Not that I know which helmet is best or which area of the world has the safest helmets, but I know that Japanese approved helmets are OK in Japan and not in EU or US, in Japan they make some nice helmets that fit people with round heads better than most US and EU helmets, good for round Viking heads like mine.
To get helmets approved in Australia most of the light well ventilated helmets with US approval must be made heavier and often less ventilated. Heavier = more safe?
Even EU and US do not agree about everything (has nothing to with president or prime minister) so where to buy a safe or the safest helmet depend on where you live. Sound silly in 2019? To be approved in EU and US the helmet must meet standards that are directly stupid as most of us never ride with the speed that the helmets must prevent the cracking of the skull in order to be OK plus that standard is having no limit for how much the brain should be protected. Movement of the brain is what causes concussion and the standards for helmets are telling nothing about how to protect the brain – only the skull.
Mips is supposedly good, but the motion that is allowed with Mips stops so abrubt that it is not much better than no Mips in my eyes. Wavecel from among other Bontrager may also be better and the straw in Smiths helmets they call
Koroyd is probably also better than the usually used standard foam. The rubber like or silicone dampers in
100% Altus and 6D motorbike and MTB helmets are another alternative.
I bought a heavy lid that according to what my concussed brain tells me is more safe than the one I had, as I just crashed in a
POC Tectal Race, and the rather hard density foam inside it is well damaged and deformed and the helmet is no longer of any use; plus my brain got well rattled.
I thought a 6D ATB-1T EVO with silicone dampers would be a much better choice and bought one. Silicone is not degrading like the too little damping and after some time not at all damping material in most helmets when exposed to UV radiation, and we all are if we are out in daytime.
The 6D ATB-1T EVO XL is not bigger than the
POC Tectal Race XXL I crashed in but definitely has better absorption for slow crashes as the inner part of the helmet is moving on the rubber-suspension where the foam inside the
POC was rather hard and not moving at all. The extra weight of the helmet is not felt when it is on my head plus the fitting of the helmet is excellent. There are lots of extra rubber pieces with the helmet to put in places where the shell is not touching my skull but I needed nothing. There is no bag for hanging the helmet up after a ride so it can dry, so I use the
POC bag, which is well ventilated.
Hope not to find out the hard way that I bought a safer helmet, but I do think that silicone is better to protect my egg than the polystyrene or whatever not soft enough material that is mostly used in helmets, and for me a bigger and a bit heavier helmet with maybe even less ventilation is a small price to pay if my brain will be better protected.
That almost all helmets use the same kind of foam could make somebody believe that they are all made in China on same factory and only have different designs and colours so they are acceptable to all the well-known brands.
Most helmets are sold on look, ventilation and weight.
Now is the time to demand protection.
In a couple of month’s doctor hopefully think I can ride again and then I will tell if I think the new helmet is better than the old.
