Is your helmet knowledge up to date? Over the years Eagle Leather has posted close to 1000 blog articles with the intent of contributing to the knowledge, safety, and entertainment of our newsletter readers. Recently we began to take the time to create a list of those blogs to see what topics come up most frequently during different times of the year. During this process we noticed that we had a larger number of helmet related blogs, and we wanted to review them to see how accurate the information has been over time.
One of our first blogs relating to helmets was posted July 18, 2012, titled Leathers Second To Helmets In Safety Survey In this article we posted the results of a survey of our Eagle Leather Riding Community Membersasking what the most important piece of gear after their helmet is. Not surprisingly 65% said their jacket. Read the full blog here.
In January of 2013 we wrote the blog titled Seven Traits of a Safe Riding Helmet. This blog article discussed the recall of 30,000 Vega helmets (Eagle Leather did not carry any of the recalled helmets). In this article it lists a thick inner liner. That liner has traditionally been made with EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) foam. Since then, there have been new developments in helmet interiors, with Mips and Flex technologies becoming available in the years since the article was published. You can read about Mips technology here, Bell Helmets Flex Technology here, and the full original article here.
Over the years there has been a passionate debate over the laws regarding helmets, and in May of 2013, we wrote an article about it. At that time 47 states had some type of helmet law, with 19 having a universal helmet law. Currently there is little change to this, with only Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire having no law as of January 2021. You can read about each states requirements here, and our original article here.
Due to the popularity of The Great Helmet Debate article, in June of 2013 we published the Washington Helmet Laws article. The law that covers helmet usage in Washington State is RCW 46.37.530 and you can read it here, and our original article here.
There were a lot of questions about helmets in 2013, because in July we posted a great article addressing some of the more frequent questions about helmets like:
We followed that up with the article The History of Motorcycle Helmets in September of 2013. It was interesting to find out that the passing of Lawrence of Arabia due to a motorcycle accident prompted Neurosurgeon, Dr. Hugh Cairns to research ways to protect motorcyclists’ heads in the event of a crash. You can read all about it on our original blog here.
After many questions about helmet replacement, we wrote the article “Helmet Fact vs. Fiction: How Often to Replace?” written in May of 2014. The article focuses on the 3-to-5-year standard that helmet manufacturers suggest as a time frame to replace your helmet. Some of the reasons to replace even if you have owned your helmet less than 3 to 5 years are:
If the helmet was subject to an impact.
The helmet has become loose fitting, the retention system does not function properly, or the helmet shows signs of deterioration.
The very next week we went into more detail with the article “When to Replace Your Helmet?” written May 16, 2014. This article discusses:
Helmets are a single use.
Beware of novelty helmets.
If you have a beanie style helmet that failed Snell certification be careful. (Note: Half Shell Helmets do not meet Snell certification standards, because they do not provide coverage for all impact areas).
If you helmet does not fit properly nothing else matters.
With helmets being so diverse in style, fit, and construction we are sure to have missed something, so go to our Facebook page, and share your thoughts.
Yet, there’s no denying it: Unless you plan to ride exclusively around the Southern United States, you’ll face some chilly winters. And even before it...
