Frequently Asked Questions
About Bicycle Helmets
Summary: We get these questions often. Each answer has pages of information behind it if you want
more detail.
What is the Best Helmet to Buy?
First and most important is finding a helmet that fits your individual head. You may have to try on several brands and
models to find one that fits your own head well. Pick one that is round and smooth on the outside without snag points.
Then make sure it has a CPSC standard sticker inside, required by law in the US since 1999. Wear it for a few moments to
see if any pressure "hotspots" develop. Next is wearability: you can see the vents and you can feel the comfort. Select a
bright color for visibility. We don't have to tell you to check the price tag, but price is not a good indicator of
impact protection.
Consumer Reports has helmet rating articles every two or three years, and we have
a review up of the most recent one. They can only test a small fraction of the models on the market.
Virginia Tech has a STAR rating system that attempts to predict concussion performance.
Sometimes the two coincide. But we think you can do just as well by finding a helmet that
fits you well and is round and smooth on the outside.
What Helmet Should I Buy for my Child?
The best child helmets are light and ventilated, with impact protection equal to adult helmets and more coverage in the
rear required by the CPSC standard. For kids over 5, a small adult helmet works fine. There are no tiny helmets available
because nobody recommends riding with a child under one year old, whose neck structure and brain are just not ready yet.
If in doubt, take helmet and child to a pediatrician and ask. Kids don't want to look like geeks, so let them pick their
helmet out for best acceptance, just as you would for an adult. The helmet should have a CPSC standard sticker inside.
Consumer Reports usually rates some child helmets
in their articles.
What is the Coolest Helmet?
Coolness depends on ventilation, and that depends mostly on the size of the front vents, whatever the ads may say.
Consumer Reports publishes coolness ratings
in their articles, but don't cover very many
helmets. Generally you can look at a helmet's front vents and judge its ventilation. Most riders will not need all the
vents you see in the most expensive models.
Where can I get my helmet cheap?
Prices are low at many stores. The big box discount stores have smooth, round helmets on sale regularly starting at
about $15, with better-fitting designs for about $20 to $40. Local bike shops have major brands for $35 to $200+. Discounts
are available online, but there have been reports of counterfeit helmets sold for low prices. And CPSC has warned that
some helmets sold online do not meet the Federal standard for protection. Unless you get one of
those, they all meet the same CPSC certification for impact and strap performance. Cheaper helmets are plainer, have
smaller vents and may lack a rear stabilizer strap, but
testing a sample showed that they
perform the same in impact tests as the most expensive models. We still recommend buying your first helmet at a bike
shop, for help with fitting.
Is a cheap helmet as good as an expensive one?
We don't have lab test data on all the helmets out there, but
testing a sample of cheap and
expensive models showed surprisingly similar performance regardless of price. In the US, all of them are required by
law to meet the same CPSC impact standard. In
past helmet articles,
Consumer Reports has
rated the most expensive helmets they tested below most of the cheaper models. Virginia Tech testing for concussion-related performance found a Five Star helmet that sells for less than $8 and does not have MIPS. If more money buys you a better fit, with more stability on your head in a hard crash, then the more expensive helmet is worth it. If it just buys you a
spiffy-looking, squared-off, poorly-rounded exterior with excessive vents, foam that is too hard trying make up for that,
and points to snag, it's definitely not worth it. But you have to be careful if you buy online. You may get one of the
bogus
helmets with inadequate protection.
Does This Helmet Fit Me as Well as it Should?
For best protection you want the helmet level and low on your head. So put thin pads in the top, or no pads at all.
Adjust the side pads so that the helmet touches all the way around at the brim. Then adjust the straps so that the V on
the sides meets just below your ear, and the chin strap is just snug against your chin but not too tight. Now shake your
head. Then put your palm under the front edge and push up and back. Can you move the helmet more than an inch, exposing
your bare forehead? If so, shorten the strap just in front of your ear, and loosen the rear nape strap behind your ear.
The two straps should still meet just below your ear. Now reach back and grab the back edge. Pull up. Can you move the
helmet more than an inch? If so, shorten the nape strap. If the front bumps on your glasses or sunglasses, tighten the
nape strap. Now your helmet should be level, solid on your head and comfortable. You should forget you are wearing it
most of the time, just like a seat belt or a pair of shoes.
How can I prevent "strap creep?"
Some straps creep and loosen after only one ride. We suggest buying a helmet with standard-width straps, not the skinny
ones. You can add little rubber bands or o-rings to the straps to slide up against the buckle to lock in the adjustment.
