BEST Motorcycle Helmet To CRASH IN EXPLAINED 🫣| AGV Pista, Alpinestars R10, KYT, Shoei, Arai, LS2

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]As you can see though, carbon fiber shells when they split, they split hard.

[00:00:06]>> Oh, >> we're going to spend a lot of time on this one. It's interesting.

[00:00:09]>> The rider's alive, right?

[00:00:17]>> What's up, guys? It's your boy Fast Lane D and today we are here at Tampa Bay Motos and today we're going to be talking everything you need to know about helmets and not just generic helmet reviews cuz there are a million great ones out there on YouTube but we're going to be talking specifically about crashed damage helmets and we got the genius the wizard I don't even know there's so many names I could say just the knowledge or a whole ocean of information that he is going to share with you guys on these helmets. So, if you guys ever need anything helmet, parts, gear, anything related in that world, you know to hit up Chris. I'll throw his Instagram up, maybe phone number. If you guys need anything, make sure you hit them up.

[00:00:58]Yeah, I'll stop yapping. Let's get down to business.

[00:01:00]>> What's going on, guys? So, I'm Chris.

[00:01:02]Tampa Bay Motos, BMW motorcycles of Tampa Bay, and we're back.

[00:01:06]>> Yeah.

[00:01:06]>> Talking helmets.

[00:01:07]>> Yes.

[00:01:08]>> The things that save our lives. I think everyone has had a crash, right? And I think all of us have a story of what it feels like to hit the ground in a helmet. It all kind of sucks. It's a pretty intense moment to have. And a lot of these helmets up here have been crashed. A lot of them haven't. But every single one here is made of different composits, different materials, and varying levels of crashes, right? So, we're going to go through each one of those and understand what happened, why it happened, and what it looks like. And I think that's really important to understand what happens when you do drop your helmet from your seat on your motorcycle, or what happens when you throw it off your balcony in a rage of uh, you know, anger. Uh, you know, which don't do that. They're expensive. I have a helmet here that's been crashed and you can't tell it's been crashed. So, we're going to talk through all that and and understand each situation in which it was given and show what it all looks like at the end of the day because some helmets hide damage very very well and some don't. To start right, we have an HAC R41N. This is a FIM graded helmet. Obviously, everyone knows our AGV Pistas FIM as well. The KX1 KYT that Dylan loves to death.

[00:02:10]>> Belray DLX. My favorite, the Arai Corsair X.

[00:02:14]>> I got one coming.

[00:02:14]>> Do you?

[00:02:15]>> Oh, the Lambo one.

[00:02:17]>> All right. Hey, first.

[00:02:20]>> You'll at least be in Orion. I'll be >> Yeah. There you go.

[00:02:22]>> This is the Suomi S1 XRGP. These two helmets are essentially the same.

[00:02:28]>> Yeah, they look very similar.

[00:02:29]>> Yeah, they're made by the same people.

[00:02:30]The one says Suomi, one says KYT. Does not matter. This crashed one here is a Neotech 2 from Showy. It's a modular. We have an Alpine Stars R10. We're going to spend a lot of time on this one. It's interesting.

[00:02:41]>> The rider's alive, right?

[00:02:43]>> Yeah. Yeah. Every single rider in all these helmets lived considering this one is me personally. Really to start crashes, right? Crashes happen in all sorts of ways. Dylan know now going to champ school knows the seven reasons why we crash a motorcycle. Reason number one being loss of focus, right? We can almost attribute every single crash to a loss of focus or in some instances mistake. Get on too much front brake, open the throttle too quick, try to add throttle and lean at the same time. All sorts of problems, right? And sometimes you're fatigued. Sometimes you're just not in the right mindset and you make a mistake and down you go. The moment your head hits the ground, right? And sometimes you don't even know. There's multiple stresses that are are put on a shell, the EPS, and then ultimately your head. Helmets in in the grand scheme of things are made up of two major components. One of them being a shell.

[00:03:30]This is an Arai shell. They call it their shell of strength. Sort of fiberglass. It's called super fiber, but it is handmade, handlaid.

[00:03:36]Single-handedly probably the strongest shell on the market. That being said, fiberglass has its pros and cons. The pros are being very light. The cons is they can hide damage, right? Somewhat.

[00:03:45]The second piece of a helmet is going to be the EPS. So EPS, and this has been dented several times. We hit this thing with a hammer all the time uh to show what dissipation of energy looks like.

[00:03:56]But this EPS specifically from Arai has least densities that make up the shell because impact needs to be in certain areas and that dispersion of energy needs to be in certain places. Those are the major components of every single helmets. And then once you get past EPS, you have you the padding, right? The comfort liners. Every single manufacturer does something different.

[00:04:14]Some of them are adjustable, some of them are not. But every single shell, EPS, and padding should be fitted for you. There is going to be a correct size. If you're in the wrong size helmet, it is a dangerous situation to be in, >> which a lot of riders are. I was for a little bit, >> long time. Uh, yeah. So, most commonly people are wearing two sizes too big. A perfectly fitting helmet when you first try it on should be almost too snug.

[00:04:39]Here at the shop, we use two different verbiage. Is it snug or is it tight?

[00:04:43]Tight has a a cognation of pain to it.

