livedarklions

Ouch. that doesn't sound overly defensive at all. Maybe not the best response to cheap shot throw away snark..

That aside, I think your point is valid, and really is the philosophy behind the VT list. There's an acceptable (4 star) helmet on their list that retails for $18. If you look at the disclaimers, etc., on their website, they basically acknowledge that the safety differences between 4 star and 5 star are extremely marginal.

I don't get what point you are making when you say your plan is to not crash--who's plans are you contrasting yours with? None of us plan on crashing, but we ALL need to plan on the possibility of crashing occurring. Whether you acknowledge it or not, you are doing so any time you put on a helmet. I think the only valid take on this I can come up with is that you buy the helmet for affordability and comfort, not for really uncertain and probably tiny marginal differences of injury in the unlikely event its safety features come into play. That makes sense to me--I'm not spending a ton of money on a helmet, and I certainly don't get any protection from it if it's too uncomfortable to wear.

I think we may have discussed this before, but my son is a member of the big noggin club as well, and I do think the difficulty in finding a good fit means you keep a comfortable one as long as you can.