Initially I just needed a new helmet. My 7-year old Met just wasn't up to modern standards and I started to look around and tried a few in some shops. The only ones for around 50 Euros which fit nicely my skull are Alpina helmets (a brand of UVEX) and Giros. The Giro Indicator (from the 2005 collection reduced to 40EUR) was slightly lighter and looked better, so that was that.
Some observations...
One | I checked out some reviews on the web and what was a simple shopping for a helmet it began to become a quest for the ideal one. Back on the shopping streets I found out, that tests for helmets are rather academic. All you need is a budget and then try out a few until you found one which fits your head and hopefully doesn't look too bad. A helmet which got great reviews but doesn't fit cannot be good for you.
Two| Most helmets of a brand have similar shapes, so rather than specific models, I found that KET, Bell and Specialized helmets do not work for me but Alpina, the new UVEX collection and Giro seem to fit nicely.
Three| Yes, you get good deals on Ebay and internet shops, but first try out some helmets and decide which ones work for you. Again, how can a helmet do it's job when it doesn't fit. And then I found that the price differences of the local shops and the web shops are not worth the hassle once you find "your" helmet. Just buy it.
Four | My last bike shop experiences where long ago apart from a few repairs. Out of curiosity when testing helmets I started looking at the new bike generations and pedals and shoes and... These will be the subject of a few more posts ;-)
Comments
Post a Comment