[00:04:46]So, I want to know if it is painfully tight or if it's just snug. We're not born with helmets on our head. We're not born with the feeling of having something wrapped around our head all the time. And so, it's a very unusual thing, especially for your first helmet.

[00:04:58]So, typically first-time helmet buyers are always going to buy too big unless they're professionally fitted. myself, my staff, or somewhere else that is really focused on fitment of helmets.

[00:05:07]But it's critical that you get a helmet that fits you correctly, not only in in the size of your head, but the shape of your head. Three major shapes being long oval, intermediate oval, and round head shapes. Most of your high-end helmets here, the majority of them can be modified to suit. I have an intermediate oval head. Dylan has intermediate oval.

[00:05:24]We have some people here that have long oval heads, and there's going to be brands that fit those better, right?

[00:05:29]Arai is really nice because I can make an Arai fit anybody because they have a very modular pad system. Same with AGV.

[00:05:34]Theirs is called adaptive fit. The KYTs and Sonies have something similar. Not quite the same. Bells offer different pad thicknesses, but they're pretty intermediate oval. If you have a round head, you're going to hate a bell. But yeah, every helmet can be fitted in some way, shape, or form. As long as a good quality helmet, but it's not off Amazon or eBay or >> Yeah, please no.

[00:05:51]>> Yeah, fake helmets are out there. I actually had a guy who ended up buying a PA off Revzilla that someone had bought previously, >> put a fake one in the box, returned it to Revzilla, it missed their quality check in returns, and he purchased it.

[00:06:03]He ended up coming in. I was like, "Dude, that helmet's fake." And it was like very clearly fake. And those mistakes happen, especially with large companies. And it's not really RevZilla's fault. It can slip through the cracks when you're selling 3,000 helmets a day.

[00:06:13]>> Yeah. I bought a fake one, too.

[00:06:14]>> You sure did? Yeah. You bought a fake Shark. Yeah.

[00:06:16]>> You still have it?

[00:06:17]>> Yeah.

[00:06:18]>> It's not here. It's at home. It's in the collection because it's and and his was actually one of the most convincing fakes I've ever seen. It was way too good.

[00:06:24]>> Yeah, it was crazy.

[00:06:25]>> But it happens. You know, you get swindled sometimes and that's why you need to come in and buy from me or buy from a reputable shop, someone that can actually stand behind their product to understand the three shell types, okay?

[00:06:36]The matrix that it's made of. Your HAC's, your showies, some Suomi, some KYTS, Arise, all X-15s. actually have an X15 on the wall too we can show. But those are all fiberglass or a fiberglass composite/ fiberglass matrix. Every single company has their own verbiage.

[00:06:54]>> Okay. But it's like that essentially.

[00:06:56]>> Yes.

[00:06:56]>> So it is it is going to be a woven fiber, not carbon but woven fiber.

[00:07:01]>> Yeah.

[00:07:02]>> And it's going to be laid and then sealed with resin. Very similar to carbon fiber, but carbon fiber is a different process. It's a different material. It's it's very brittle, which has its pros and cons. And then polycarbonate shells like this LS2 Assault I believe is what this is. This is a plastic helmet. It is made out of, you know, polycarbonate material. I'm sure they have a very specific thing.

[00:07:22]That's fine. I don't sell this brand here.

[00:07:24]>> Let's say is that cheaper? Is that why they do that?

[00:07:26]>> Yes, polycarbonate is cheap. It's just cheap, right? Um and and that's not to say it's unsafe helmet, right? I want to be very clear. If it meets certifications, DOT, ECE2506, Snell, FIM, you are buying a safe product. The US, we require DOT. Some people can say DOT is not safe. DOT is safe, right? Uh we have enough stats to back that if you are wearing a DOT approved helmet that is a legitimate DOT approved helmet, you have a less chance of being critically injured in a motorcycle accident or dying. Please don't buy a cheap Chinese or Amazon special >> helmet. If your helmet is 60 bucks, there's a reason it's 60 bucks. Your head is worth more than $60. Okay? There is not a single helmet that I sell here personally uh that is unsafe. It is the simple fact that once you start moving up in price range, you start exceeding those limits, right? So, it is a baseline that these ratings must meet and then once they want to go above that, you get into these pricier helmets and most of these are $1,000 or more, especially once they're outfitted, they will exceed those safety standards. Um, and it's going to be different to every single brand. So, polycarbons, plastic, fiberglass is going to be a woven material. And then your carbon fiber helmets are going to obviously be the same carbon fiber you get on your your cars, your bikes, your your things like that. But it is woven to the correct shape. It is molded in a specific way to have stresses in it that will be relieved in a motorcycle crash. Right?

[00:08:44]Dylan did more damage to this thing. But you can see this this axial cracking here. And I'm no engineer. Please don't criticize me for what I'm calling it.

[00:08:52]But these are are not linear cracks.

[00:08:54]These are these are along an axis. That stress shows that that actually buckled, right? It gave it gave way. If you look at this Neotech, same deal. We had an impact all the way through the top. And we'll go through each of these a little bit better, take them apart, show you the insides, and and understand what you're seeing. Um, but some of these helmets have had a significant impact to some varying degree. So, I'm going to clean off the good helmets here real quick. The big thing I do want to add though, like your bells, um, and I got to see the new Bell Star GP coming out.

