Helmets..Snell certified, please add your 2 cents

BT Motorsports

Registered User
I have been doing lots of research on helmets the past few days as I soon will be in the market for one and was surprised to find such little consolidated info. As a result, I am starting to put together a FAQ on this which will be posted at:
www.BlueTongueMotorsports.com/FAQ/Helmets.html
The link will be active in a few hours.
Please, if you have any info to add, correct or simply an opionion of a helmet model, brand or a place you would like to recomend purchasing one at, add your comments below.

Here is a link to the official website of Snell which is considered to be the most stringent of Helmet testing.
 
From what I understand Sneel helmets are only good for 10 years. Ex. Snell90 helmets are only legal for 10 years making them only good unitl the year 2000, Snell 95 good till 2005 and Snell 2000 good until 2010. Not sure on the accuracy of this but this is what I have been told. I believe my helmet is Snell 2000.
 
Sorry Jamie, don't know the rules up in Canada, but in the US, a 'SNELL' rating has nothing to do with legal or illegal (in terms of street use). While all SNELL helmets are DOT (US department of Transportation) certified, not all DOT helmets are SNELL certified. The SNELL rating is stiffer than that of the DOT. To the best of my knowledge (again regarding legal/illegal in terms of street use) once a helmet has received DOT certification, it is always DOT certified - although I expect certain states may have serviceability requirements as well. Personally I find the entire thing pretty damn annoying as I purchased a really nice motorcycle helmet while I was stationed in Europe, and I would stake my life (I do) on the fact that it is at least as good as anything we've got in the US... but it is no good for the track. Sorry if I took your legal/illegal out of context and it was meant specifically in regards to track applications.

Paul - regarding the FAQ... honestly I'm not sure that there is a great deal of need for it to be in great detail, at least regarding weight and things like that. While it may be a big deal for a motorcyclist to know how much a helmet weighs, for the ... maybe 2 minutes? a 1/4 miler is going to be wearing his helmet, the difference of a few grams most likely doesn't matter.

One thing it might be good to point out is that if, when looking to purchase a helmet, the purchaser can't find a SNELL certification, it could be that the helmet is in fact, NOT SNELL certified... Also, when in doubt, you can always ask the person selling the helmets for the brief. Otherwise, I expect that the major helmet manufacturers websites would have details on what makes one helmet different from another.

Further information can be found at these websites:

Snell Memorial Foundation: http://www.smf.org/cert.html
Snell purchase guide: http://www.smf.org/top4.html

Automotive and Motorcycle Helmets:
Bell Helmets: http://www.bellhelmets.com/
Bieffe Helmets: http://www.bieffeamerica.com/

Motorcycle Helmets:
Shoei Helmets: http://www.shoei-helmets.com/
HJC Helmets: http://www.hjchelmets.com/
 
thanks for the clarification, it was just somethign I heard, wasn't sure if it was true or not, but know I know, cool!:D
 
The Snell rating on my helmet is on a sticker inside top center. It is a 90. At Atlanta Dragway they require helmets to be Snell certified but don't seem to care what the the number is as long as it has some type of a Snell certification.
 
Thanks for the input guys, I have more info to add when I get some free time to update the page more. Will keep everyone posted.

Paul
 
Back
Top