Five-year helmet lifespan?

[Brasco]

Curious to know what others think about the general recommendation to replace your helmet every five years. Can understand that helmet manufacturers recommend this for obvious $$$$ reasons but you'll see this advice from motorcycle safety foundations too, and they wouldn't have any direct financial interest in seeing more helmets sold. There's so many variables involved -- seems like the key thing here is miles ridden versus age of helmet sitting on a shelf. In fact, who knows how long a helmet has been in a store before you buy it, which makes the five-year rule of thumb kind of a crap shoot. Any thoughts out there on this?

[Steve 0080]

I call BS on this one.... others may disagree .... unless you drop it or store it in the sun not sure what can go wrong with it...JMHO

[Ixol Phaane]

I call BS on this one.... others may disagree .... unless you drop it or store it in the sun not sure what can go wrong with it...JMHO

+1

Maybe I'm just ignorant of the facts here, but I agree w Steve... BS... unless the helmet has been stressed (dropped, crashed or otherwise).
Having said that, we do know that some materials will deteriorate in UV and heat... glues, plastics and laminates, for example. So maybe that's the rub.

[Phantom]

Just curious …. How do Body Oils from your scalp over time effect the styrofoam material in the helmet?

[SimonTemplar]

Just curious …. How do Body Oils from your scalp over time effect the styrofoam material in the helmet?

Might cause a breakdown of the softer foam padding of the liner (in extreme cases)......but the actual styrofoam impact absorption filler, naaah.




....sT

[shooter]

I agree with Simon. They put that Styrofoam under a boat dock in a nasty lake and its still there 20 years later. What's my scalp gonna do to it. I could see Stro. He only takes a bath on the even number Saturdays.

[jm21ddd15]

I agree with Simon. They put that Styrofoam under a boat dock in a nasty lake and its still there 20 years later. What's my scalp gonna do to it. I could see Stro. He only takes a bath on the even number Saturdays.

Good one! Hope you and Stro are good buddies.

[shooter]

Step cousin , twice removed. You can't pick family.

[Nero]

I usually change my helmets out every 3 or 4 years. Unless of course it was dropped. I live in Arizona and for many years I kept my helmets in my garage. I had a beautiful Suomi that I wore for many years, after 5 years the interior of the helmet was just crumbling. I now keep my helmets indoors, tremendous heat build up just destroys the inner liner, don't know about the styrofoam however.

[TailGunner]

it boils down to liability