[00:09:25]Can't show pictures. Can't really talk too much about it, but uh you're going to want one. Everyone's going to want one. They're going back to a true MIPS instead of their DLX platform. Mips in general or uh ODS in your 60 off-road helmets and some of their street helmets is a extra layer in the EPS that when it is in a crash will help the helmet rotate a little bit to minimize torsal stress on your skull. That reduces impact forces, it reduces uh tension, it reduces everything. MIPS is a changer in the game for sure. It's it's it's a huge deal. Mips helmets should be prioritized uh especially for first helmets just because you are going to make a mistake.

[00:10:00]You are new, you're learning, it's okay.

[00:10:02]But anything in a crash, if you're wearing a MIP helmet, you are typically going to come out a little better. All right, so these are our daily worn helmets. You've seen Dylan and his KYT all the time. This is my personal RI Corsair X. I've got some mileage in this thing for sure. This has been my daily for 3 years now, if not longer. The big thing is that when you wear a helmet daily, there are going to be EPS cracks.

[00:10:24]That liner, that foam inside will start showing its age. This is a great example of that. So, inside every helmet, if it's FIMEerted, you will have a barcode here, a QR code. Basically, if you see one of those on on the actual strap of a helmet, you can scan that. It'll bring you to the FIM website, and that will uh validate your helmet essentially. Okay?

[00:10:43]Not all helmets are FIM. You don't need an FIM helmet to ride safely on the street. It's another standard that we can achieve, too. But with that in mind, inside every single helmet is also going to be a date code. So, in his KYT, it's right here. It's upside down in the video here, but it is June 18th of 2025.

[00:11:01]Pretty fresh. And this also going to have some other things in here, some manufacturing stickers, things like that. But if you look inside of here, he has some EPS cracking. So, we have some right there in the vent channel. We also have some right there on the lip of the edge. And then you have a bunch right here.

[00:11:16]>> What the heck?

[00:11:16]>> It's normal. That's normal, right? But someone could look at this and go, "Oh my god, it's crack." No, it's normal.

[00:11:21]>> It's fine. There's nothing wrong here.

[00:11:23]Right. As you wear EPS, uh, right, and helmets, it is going to compress a little bit. It's going to move, right?

[00:11:29]And a lot of us who have comm systems in our helmet, this thing doesn't have a commit.

[00:11:33]>> Yeah, I can't. My head's too big. I got way too big for a com.

[00:11:37]>> It's huge.

[00:11:38]>> He edits it in his videos to be smaller.

[00:11:40]Um, when when we put things like wires and things like that inside the helmets, you're going to compress EPS. It's going to compress it. is going to damage it in no way makes it unsafe. It's perfectly fine. There's a lot of it in there. So, we can do that. And then if we look at mine now, some helmets, right, they don't put the date code inside. They actually put the date code right here on the D-ring. All the ARIS will have them on the D-ring. A seven of 22. So, this is about to be a 4-year-old helmet for me. Yeah, I'll probably replace it soon.

[00:12:04]I have a comm system in here. You can see the EPS cracking in the back around some of the pads cuz I take my pads out all the time. And then look at the top here. There's a ton of EPS cracking. And I'm not ashamed to show it. And you still trust your head in this?

[00:12:15]>> I don't even think about it, right? Wow.

[00:12:17]>> But I put this on top of mirrors, bars.

[00:12:19]I mean, I put it in weird spots. And you should never really be hanging your helmet that way. You should treat it with a lot of respect. But this is the helmet I wear every single day here in Florida. It has survived four summers at this point now, apparently. So, just be mindful of that. Right. The Arai here is also going to be Snell rated. So, that is a Snell foundation sticker. And I'm I'm not going to spend this video talking about the different ratings between Snell 2020, 2016, 2025. It's very convoluted. Other people have made better videos about it. Pros and cons to it all, but those are a daily worn helmet, and that is okay to see that in.

[00:12:51]Right. The big thing with other helmets, too, is that you need to be lubricating your visors. You need to be making sure your helmet's in good condition. You should take it apart every once in a while and clean your damn pads. Y'all running around with acne and wondering where it's coming from. It's from your helmet. I'm telling you, we sweat in these things.

[00:13:05]>> Yeah. A lot of people wear balaclavas now, though.

[00:13:07]>> Yeah, some. But guess what? When they soak up sweat, where does it still go?

[00:13:10]Your Just clean your damn helmet.

[00:13:11]>> Yeah, that's true.

[00:13:12]>> Right. And some helmets are completely submersible. The Arise you can completely dunk in water. There is no problem with it. They even encourage it.

[00:13:18]The KYTs have no problem with it. Uh, you know, make sure you take your coms and stuff, all that stuff with it. But wash these things, right? Pull out your pads, put some Dawn dish soap on them, run under water, and dry them out. No fabric softeners.

[00:13:29]>> Can you do them in the laundry, too?

[00:13:30]Just take >> You shouldn't just hand wash them. It takes 5 minutes. Don't be that kind of lazy. But making sure and inspecting your helmet is going to prevent failures, right? I've said it out loud.

[00:13:38]I had a visor failure in an arai and it was my own fault. I was doing 150 miles an hour with my Pro Shade up. Guess what happens when you're at 150 mph with your Pro Shade up?