And after you get your helmet adjusted perfectly, you can sew the strap ends in place with a few tack stitches.
When Should I Replace My Helmet?
You must replace the helmet after any crash where your head hit. The foam part is
made for one-time use, and after crushing once it is no longer as protective as it was, even if it still looks fine.
Plastic shells can hide the foam damage, but there are usually at least some scrape marks on the outside. (A few helmets
made of EPP foam--mostly skate-style helmets--do recover.) If in doubt, contact the manufacturer for an inspection. If
your helmet is more than 10 years old or has a cloth cover, we recommend that you replace it. Many manufacturers
recommend replacement every five years or even every three, but some of that is just marketing. Deterioration depends on
usage, care, and abuse. If you ride thousands of miles every year, five years or even less may be right, but for most
people it's probably too soon. Here is
a scientific study that supports that.
How does a helmet work?
When you crash and hit a hard surface, the styrofoam part of a helmet crushes, controlling the crash energy and extending
your head's stopping time by about six thousandths of a second (6 ms) to reduce the peak impact to the brain. Thicker
foam is better, giving your head more room and more milliseconds to stop. The squishy fitting pads are for comfort, not
impact. The impact is so hard and sharp that squishy foam just bottoms out immediately. A smooth plastic skin holds the
helmet's foam together as it crushes and helps it skid easily on pavement, rather than jerking your head to a stop.
Rounder, smoother helmets are safer, since they skid more easily. There are slip-planes patented by MIPS available for
the interior, but we consider those unproven. The straps keep the helmet on your head even after the first impact with
the car. A helmet must fit well and be level on your head for the whole head to remain covered after that first impact.
The outside should be a bright color for visibility in traffic. Reflective trim is useful at night to help you be seen,
but you still need lights on your bike.
Who Has Compulsory Helmet Laws? Do they work?
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,
Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia require helmets for some riders,
usually under age 16. So do over 201 cities and counties. We have
the current list up. More
than half of the under-16 population of the U.S. lives in one of those states or cities. Enforcement is unusual, and
helmet acceptance has to be high for compulsory laws to work well. New Jersey reported a 60% reduction in fatalities for
the age group covered in the five years after they adopted their law. Outside the US, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, parts of Canada and in 2023 Japan have helmet laws.
What's New in Helmets?
Take a look at the introduction to our latest survey of
helmets for the current year. Prices have been rising but discounts are still available. The MIPS slip-planes have generated a
buzz and cost more, but we consider them unproven. There are other technologies now attempting to deal with rotational
energy dissipation. There are lots of bright colors, following the brighter colors in the car and fashion clothing
markets, including high visibility white, yellow and orange. Some helmets have easier strap adjustments and many have
rear stabilizers to improve fit. Few designs still have the sharper, squarer, elongated lines of prior decades, and it is easier to
find the rounder, smoother shape we recommend to avoid snagging in a fall. Almost all of the current "compact" road
models have better profiles. There are helmets made for downhill mountain bike racing with
face
protection. More manufacturers now produce
"multi-sport" or dual-certified helmets, for
biking and skateboarding but many are just bike helmets with more sports included on their packaging. The CPSC impact and strap strength standard is legally required for all bicycle helmets, but not for skateboard-only helmets. Helmets are
cool, cheap and effective, and this is a good year to be buying one. There is no reason to delay buying a
helmet this year. But there is no compelling reason to upgrade if your current helmet meets the CPSC standard and is
still meeting your needs.
What is the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute?
BHSI (pronounced "busy") began in 1974 as the Helmet Committee of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. It became
BHSI in 1989, in hopes of setting up our own test lab. That did not happen, but the rest of the program did, and we are
very active. We put our website up in 1995, and are now logging
around 900,000 visitors a
year. We produce pamphlets, an email newsletter, a Toolkit for Helmet Promotion programs including a program manual,
and a comparison of bicycle helmet standards around the world, all available online. We are members of the ASTM helmet
standards committee and attend all committee meetings. We brief press people, answer inquiries and help students doing
research. We are volunteers, and our annual budget is usually about $15,000. We do not accept any funding from the
helmet industry or retailers. We are supported by donations from consumers that go directly into program expenses such as
maintaining and updating our website, communications, sending out materials, research and attending helmet standards
committee meetings. You can check out
our budget and
our program for the
year too. There is more info on how we operate on our
Can You Trust This Site page.
You are welcome to
contact us with any other questions.