Got this today and the qualities pretty good...

[winjim]

c'mon guys think about this. A cycle helmet is a bit of expanded polystyrene, a cheap generic material, coated by a layer of thin plastic not much different from what a strawbery punnet is made of. A sophisticated piece of cleverly engineered safety equipment it ain't.

Bear in mind a fair few extremely safety critical parts of your bike are likely made in the far east too - carbin forks, brakes, handlebars you name it. And these do rely on somewhat soohisticated engineering and materials science

I'm sure the far east has many conscientious engineers with impeccable audit and quality control procedures. I'm sure it also has plenty of unscrupulous con artists. What buying from big name brands does is enable me to separate the two, and give me a procedure for seeking compensation should they decide to source their products from the latter.

 

[Profpointy]

I'm sure the far east has many conscientious engineers with impeccable audit and quality control procedures. I'm sure it also has plenty of unscrupulous con artists. What buying from big name brands does is enable me to separate the two, and give me a procedure for seeking compensation should they decide to source their products from the latter.

I agree with.that bit, but my point was.really that a cycle helmet is an extremely unsophisticated product and hence would be very hard to screw up, despite (loosely speaking) being safety equipment.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I bought a Chinese copy of a 3t stem. To look at it they are the same. The bottom of the stem is not flat and it is not parallel to the top. I never fitted it and put it in the bin. I do not want to put my safety in a piece of carbon fibre if they cannot get the basics right, what chance is there that the correct lay up and resins have been used?

 

[Profpointy]

I bought a Chinese copy of a 3t stem. To look at it they are the same. The bottom of the stem is not flat and it is not parallel to the top. I never fitted it and put it in the bin. I do not want to put my safety in a piece of carbon fibre if they cannot get the basics right, what chance is there that the correct lay up and resins have been used?

that's fair enough too - a critical product that needs sohisticated materials and proper engineering in its construction.....unlike a.cycle helmet which is a cheap bit of polystyrene and not much more

 

[winjim]

I agree with.that bit, but my point was.really that a cycle helmet is an extremely unsophisticated product and hence would be very hard to screw up, despite (loosely speaking) being safety equipment.

Which magazine would tend to disagree with you. They gave "don't buy" status to two helmets they tested and advised the manufacturers to recall the product. This despite them passing EN1078. I'm sure it's possible to produce a cheap expanded foam helmet that would fail even EN1078 (regardless of how you may regard that standard, it is the legal minimum).

 

[Smurfy]

c'mon guys think about this. A cycle helmet is a bit of expanded polystyrene, a cheap generic material, coated by a layer of thin plastic not much different from what a strawbery punnet is made of. A sophisticated piece of cleverly engineered safety equipment it ain't.

Bear in mind a fair few extremely safety critical parts of your bike are likely made in the far east too - carbin forks, brakes, handlebars you name it. And these do rely on somewhat soohisticated engineering and materials science

I agree with.that bit, but my point was.really that a cycle helmet is an extremely unsophisticated product and hence would be very hard to screw up, despite (loosely speaking) being safety equipment.

Helmet technology is quite advanced now, and if the crush characteristics of the expanded polystyrene were wrong due to incorrect manufacturing process, the helmet would not function as required in a collision.

http://www.bhsi.org/liners.htm

 

[G3CWI]

A cycle helmet is a bit of expanded polystyrene, a cheap generic material, coated by a layer of thin plastic not much different from what a strawbery punnet is made of. A sophisticated piece of cleverly engineered safety equipment it ain't

Guessing that you are a safety advisor to the Chinese helmet market? You may be right - I don't know, but I wont be putting my head at risk on your say-so. Sorry.

 

[Profpointy]

Guessing that you are a safety advisor to the Chinese helmet market? You may be right - I don't know, but I wont be putting my head at risk on your say-so. Sorry.

great sarcasm.

but apart from that, what do you think is likely to be the difference?

on most products, I tend to buy the "quality" argument, even in dull things like parcel tape, paint or woodscrews to name just a few, but a bit of expanded polystyrene - not so much.

 

[blackgoff]

Profpointy has the angle im approaching this from....

Like s.1 has observed - you can get a helmet in Wilkinson for around 15 quid http://www.wilko.com/bike-parts+accessories/wilko-cycle-helmet-infusion-58-62cm/invt/0343859 funnily i paid more, obviously i should have bought that and not the Evade copy ! - due to BS EN safety rating and that OBVIOUSLY would save my life over the chinese copy!!!! due to those 4 ltrs.

Another contributor points out that others are only considering my safety ! maybe they can cushion me when im on the edge of being taken out by a motor vehicle on the road....

 

[Smurfy]

My most recent helmet purchase was a Lidl special, and it has EN 1078 conformance. It was really cheap, but as I'm going to use it almost every day I wanted something that can be knocked around and replaced cheaply. So long as it has EN 1078 who cares?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_1078

 

[blackgoff]

Maybe ill 'shell out' on another' give it a bit of hard treatment just to be bloody minded and see what is the apparence compared to other helmets i have...a Giro yellow whatever its called and a Scott flouro yellow jobby....

 

[Andrew_P]

This sort thing is getting a bigger problem than people know. For instance both on eBay and Amazon now a lot of Chinese sellers are putting stock in to the UK in pick and pack warehouses, they have UK PayPal accounts so the listing essentially looks like it is a UK seller. A lot of buyers are oblivious they are buying essentially from China. As an importer I am fully aware of the pitfalls of importing and have a large public liability insurance. These buyers are buying stuff and they are the importer as the seller is out of the EU they are responsible for the product if it goes tits up.

Not so long ago in the name of profit a Chinese brand of baby milk was being pumped up in weight with Melamine plastic, the same as some exported pet food ingredients. I have seen enough fake CE RoHS certificates to give electrical a wide berth as I do not have the means to ensure the QC. These are the reasons I actively avoid buying cycling products direct. You just don't know how much they care about the product compared to how much $ they want to make. With branded items they are standing behind it and you have somewhere to go if it goes wrong.

 

[Venod]

Out of curiosity I just checked my £9.99 Aldi helmet it has EN 1078, as it spends most of its life in a cupboard I don't find it a deal breaker.

 

[Tin Pot]

China has cheap labour, cheap materials and no regulations on foreign exports, and a foreign policy of using military force for commercial gain.

This does not sow the seeds for high quality sports equipment.

China has a long history of cloning western goods in appearance but making them out of poo. This isn't helped by genuine goods being manufactured there - they steal the molds and pour crap in them that looks like quality.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/4096911.stm

http://www.golfmagic.com/news/equipment-news/how-to-spot-fake-golf-equipment/4935.html

To buy safety equipment from China is naive. Perhaps insane.

But it's your life and your dollar, knock yourself out*.

*He he.

 

[screenman]

I like my Specialize helmet it was £60, fits just right.