[00:13:47]>> It's going to pull past the lock. Um, and and and I lost a side pod to it. It was a whole thing. But Arya is great with their warranty and you know, they took care of me. And that's why we're in Ara. I trust it. If you look at Moto America, a ton of people on the grid. I mean, a ton of proper racers are wearing Arise day in and day out. All the champ school guys wear Arise. And it's because we trust our lives to these things.

[00:14:06]KYT's on the grid a lot now, too. A lot of KYTS out Yeah, we stepping it up, baby.

[00:14:11]>> Yeah. No, and there and and that's the real difference here is you have a race fit helmet for like a KYT. That's why you can't put a comm system in it.

[00:14:16]There's no speaker cutouts to an arai that is still their racing helmet, but it's so adjustable that you can fit a comm system. You can do a lot of things with it. This is my street helmet. I have an exact identical helmet to this that is my race fit. The fact is is it's it's fit to be worn racing at high speed, not for street work. Different helmets for different uses. race helmets are going to naturally be louder um instead of like your modular Neotech 2os, right? Those are supposed to be quieter. So, there's a helmet for every use case. All right? Just like there's a tire for every use case. You want to take your road sixes to the track.

[00:14:47]Although you can, it's not going to be super great. That is that portion done.

[00:14:51]So, let's talk about the crash.

[00:14:54]Okay. So, we'll start with this guy cuz this is uh it's a pretty significant one. So, this gentleman was riding an F900R. That is a 100 horsepower parallel twin made by BMW. He exited the roadway in a corner. As we know, it's one of the most dangerous places people crash.

[00:15:10]Ended up going through a tree head first. I want to be specific about this.

[00:15:14]Right. So, this helmet was sold by me, custom fitted by me. We changed pads around for him. And he lived to tell the tale. He had a broken neck, a whole bunch of other things. He had a long road to recovery. And he calls me, he goes, "Hey, Chris, do you remember me?"

[00:15:26]I go, "Yeah, what's up?" And he goes, "Hey, you saved my life." And I said, "What?" told me the story and sent me the helmet and this is what it was. It did come in with a chin bar on it. I took that off because it doesn't really help anything. Uh it was busted. But what what the big thing here to see is that there's still pieces of the tree in it. Okay. So, he went head first into a tree, cut the tree down. I'm not going to advise you to do, but we see this huge crack in the shell and that's the fiberglass. That is a fiberglass aim matrix that Showy makes on these shells in Japan. And you can see that coming through the shell in various places. You know, all the vents were busted off. You can see just the enormous impact this thing took. Just incredible.

[00:16:05]>> Yeah, that's crazy.

[00:16:06]>> He has to live to tell the tale. You would think seeing that helmet, that guy had a rough ride.

[00:16:11]>> Yeah.

[00:16:11]>> But then we're going to look at the EPS, right? And this is kind of where like the magic of helmets is. Now, this is a modular, right? So, really the EPS is here, right? It's around the skull of this of of the helmet of the person. The chin bar does have a little bit of EPS in it, but not much. It's designed to move. It's supposed to be light. But you look at that EPS and you go, "Man, it's not that bad." It really isn't. But he absolutely had a TVI from it. You know, he had he had brain bleeding, right? He took a hit. Well, you split a willow tree or an oak tree in half at 70 miles an hour. That's what's going to happen.

[00:16:39]And really what we can see here is this ripple, right? This compression. So, we know that when he made contact that this thing pushed into him, right? This went into his shoulders.

[00:16:46]>> Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I see.

[00:16:48]>> So, we know, hey, you know, he took a significant hit. He did break his neck in this accident, among other things.

[00:16:53]But we can see that even this helmet alone is a 23. Looks like a 23. This crash happened last year.

[00:16:59]>> Yeah.

[00:17:00]>> So, newer helmet, no comm system installed, but he still lived.

[00:17:04]>> Damn, that's cool.

[00:17:05]>> Yeah, it's super cool.

[00:17:06]>> Yeah.

[00:17:06]>> Um, and so here's my personal Swomi.

[00:17:10]>> Beautiful helmet.

[00:17:10]>> I crashed in this thing at 20 mph. I face planted a tire wall.

[00:17:24]>> Can't even tell.

[00:17:24]>> Can't even tell. The outside is completely intact.

[00:17:27]>> Yeah.

[00:17:27]>> And look at my EPS.

[00:17:29]>> Oh yeah. Beautiful.

[00:17:30]>> Clean.

[00:17:30]>> Yeah.

[00:17:31]>> Clean as a whistle. But is this helmet still safe to use?

[00:17:33]>> That's what I was going to ask. Can you still ride in it?

[00:17:35]>> I do.

[00:17:36]>> Okay. I was about to say >> I'm fine with it, right?

[00:17:38]>> Because it's my own personal choice. If a customer came in said, "I crashed at 20 mph and there was absolutely zero damage to the exterior of the shell and the internal EPS," I would say you're probably fine. But you have to make the decision yourself. It is your personal risk assessment, right? Every time we get on a bike, we we have to assess what our plan for that day is, what we're working on that day, that or that session, and we got to go, damn, I did crash in this.

