When to get a new helmet?

Is it bad to want more than one helmet?

I've had an HJC for about a year and have dropped it quite a
few times, scratched it up, use to to commute via highway and
just generally am rough on helmets.

I can't see having the same beat up helmet for the 5-6 recommended
life of one.

I got a mirrored visor and after a few months it's pretty beat up and
scratched from I don't know what. Bugs maybe or other airborn matter.

I don't think it's bad. Aside from bug guts my helmet is 100%, but I'm still replacing it next year. It's a fairly bare-bones budget HJC full face helmet, but I want one with a retractable sun shade. My girlfriend just bought the next level HJC model up from mine, and it's the exact helmet plus the shade I want.

Visors can usually be replaced with new ones. I banged one up real bad hitting my head on a pipe in a parking garage while it was flipped up. Didn't feel a thing but it was cracked.

I don't normally replace a helmet until it smells bad and I can no longer do anything about it (~2 years), but with replaceable liners that is becoming a thing of the past. If you want another HJC they are least relatively inexpensive compared to many brands.

I've heard every 5 years you need to replace the helmet (like child car seats)

Though I've also heard different reasons for this...
One of which is because of the breakdown of the shell caused by exposure to direct sunlight. In which case I'd suspect that we might do better with the NC where our helmets live in the dark when not in use.
A different reason had more to do with the actual foam and less with the sun...

Either which way, the only helmet that is worth owning is the one you will actually wear.

I probably have the same HJC helmet you have, one step down from the visor, I went that way out of concern the visor would interfere with my glasses, I did however get a insert from fogcity that stopped the visor from fogging up and it changes color in direct sunlight. doesn't really work as well as sunglasses, but it does change enough to take the glare out.

The reason a helmet should not be used after 5 years from manufacture date is that the insulation foam inside the helmet gets harder with time. Sooner or later it will not absorb impact and give like it was designed to do.

I own a couple of helmets for the different types of riding that I do.

If I dropped my helmet on hard surface like concrete, etc from a decent height (say more than 3 feet), especially a few times, I would get a new one. Which is why I am very careful with my helmet.

I have three helmets.. Two purchased in the last 6 months...lol

Don't feel bad....

The answer is: now, when you ask this question.

Time to get a new one after a good Samaritan runs your helmet over when he pulls away lol.

Old Can Ride said:

The reason a helmet should not be used after 5 years from manufacture date is that the insulation foam inside the helmet gets harder with time. Sooner or later it will not absorb impact and give like it was designed to do.

I own a couple of helmets for the different types of riding that I do.

Click to expand...

+1

I add that I buy helmets that fit very snug so in 3 or 4 years the liner parts have compressed some and the helmet no longer fits like it is supposed to. This is a gradual change I don't notice unless I have a newer helmet to contrast against.

As any good rider soon learns, the best helmet you own is the one that is on our head.

I would replace any helmet that I had dropped onto a hard service. Mind you my wife says that helmets are to me as shoes are to many women