A new lid starting a £50.  :sus: Has anybody tried one of these feckers. I've always been told that if you have a $10 head, put it in a $10 helmet.  :Oo: ( Or some similar expression, I'm sure some git will correctme). I saw these advertised a couple of months ago but didn't think anything of it. There seem to be a lot of good comments from the biking press but I wasn't sure if it is advertising bucks talking.

I did pick one up in a shop a few months back and it felt quite light.

Two posts in quick succession asking about products. Yes, it is my birthday next month.  :p

BD, quite a few of our cbt/das students have nitros.
I'm not that familiar with them but have also read the press blurb.
What you want is a lid that is safe, comfortable & affordable.
If its plastic then it has a usefull life of 2-3 years
If its fibre glass or one of the fancy tri-composite thingys then its useful life is 4-5 years
OR UNTIL YOU DROP IT-whichever comes 1st.
As long as it has an EU standard 22-05 or BSI standard blue(type A) or green (type B) sticker then its OK.
Generally speaking, all lids are made the same way-hard outer shell, energy absorbing inner polystyrene liner, comfort foam liner, material covering.
The cost differential is in the QUALITY of materials used (& the Tri-composites are hand laid up)
There is nothing to my knowledge that states the more expensive helmets are any safer than a "budget" lid.
They may be more comfortable & last the test of time better than a budget lid.
Its like the Rolls Royce versus Skoda thing, both will get you where you want to go-one just might get you there less stressed out than the other
and FINALLY-the more vents it has the noisier it gets-the deafer you get.Find some one who has one & ask how noisy it is-then invest in a set of custom made earplugs-£ 80.00-last for about 5 years.

the reason stuff costs a lot is entirely to do with us being willing to pay it.  It's demand push economics.  As long as we believe exspensive equals better then it's exspensive we'll get.  It's like nike trainers selling for £100 a pair coz they are better quality and clinically tested and all the rest of the nonsense when in fact they were being made in vietnam and shipped to the world for a unit cost of average £3.50 to nike.
The truth is that if shoei or arai made £50 lids probably no-one would buy them as they would be thought of as cheap crap.  You'd hear people saying No thanks mate, I value my head more than that - etc  People, when going out to buy lids, will shop within a pre'conceived price range.  By this I mean they will go to the shop and only look at lids in whatever range they have decided on, say £200 - £350 - they will believe that anything above this range is fantastic but they cant afford it and anything below is sub-standard.
At the mo I have just started using a HJC which cost me £140 and is the ,most expensive lid i have ever owned.  My faithfull novak is still good and fits well after two years daily use and it cost me £42.
When buying the HJC the bloke in the shop told me that cheap helmets are impact type tested with one impact but expensive lids are type tested with multiple impacts - I felt like looking at his testicles to see if i could see the words coming out of them.

that's great idea TC - we all buy lids and wear them but i doubt any of us really know that much about the materials/design/testing etc.

yep TC, if you can I for one would like to see that report.

Go for TC, it sounds like a good idea. I wouldn't know where to start, if I wanted some unbiased opinions on lids.

I use a HJC myself but I have started to notice it getting a bit uncomfortable. Maybe the way to go, is to buy a cheaper lid and change it more often.