[00:17:59]Is it smart to ride in this? I walked away just fine. My cheeks hurt for a while. You know, I was a little out of breath, but that's it. And then we also have the Insta 360 helmet mount. This guy is between my shell and EPS.

[00:18:10]>> I didn't see that.

[00:18:11]>> Yeah. Is that a problem?

[00:18:12]>> Is there damage there?

[00:18:13]>> No.

[00:18:13]>> Depends on how you hit it. Oh, >> I've introduced a product that the helmet company did not design >> and put it in between the shell of my helmet and the EPS.

[00:18:22]>> So, does that affect the not rigidity, but >> affects it in some way, >> right? We're going to look at when we get to the Alpine Stars that that played a factor in some of the EPS cracking on that. We'll talk about that a little more in depth and the versions of right of of our actual comm system installs, our camera installs. This is a track helmet. I crashed at the cart track on my Z125 race bike like that. That's what it is, right? It's not a big deal, right? We we fall down, we go we go bump and oh, that hurt. Okay, we move on with our day. Row the rest of the day in the helmet, row the rest of the day after.

[00:18:51]It's fine.

[00:18:52]>> Yeah, that's why we wear gear so we can do that.

[00:18:54]>> But that is something we need to be cognizant of. We need to be aware of the choices we're making and what modifications we're doing to a helmet.

[00:19:00]On to this thing. Dylan here crashed in his uh KX1. And this thing was like fresh, too, when it happened. It was like a week or two old or a month old.

[00:19:08]It wasn't It wasn't old at all, but he took a significant crash in it, right?

[00:19:12]Okay. And you came out with a concussion. Was it a mild concussion?

[00:19:15]>> Uh maybe like a mild but not really like a small concussion.

[00:19:18]>> Okay. You were concussed, right? Your brain smacked inside of around the skull a little bit.

[00:19:22]>> Yeah.

[00:19:22]>> Dude, you got hit at like what, 70 mph or something like that, dude? It happens, right?

[00:19:26]>> Like in that you wore a helmet, you wore your gear, most of your gear, and you came out okay, right? For the most part.

[00:19:31]Your head certainly came out okay. You said you filmed an ad.

[00:19:34]>> Listen, we filmed an ad. I I'll throw a clip up real quick where I did slam this helmet and we had to do a couple takes.

[00:19:38]So, it's a little more beat up now than it was originally. It'll still make do for a good example.

[00:19:44]>> Before we show you guys this, cuz I I remember after the crash looking at this thing going, "Huh, this thing held up pretty well."

[00:19:49]>> Yeah.

[00:19:49]>> For the accident that he had, right? Um and he didn't have a direct hit to the head. You came off the bike, you tumbled a bit.

[00:19:54]>> You didn't take a smack.

[00:19:55]>> No.

[00:19:56]>> But your EPS damage is so light.

[00:19:58]>> Yeah. That's >> just there in the bottom. And from a rear end accident, we can expect that he went backwards quickly. We can kind of tell that you didn't hit too hard. There wasn't a lot of G's in your accident.

[00:20:07]the first time we're going to say the word geforce here, but the shell still kept its integrity. Your spoiler didn't come off in a crash. These are designed to break, right? These are going to come right off. And that is something to understand. If you have this kind of, you know, crack in the integrity of the shell, then yeah, it's a problem. As you can see though, carbon fiber shells, when they split, they split hard. If we look at the Showy, you can see the dimpling in it. We can see the depression of that shell, but it doesn't split because the shell is not built as a way to alleviate pressure. It's just strong, right? On a carbon helmet, you're going to more often than not see splits in the in the carbon itself.

[00:20:42]That's how you can always really tell if a carbon's gone down because it'll it'll show pretty damn fast.

[00:20:46]>> But that is something you need to be aware of. You need to see it. But otherwise, you did well on this one. And I mean, even looking at the EPS on the inside, there's no damage to the EPS.

[00:20:53]But you know why?

[00:20:54]>> Why?

[00:20:54]>> Cuz your head wasn't in it.

[00:20:55]>> Oh, that makes sense.

[00:20:57]>> Right. So if you take a polycarb shell or even a a fiberglass shell and cover it up and start beating into the ground and keep the shell intact, >> is there going to be damage to your EPS?

[00:21:05]No, because helmets only work when there's weight inside the helmet. You're not going to wear this thing again. This thing toast. It's done. This thing's toast. But we're not going to see a dropped helmet have impact craters inside the EPS. And so if we drop your helmet from, you know, seat height to the ground, it's going to be fine.

[00:21:22]>> You can still wear it.

[00:21:23]>> Absolutely.

[00:21:23]>> It falls off your bike or whatever.

[00:21:25]>> Yeah. Four or five feet, no big deal. If there is if you put your drink inside of it or or anything inside with weight, right, a human head's about 7 lbs. If you put anything with weight inside the helmet, then drop it. Huge problems.

[00:21:36]That's why we don't put anything in our helmet. Not even our gloves. Some people wear the gloves in it. Don't do that.

[00:21:40]It's gross. It's super gross. Super gross. You touch things with your gloves >> and the Velcro starts peeling on the inside.

[00:21:46]>> Yeah, it's nasty. Don't do that. Please don't put your gloves in your helmet.

[00:21:48]But that is something to be aware of, right? So, everyone thinks, "Oh man, I dropped my helmet. It's done." I think I've thrown my accidentally. I've tripped down my stairs in my apartment once and literally caught myself with it in the wall.

