclava on my melon anyway, keeps the liner cleaner, 4 years old and worn 6 days a week, sure the strap has frayed around the popper, but a careful application of flame seals that off. Should be good for another few years I guess.
