The_woo

They also mysteriously don't test any Kask or Abus helmets.

chaadster

That’s neither true nor, IMO, mysterious.

VT did test the Kask Vallegro, and given that Abus doesn’t have any official retailers in the USA, it shouldn’t surprise that VT haven’t published tests on one.

Sy Reene

Someone should just ask them.. below is the contact email from their site. Abus is sold by at least some mainstream etailers such as Competitive cyclist. The sole Kask review was done 4 years ago fwiw.

Mark Begonia, PhD
Director of Testing
Helmet Lab
mbegonia@vt.edu

chaadster

Yes, straight from the horses mouth is the way to go…if it even matters.

I don’t know what point The_woo was trying to make— a conspiracy at VT to protect MIPS?— but that VT hasn’t tested every helmet in the world is hardly surprising, let alone that they haven’t tested scarce-in-the-USA brands. There are no Limar, no Uvex, no Casco, only one Catlike…that only one Kask and no Abus have been tested is nothing surprising or suggestive.

Speaking of horses and mouths, it is the Abus locator site I referred to for USA dealers, finding none. Looking at Competitive’s pricing, selection and stock, it would surprise me if they are an active dealer. They practically have no helmets, and they’re all on sale.

Sy Reene

Mind you, it's theoretically possible that some helmet makers donate to the VTF and direct that their funds be used in purchase of their brand helmets for review. Perhaps even possible that donations are made in actual product ("Gifts in Kind"). IOW not a conspiracy, just somewhat of self-selection bias that could be possible.

chaadster

Yeah, I wasn’t presuming to know how VT acquires the helmets they test, but I think that regardless of that, if a helmet brand doesn’t have any official distribution in the USA, why would they send samples for testing in the USA?

In any case, VT does test non-MIPS helmets, they just don’t score as well as MIPS helmets, so I don’t understand what any “selection bias” maight have to do with with this discussion. I’d bet VT would be happy to test more Kask helmets should Kask send them.

jnbrown

Helmet standards in the US are set by CPSC. If it passes that I don’t care if it has MIPS or not.
I have crashed and cracked a helmet a few times and it always protected my brain.
I am older and a lot more careful now.

Maelochs

I have used that argument .... people generally respond, "You think it protected your brain, but the fact that you don't (insert behavior of choice, in this case only wear Mips, or whatever) shows that you must have brain damage."

Some people go so far as to say, "The fact that you are still riding after getting ht by a car, (hitting your head, breaking a bone, tearing ligaments, getting gashed and abraded, whatever .... ) show that you did indeed sustain brain damage.

On an unrelated note, Lake Superior is so cold that if you dump bodies there they sink and never float back up.

Now, someone have some further smart-mouthed comments?

Maelochs

Also, I would like to commend @chaadster for his easy grace at extricating himself after a dangerous wrong turn in the debate. Class act. (I cannot find a "thumbs up" emoji, so use your imagination.)

himespau 

That was the point I was, rather inelegantly, trying to make above. Perhaps one of the times I've crashed, it didn't protect my brain as well as I thought - lingering injuries from the most recent time I was hit are part of the reason most of my riding is done on the trainer these days.

chaadster

That you cannot find a thumbs-up emoji might suggest brain damage.

Maelochs

I wanted one without the suffocating man's swollen head, but I make do .......