[00:21:58]>> Oh, dang.

[00:21:59]>> Scuffed it up real bad. It's fine. It's okay. And that's just what it comes down to. Small drops and bangs and bumps.

[00:22:05]That's all right. No helmet's going to get destroyed by that. They're not made out of glass.

[00:22:08]>> So it's a myth.

[00:22:09]>> Total myth. Yeah. And and you know, maybe you should replace it if you're that skeptical, but I I'm not I'm not going to I have plenty of helmets. I'm still not going to do it if I drop one.

[00:22:18]If it drops from a, you know, 12 ft high, okay, you know, hey, you're going to hit some kind of velocity there.

[00:22:23]>> Yeah.

[00:22:23]>> Be smart about it. Drops off your seat, off your tank, off your mirror. Inspect it real quick. Make sure nothing drastic happened. You're going to be okay. If the visor pops off without a direct hit to the visor, I would say let's fully inspect that helmet just because there had to be some kind of flex in the helmet for the visor mechanism to fail.

[00:22:38]Keep that in mind, guys. Your helmet's not toasty dropping. Just your ego. All right, guys. So, this helmet has caught a lot of attention online and not even from me. I saw it went, "Wow, that's a pretty crashed helmet and moved on with my day." But there's some things about this helmet, the way it looks inside, how it crashed, the rider. There's a lot of misinformation going around and I and I think the reason of this video today is is really I want you to see the varying levels of impacts and damages and things that can happen to a helmet.

[00:23:06]Um and and understand that not every single crash or helmet can be judged the same way. Every single time we we we have a crash or an impact, it is going to be different circumstances, different impact. Everything's just different. You can't judge them to the same exact caliber. So, this customer of mine did not purchase this helmet from me. You purchased it online. Had a high side at turn 11 at Jennings GP, which uh certainly not a slow corner, certainly not a super fast corner. You kind of come out of 10, run it wide, kind of wait a little bit, get on the brakes, throw it to the left, slowly roll back on that throttle as you take away lead angle. But he didn't quite make it. He touched the grass on the outside of 11 somewhere on the exit of 11. Bike went out from under him, snapped back up, high-sided. It was a 60 mph crash.

[00:23:55]>> There's no video evidence.

[00:23:56]>> There's no video of it, unfortunately. I wish it would answer a lot of things here, but he hit head first backwards.

[00:24:02]We can see most of the impact damage, the cratering is right here. And as you can see, the helmet kind of gets scraped up all the way around. There's damage right here on the front lip.

[00:24:12]>> How did that happen?

[00:24:13]>> We're guessing he flipped over. That's the only thing we can guess is that he hit. He still had momentum.

[00:24:18]>> He's a shorter individual. Um, you know, so if you fall backwards off a high side, you're going to roll. But there's some damage here, right? And I want to I want to really show people if we presume the impact is here. And again, we don't have the video. We don't know. But we can look at this and kind of have an understanding. If the impact was here, and we have a giant split in the carbon here, we can assume that this carbon cracked because of the relief of the hit, right? The spoiler's gone, smashed into a million pieces. All the tabs for it are also smashed. This helmet >> Oh, yeah.

[00:24:46]>> compressed.

[00:24:46]>> Yeah. Compressed. Yeah. getting shot off your bike at 60 mph on a high side.

[00:24:50]You're coming down at the ground with significant force, right? There's some G-forces involved here and and G-force is kind of the word of the day for this because we don't have monitor set up. We He wasn't wearing an airbag, so we can't actually see the the impact sustain. If you're wearing a Alpine Stars Tech Air, we can see the G-forces. We know how hard that helmet got hit. But regardless of that, he hit damn hard. And this is what the EPS looks like. It's significant. I want to make sure we're clear here that this guy walked away. He walked away from the crash with a mild concussion. Well, a couple bruises, but that is a significant impact to the EPS, but we know since he walked away that it did its job. All the helmets you've seen here today didn't take that type of impact on the thinnest portion of EPS, right? This is a downward strike with all of his weight onto this helmet. And he's not a he's not a small guy. He's 220 lb. Sorry, buddy. And even with this, you know, he was flying through the air and went through a tree and this compressed into him. He hit the tree. He didn't hit the ground with his body weight. There's different forces at play.

[00:25:48]>> Yeah.

[00:25:48]>> And simply because of that, we need to understand that the EPS here did its job. Significant damage, but not outside the realm of what's realistic. You know, I've never been the biggest supporter of the SR10. I've sold quite a handful to the crowd of you guys right here, but I don't stock it in on my shelves. I don't sell this helmet every day. But I just feel there's other options out there for the price point. But I want to make sure everyone's very clear and understanding that this helmet is safe. It worked. And some extra facts to this entire thing which seems to have been missed in a lot of these posts. There's a comm system installed right on a track helmet. And more so than that, it was a clip style and it was installed right here.

[00:26:25]>> So, >> and you can see a depression in the EPS of that.

[00:26:28]>> Yeah. So, is that okay when the clip goes on? And >> I would not put anything between the shell and the EPS. Now, there's a difference with Arise, right? My Arai has a has a cardo. But what most people don't understand about her eyes is that the cheek pad, this cheek pad is fully removable. So the only thing this clip actually touches is the shell.

