Yan 

You can buy generic replacement liner kits on Amazon. They won't match the originals exactly but it doesn't matter.

High probability the knockoff is made in the same Taiwanese factory as the branded version. Sold out the back door as a generic for the actual manufacturing price, without the brand inflation. The brand has to pay for their advertising and pro tour sponsorship. The back door guy doesn't.

RubeRad

Nice, thanks! I checked Ali Express, but I've never heard of DHgate. If I buy 26 of them, I can get down to $17.93 ea. With shipping I'm seeing under $30. That's getting not trivially cheap enough I'll sit on it for a while

RubeRad

I know that kind of thing is common, but in this case the knockoff is different enough (hole count/placement) that I think it's more likely they just made a cheap helmet with a similar look.

Maelochs

Toms of gear (particularly Ali-Express) is exactly what you describe---enterprising young college grads who know there are better business opportunities in the grayish market than trying to get hired by a big firm.

Sometimes they reverse -engineer a design, or just draw up a copy ....

I will say this regarding helmets ... if you are going to wear one, wear one that passes the real-world certification tests. I have always worn $25-$45 Bell helmets, leftovers and overstocks and whatever .... those helmets pass the same safety tests as any other helmet, no matter what it costs.

Except, of course, for the knock-offs and fakes, which are never tested. That is exactly the difference that I see between the knock-off and the real .... then fake is hit-or-miss if it is worth anything.

If you have done your won testing (via a tree) and are happy with the results .... fine with me. Unless I am riding off-0road, I don't even wear a helmet.

rsbob 

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/safest-bike-helmet

Maelochs

I like to keep my helmet safe, that is why I leave it home, locked up ... it won't get bashed. broken, scraped, scarred, or stolen.

I am considering having a fire-suppression system installed, because I Want the Safest Bike Helmet.

Come on folks .... Save the Helmet!!

Iride01 

Why did the liner get slimy? Do you not rinse it off after your rides? I'd think you'd want a new helmet every now and then anyway. You can customize it anyway you like if you have even the faintest touch of artist in you.

tcs

Illegal to sell a bicycle helmet in the USA that doesn't comply with CPSC testing: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-1203

Yeah, okay, one can go to the effort of privately importing something off Ali-Express that doesn't have a CPSC compliance sticker to get around this.

tcs

More on that:
https://helmets.org/testbycost.htm

tcs

Hours of informational reading on the subject:

https://helmets.org/


Of course, those who think that protection is proportional to cost will dismiss the Virginia Tech testing, since that organization scored one $7.45 helmet at five stars.

https://helmets.org/up2103.htm

RubeRad

?! rinse a helmet? does not compute

Maelochs

No one here is surprised to read this.

Maelochs

I have been saying this for years ... and a lot of riders know it but won't admit it.

I have zero problem with people buying over-priced (for the protection) helmets ... because those helmets have other benefits. A lot of them are just plain gorgeous. A lot of them offer better adjustment and better venting. If a person has to buy a helmet and wear it frequently ... go ahead and get what you like. Why not?

(Not to be telling others how to spend, anyway ... always a great idea on BF, eh?) I guess what I am saying is, I think I can understand why people buy expensive helmets ... and since my only interaction is looking at them, yeah ... I Hope they all get nice-looking helmets.

Further ... there was a poster here who said something like "I wear a helmet not to protect my brain but to protect my ride."

He realized that if you crash hard enough, No helmet is going to prevent a concussion or worse. Even those expensive Mips helmets (at least some) have small print saying the helmet cannot protect the wearer in falls at speed over (I think) 13 mph---the idea being, at 15 mph the head, falling four feet and traveling forward at 15 mph, is going to experience enough force upon hitting something solid, that the wearer Might be crippled or killed.

This poster opined that the real benefit of a helmet was to mitigate skin injury (not that a little concussion protection wasn't appreciated ... ) but that if he took a tumble without a helmet and hit his head, the odds of a bleeding scalp or facial wound were pretty high ... and the pain, blood loss, and general irritation of a fast-flowing gash (anyone who has had a scalp wound knows) would likely force him to call for help. On the other hand, even if he got a mild concussion, he could limp home slowly if he wasn't bleeding badly.

To me this is a highly realistic view. Helmets aren't magic---I know from two experiences that you can get a concussion while wearing a helmet. You can still mash in all your teeth, tear your jaw loose, flatten your nose, I hypothesize---never having done any of those things. You can sustain facial cuts wearing a helmet (again sacrifice in the interest of science lets me say this) But those cuts might have been ride-ending without the added protection.

I also understand that if your head hits in a very specific way, a Mips helmet might protect your brain a tiny bit better ... so be sure only to lose control at speed when you are positioned to hit your head in exactly the right way, I guess? But I would never ridicule a person for wanting a Mips helmet, because if you have to have a helmet, why not have a chance at a little extra protection.

The majority of us will never need a Mips or any other helmet, I'd wager .... in over 50 years on the bike I can count my head injuries on the remaining fingers of one hand .... (the ones I can remember ... ) So I will not ridicule this guy for buying a helmet based on looks ... pretty sure a lot of people do, or based on brand name ..... In most cases the outcome will not vary.

But dude ... Hygiene. it is not a complicated concept.

veganbikes

A knockoff is a knockoff it is not the actual product tested and rated to the same standards it is designed to look like it not actually perform like it.

I am not saying a $20 wallymart helmet is safer that was never the case but if the wallymart special is actually rated to the correct standards and hopefully tested beyond those standards like most of the actual proper helmets being sold then it would be better.

You are ok with a cheap knockoff protecting your BRAIN there is nothing that will convince you that a good properly rated and tested helmet is going to be better.

RubeRad

Obviously I have been ok with a cheap knockoff protecting my brain for almost 10 years now

RubeRad

https://helmetsrus.net/bike-helmets/...e/10-color-red

The model 09 has risen in price to $9.95. I might get one

Garfield Cat

When will the environmentalist discuss the materials used to make bicycle helmets?

Maelochs

"Investigative reports revealed that tailings from Bell's helmet mines are polluting local groundwater .... film at 11."

rsbob 

and how many times have you fallen and smacked your head?

My wife did last month with a top rated helmet (along with two bruised ribs) and was very glad she had it on. It went into the garbage after giving its life

RubeRad

That's weird, the new thread I started has gotten concatenated to a previous thread, starting at #3669. Is that a thing, that mods are cleaning up the forum by stacking common threads?

RubeRad

Not sure I ever have. I took a hard fall once trying to take a sweet jump off a plastic ramp which slid out sideways. I broke a rib on that one. Don't remember if I hit my head or was wearing a helmet, it was just in front of my house

badger1

In this instance, as I understand it the insertion of your thread into this one is the result of deliberate policy. Helmet discussions become, let's say, heated far more often than not, so the mods decided that since a) helmet discussions belong in A&S anyway, and b) they tend to be quite repetitive, therefore c) one 'super thread', in A&S, is quite enough.

RubeRad

I hadn't heard about that policy. I didn't start the thread to argue about helmets, but merely get help buying one. I got the answer I needed, where to find the helmet I was looking for, but I agree the thread quickly derailed into a safety argument.

cb400bill

Like all helmet themed threads unfortunately eventually do.

RubeRad

I've never seen mods just pick up a thread and tack it onto the end of another thread before, I didn't know that was an operation the forums software supported