How long do cycle helmets last?

[Mad Doug Biker]

A: Our (Specialized) helmets are made of Styrofoam. Styrofoam is an extremely strong and durable material that will break down over time. Even if a helmet is not used it will decompose beyond a safe state after 5 years.

The one I use on my BSO/Hackbike is at least 10 years.

Avoid storing your helmet in the sun or where it may be subjected to extreme temperatures.

Does a brick shed count?

I have a helmet I bought 14 years ago.

It now looks very retro (uncool).
It says 'Met Maxtrack' on the inside and is black and white.

My 10 year old one is a dark blue and orange Met, but it looks reasonably ok - it wouldn't look out of place with more newer helmets.

It has attracted humorous comment at XC events.
It makes my head look like a mushroom, but I have yet to land on it.
I'm still not dead.

I was given what must have been one of the first of the modern Polystyrene type when I was a kid. Red and white it

was, and it was HUGE!! it probably could have been seen from outer space!

Needless to say, I rarely wore it as I probably looked a bit like a cotton bud with it on, but I wish I still had it now for comparison purposes. I exchanged it at Halfords for a newer one as part of one of their schemes at the time.

 

[ColinJ]

Not good things, which is why:

1. We should be grateful that we have spent millennia evolving to have some natural protection
2. We should use sun screen where required
3. We should be aware of skin cancers

Sadly, when that goes wrong, it's not as easy as spending a couple of quid at your nearest LBS.

My dad had the tanning gene which my mum and I seemed to have far less of. He could go and sit in the midday mid-summer sun for 3 hours and come back indoors with a tan. I would be horribly burned if I tried that.

My dad didn't use sun screen. I do.

My dad was developing skin cancers on his head just before he died of other causes

I know that I'm especially at risk. I have moles, I burn easily, and freckle easily.

Slip-Slop-Slap!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yes, I practically only have to look at the sun and I turn a rather fetching shade of pink.

 

[yello]

A: Our (Specialized) helmets are made of Styrofoam. Styrofoam is an extremely strong and durable material that will break down over time.

Google decomposition rates for styrofoam and you'll see it's a sensitive environmental issue. For example...

A styrofoam cup takes about 500 years to fully decompose. Approximately 25 million styrofoam cups are thrown away each day, and styrofoam takes up as much as 30 percent of all landfill space.

Now maybe there's different types of styrofoam, or densities, because it's seems odd to think of riding around with little more than disposable cups strapped to your head! Scooting quickly away from that point, I do genuinely wonder whether a cycle helmet and a styrofoam cup decompose at the same rate.