[00:26:48]>> Oh, I see.

[00:26:49]>> But the cheek pad is an integral part of the EPS of the helmet itself. But the way it's manufactured, you can remove it and it'll be fine. Right. I would rather a clip style on an Arai than any of the other options only because when you permanently attach something with like the 3M tape, >> it can snap. Right. your chin mounts, things like that, they can snag and if they snag, they can input even more force into the shell itself.

[00:27:11]>> I didn't realize that.

[00:27:12]>> And you know, typically like on your KYT, at the front of your KYT, right?

[00:27:16]>> If you take a forward impact on that, it can multiply damages on top of if you have something mounted, you know, to the front, say like a camera that weighs a pound, right?

[00:27:25]>> Theoretically, I don't know how much they weigh. That is extra weight that is moving at the end of your helmet that is on your neck. That's why a lot of track organizations ban that. That's why my Suomi has a inside the helmet mounted camera. If I do crash, like I crash in that thing, it didn't move and it go anywhere. It stays inside. It doesn't add any torsional forces to my neck. But with this Alpine Stars, I want to make sure people realize one, the customer is actually a large. He's not an extra large. He bought this on his own accord.

[00:27:48]So, his head moved even more inside the shell than it should have. He didn't touch any of the adaptive fit mechanisms inside of it. It was set up completely stock. With that in mind, we see this kind of damage and we go, "Oh my god, how did this happen?" the right helmet, the wrong size, additional accessories installed in considerably a nasty little crash. And that's what we're left with.

[00:28:06]There is nothing of concern here that happened to this helmet that makes me worried. It did its job. He's completely alive. He brought it to me.

[00:28:13]>> He was at our track day.

[00:28:14]>> I didn't even know that.

[00:28:15]>> Yeah. I think this helmet's catching a lot of a lot of flack for no reason because there's nothing here that goes, "Oh my god." Every crash is different.

[00:28:24]And if any single person is is comparing this helmet and this damage to their helmet from their crash, it doesn't matter, right? If if you crash at 100 mph down Homestead, down the front straight on one of the bank sections, unless you actually impact something backwards from a high side at 60 mph, you can't compare. Every helmet is going to do different things. As long as you walk away, you're okay.

[00:28:46]>> Exactly. Now, you're saying the EPS is the weakest in the back typically.

[00:28:50]>> Typically, yeah, it's typically the thinnest, especially on race style helmets. Yeah, >> because you need to be able to get your neck up, you know, when you're in a full tuck. So that's why most of the times they come up very high. The neckline of these helmets come up very very high. So this is how you're supposed to wear it.

[00:29:04]And sometimes this is a very thin portion of EPS even on our KYTS and Swamies. The AIS are are traditionally pretty thick, but they also have a there's a whole different design anthology to an Arai that makes it a bit more superior in my personal opinion.

[00:29:16]And again, I'm just me, you guys know why, but it matters. And so I want to make sure everyone understands what we see, why we see it, and how we can actually look at this and understand what happened because yeah, this is significant damage. It's not concerning to me. It did its job.

[00:29:31]>> That's a newer helmet.

[00:29:32]>> Oh, it's brand new. Yeah, it's a 0925 build date. So that's something we need to just see. And this helmet is actually going to Alpine Stars. It's going to be shipped out here probably tomorrow now and sent off and get evaluated and understood and put into their R&D program to get an analysis done because they want to see. They want to understand. But ultimately, we don't know how many g-forces this guy took.

[00:29:49]Yeah.

[00:29:50]>> And that matters. So, understand that if we just go sliding down the road, we have a low side or something. All right, cool. Hit a tire wall at 20 miles an hour. Cool. But sometimes you take a hard hit and you have problems and that's just what helmets are designed to do. And a lot of guys in Moto GP, you know, those guys are sliding a lot, right? They're they're tumbling in the gravel pits. These guys are going through three or four helmets a weekend.

[00:30:09]They obviously work, right? Your R10 worn by Jorge Martin, the Arise, same thing. KYT, Swami, same thing. We can buy these helmets. They're using a production helmet. They're not getting anything specially made for them other than liners and some tweaks to make it more comfortable for their racing.

[00:30:24]That's it. No one is spending that kind of money for a single racer for to go through five or six helmets in a weekend. I have this LS2 helmet here that we can throw a hammer into if anyone wants to see what a polycarb shell does cuz I don't have a polycarb example and I don't sell any.

[00:30:36]>> So, the LS2 assault. I've never done this.

[00:30:38]>> I mean, just whack it. Just hit it. I want you guys to see the shell damage because polycarbonates are very good at hiding damage because they kind of can just pop back into place. And I'm not saying I'm going to make it very clear to LS2, you guys make an okay product.

[00:30:51]It's cool in my book. It's safe, meet standards. See tons of them on the road.

[00:30:54]I've seen tons of them crashed. You guys are doing it good. I don't sell LS2 here. Uh just not the brand I sell. They don't offer a product that my customers want. We're the number one dealer in the southeast for Arai, baby. Um Chris is a huge Ara guy.

[00:31:06]>> Yeah. Because I like the product. They stand behind it.

[00:31:10]Godamn.

