SHARP Helmet safety assessment

I was looking for a new helmet to replace my ageing Shark Evo and ended up with a Shoei Xr1100. On my journey to selecting a new lid I found the SHARP web site which evaluates helmets from a safety perspective- I guess I may not be the only one who hasn't seen this site, and seeing that I personally always find it difficult to pick a new helmet- other going by manufacturer reputation, fit, features, design and of course price- I thought I share the link to the site as it may be helpful for someone:

SHARP Helmets - Animation

 

Do not take Sharp ratings as the be all and end all. Their are people far better qualified than me who have discredited their ratings, and to be fair, I have examined some helmets which had Sharp 5 star ratings and they were a joke. Bear in mind that most are ex BSI people who had to keep themselves employed after self accreditation was introduced.

All helmets sold with an EC22/05 accreditation are safe, legal and will afford you decent protection. What is important is make sure that you go for the best fitting helmet within your price range.

 

Fair comment T.C

I certainly am mindful there may be other institutions who carry out safety tests which may be better than the ones Sharp conduct, for one reason or another. I am by no means an expert, but thought it was quite good to have some indication of how good a helmet is from a safety perspective. Also, the info around test set-ups was quite interesting (for example, as they say they test impact forces at speeds above as well as below "regulation speeds"). Having been working for the BSI can't be a bad thing from an accreditation and experience point of view?

As you seem to be knowledgeable- note I am not being sarcastic!- perhaps you could point us to some other online resource which would provide similar info which is easy to understand by Dick, Tom and Harry (that's me and my 2 brothers by the way ). Cheers!

 

Curious nature I am, I tried to find out about ECE22.05 and found this web site which in fairly simple terms describes what it is and what it does say about a helmet:

2 Min Guide to ECE 22.05 (Regulation No.22) for Testing Crash Helmets

A link to the regulation ECE22.05 can also be found there.


Funny enough, they also wrote about ECE and SHARP testing:

"Also, one of the most important factors in reducing head injury is making sure your helmet fits properly (so see our helmet fitting guide). Finally, SHARP testing supplements the ECE 22.05 testing procedure as they find there’s a wide range in how well crash helmets perform even amongst those which pass Regulation 22, and which is why we focus on helmets that are ECE 22.05 approved and score the highest ratings in the SHARP tests."

The also say about SHARP: http://billyscrashhelmets.co.uk/all-about-the-sharp-crash-helmet-safety-scheme/

I agree with that; simply knowing that a helmet is safe is a good thing, but I am a curious person (and I know for a fact I drove my parents mad when I was little and going through the WHY?-phase ) so getting an idea how a lid fared in individual tests is more compelling than just knowing it is "safe"

 

I am with the boss of the Arai importers tomorrow, meeting him at their head office in Nottingham

 

good find and read