Overheard in LBS today.

Richard Goodman

"Tumbleweed" <thisaccountneverread@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2lgaobFckkjmU1@uni-berlin.de...
> I promise this is true, happened today.
>
> Guy was helping woman to choose a helmet for her toddler
> (who presumably will be going in a bike seat). He picks
> one out of a box its in on the
shelf
> and says (no irony intended I'm sure); "must be careful
> not to drop it"
>

I know what you mean - if it's going to break under the
impact of its own weight by dropping it, what protection can
it possibly offer your head in a collision - but it's
perfectly true that manufacturers say that dropping a helmet
might damage it - you'll often find something to that effect
in the instructions in the box, and I certainly think a
sales assistant would not want to render a helmet unsaleable
by virtue of having dropped it, which is what it would be. I
think the point is, they are designed to absorb the energy
of any impact by their own destruction - they are for one
hit only. Any drop (depending on height and surface dropped
onto) might well cause some small damage that could make it
less effective for a second, bigger hit when/if it's really
needed. I find that plausible anyway, having a helmet which
has a noticeable fracture in the shell from a time when it
'dropped' onto the road with my head in it. I'm quite sure
that has weakened it to the extent that it would be less
effective next time, were there to be a next time.

Rich