[00:31:13]>> That hurts, bro. Oh, wow. You can't even see. No cracking, nothing. Damn.

[00:31:20]>> Oh my gosh.

[00:31:21]>> Oh, wow. I pushed the vent back. I can't even tell.

[00:31:23]>> What the hell?

[00:31:24]>> Right. And And again, that is a polycarbonate helmet. They're more flexible. These helmets can take that kind of hit without it being shown.

[00:31:32]>> So, does that make it safer than like a carbon helmet or >> It doesn't make it safer, but it doesn't make it unsafe either. And I want to be clear about that, right? If it's meeting a standard and it proves it's ECE, DOT, Snell, FIM, whatever, and it's a polycarb shell, it is not less safe. It is just cheaper. It is a preference.

[00:31:49]Polycarbonate shells are typically heavier. So going to a fiberglass or carbon saves weight. There's very few carbon helmets I actually like. The Bell Racear is a 3K carbon helmet that's, you know, produced and and sold by Bell that works. And I don't mind them. I like them. And they are absolutely carbon. I own one. The one in the video is the one I own. And that's to say that I'm not against carbon. I just think it's a more of a marketing ploy than a real thing.

[00:32:12]Hey, Bo Wilson.

[00:32:12]>> What's up, buddy?

[00:32:13]>> You want to hit this helmet with a hammer?

[00:32:15]>> Really?

[00:32:15]>> Yeah.

[00:32:16]>> Give it a Bo Wilson whack >> on the glass so I can make >> Not on the do it right there.

[00:32:21]>> Hey, that'll be a good clip.

[00:32:22]>> Whose helmet is it?

[00:32:23]>> It's just a helmet.

[00:32:25]>> Holy sh You mad or something, bro? Got some aggression you need to talk about.

[00:32:29]>> Everything.

[00:32:30]>> So, we have one little crack. Oh man, the vents are popped out. Oh, let's put that back in place.

[00:32:33]>> That had to go. I mean, you did a good one.

[00:32:36]>> The same spot you hit, >> but the EPS is fine. But I wouldn't trust that helmet now. So, that same idea like polycarbonates can hide damage. It's not to say polycarbonate helmets are bad. Again, if your budget's 300 bucks, buy a $300 helmet.

[00:32:47]>> Yeah.

[00:32:47]>> Yeah. Hell no.

[00:32:48]>> But wear a helmet, damn it. And wear one that fits.

[00:32:50]>> That's true. Guess it's better than nothing.

[00:32:53]>> Yeah, the fitment is keys. And that's what it comes down to is that it doesn't matter what the helmet is made out of.

[00:32:57]It matters that it fits correctly. It fits snug. But that's really what I got.

[00:33:01]I don't think I have any other questions about anything. You covered everything pretty thoroughly.

[00:33:05]>> I kept it very vague about a lot of stuff because there's going to be there's super minute details about helmets and design and manufacturing.

[00:33:12]Kind of doesn't really matter for most of it. It doesn't really matter about the manufacturing side of helmets. Yeah, some helmets are made in China. Some helmets are made in Indonesia. Some are made in Vietnam. Some are made in Japan.

[00:33:21]Some are handmade in Japan. Some are made with seven machines in the factory in Japan. Who cares? It matters that you're wearing one. It matters that it fits. It matters that you take care of it. Don't leave them in hot garages.

[00:33:31]Bring them inside. Treat it like a dog.

[00:33:33]All right. You don't leave your dog in a hot car or hot garage.

[00:33:36]>> I didn't know that.

[00:33:36]>> Yeah. So EPS can get brittle. So as it ages, it will get brittleer and brittleer kind of like styrofoam, you know, that come wrapped around appliances. That stuff snaps real easily. EPS should not snap real easily.

[00:33:48]Should be dissipating energy. You know, if we right if we strike that, we can see that it's not just a hole punched in it. It is a divot made.

[00:33:58]>> That's why this is hit so much. just because it's we we say hey hit the EPS enjoy it right this is what is protecting you and that matters some helmets and their shapes are more aerodynamic than others or better designed for protection than others you know gets the the heat about their shape right the shape of the eyes is ugly and blah blah blah whatever it's the safest helmet shape out there because it's shaped like an egg and they show that they prove that and they show that it can take more impact in certain areas of the head that lead to injuries than others and that's okay you don't have to like the shape and we try not to worry about the perception of others and what they think of us. Get a helmet that you personally like that you can enjoy. Just make sure it fits.

[00:34:33]>> Well, heck yeah. You guys have any questions, throw them down in the comments below. I appreciate his time.

[00:34:37]He's obviously at work. It's a busy day.

[00:34:40]>> Yeah, it's not that busy.

[00:34:41]>> Oh, yeah. It's a full dealership. Mark's not there taking much service call. So, hopefully the audio and everything was good. But if there's any other topics you guys want us to talk about, please comment them down below. We have access to this wealth of knowledge here. So, thank you, Chris. Anything you need, like I said, hit them up. you know where to go here at Tampa Bay Motos or on IG.

[00:34:59]But I think that's going to sum up this video. As always guys, I appreciate you guys watching. Work hard, be consistent.

[00:35:04]You can do anything you want in life.

[00:35:05]Your boy Chris will catch youall on the next one. We're out. Peace.