Expensive Road Bike Helmets, A Marketing Scam?

[BobCochran]

Quote by oldbobcat:

"And its utilitarian ugliness seems to have a charm, much like the original Volkswagen."

Well it doesn't have "original Volkswagen" pricing. I took a quick look at it on Amazon. This thing is go-declare-bankruptcy-expensive.

I'm not knocking expensive helmets by themselves. What I'm knocking is that most of the helmets plain people like me see....are priced at stratospheric levels in the local bike shops. This in turn makes newcomers to the sport turn away, or they decide to ride without helmets to save the money. Pricing of helmets and various other bicycle things does not encourage adoption of the sport, except by those who can afford it.

The best way to get a reasonably priced helmet so far is to go to Walmart or Costco. There, prices seem to over in the mid-to-high $30.00 range. I think helmets meeting CPSC requirements in the USA which offer very good comfort could probably retail for $20 or $25 and everyone would make plenty of profit.

Bob

 

[ABNPFDR]

Just about every bike shop in the area here has a helmet below $50. The shop I work at has a half dozen helmets between $40 (lowest priced in the shop aside from kids models) and $65.

It really all depends on the shop. About 40% of our business is hybrids and cruiser bikes, 25% road, 25% mountain and 10% triathlon. We carry a wide selection of reasonably priced helmets for the recreational customers. We have a bunch of mid -range stuff for the entry level road and mountain cyclist, and a good selection of high end stuff for the hard core guys.

If we as a shop only catered to roadies, you can bet that we'd carry far less low-end. Selection is usuallycustomer/market driven..

 

[Corzhens]

For motorcycles, there is a law here that regulates what helmet is to be used by motorcycle riders. There is a regular checkpoint where cops would stop the riders to check on their helmets. Those violating would be issued traffic tickets. For bikes, there's no such law except that bikers should follow the regulations especially the use of the proper lanes - bikes are not allowed in the fast lane. But I understand and I see that bikers are still violating that simple regulation.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by OBC:
"The POC Octal is getting really popular with the Fred crowd in Boulder."

That's hilarious! That thing is so fugly...IMNSHO of course.

"I think people like the colors, and there might be some affinity with the Garmin team. And its utilitarian ugliness seems to have a charm, much like the original Volkswagen."

Around here the hipsters trend towards skate helmets in matte black.

"My vote for hands-down ugliness, though is for the LAS Squalo, thankfully no longer seen in the pro peloton. It case you've forgotten, here's a sample:las-squalo-bike-helmet_746458_175.jpg
This one was pretty weird, too. Gone with the Euskaltel Euskadi ProTour license, I can't remember who made it:
pic395171397_670.jpg"

Agreed. Really...we need legislation to protect the unaware from tragic mistakes such as...that thing!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by BC:
"This thing is go-declare-bankruptcy-expensive."

I own some pretty nice motorcycle helmets that meet every protection standard set by every arcane industry organization and government group on the planet and yet most road helmets for bicycling are priced as high as them.


"The best way to get a reasonably priced helmet so far is to go to Walmart or Costco."

Certainly, this is true. Or just buy last year's 'Glorious Peloton Leader's Now Way Obsolete' lid for less than half price at a Nashbar closeout price or January bike store sale in Ohio. After all, what self-respecting Cat. 4 is going to be seen on the starting line in last year's Styrofoam?

A couple ounces of Styrofoam...an in-mold plastic shell...a couple of straps and a buckle. All done by Chi-com slave labor. How tough can it be?

Remember those Giro 'pods' the helmets used to be supplied with? I always figured the protective pod for the helmet cost more to manufacture than the helmet, itself.

On the serious side, there probably is a healthy amount of product liability money for law suits built into every helmet sold. Still, that same money is in every $24.88 helmet WallyWorld sells.

It's all very much a subjective purchase and fashion and trends and marketing does drive sales. Performance and protection...yes, those are valid considerations, but you know that mirror next to the helmet rack? You KNOW what it's there for.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

And...

Surprisingly, no one has even mentioned the shelf-life of helmets and the recommended replacement schedules.

Not that anyone would be seen wearing a 5-year old sun-faded, sweat soaked lid on its second set of replacement pads...

 

[mpre53]

And...

Surprisingly, no one has even mentioned the shelf-life of helmets and the recommended replacement schedules.

Not that anyone would be seen wearing a 5-year old sun-faded, sweat soaked lid on its second set of replacement pads...

White. It doesn't fade. It just gets whiter.

 

[BobCochran]

Friends,

I apologize to all of you for getting on my high horse and whining about helmet prices. I was getting a little too whiny. As in showing bad manners.

Bob

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Meh. The internetz was invented for bitching. Make your opinion known and Robert, there is no need for apologies among friends.

I don't any 'scam' in helmet prices, but they sure do get a bitchin' price for what amounts to a cheap beer cooler.

 

[oldbobcat]

Just about every bike shop in the area here has a helmet below $50. The shop I work at has a half dozen helmets between $40 (lowest priced in the shop aside from kids models) and $65.

Thanks for bringing that up. Shops that cover the family and casual end of the spectrum have plenty of $40 helmets. And the mid-range, $65-90, offers lighter weight, better ventilation, more precise sizing, and (cough, cough) some style, with modest increase in price. And lately, Bell has been reissuing their old premium helmets at significantly lower prices, so you can wear what the pros wore 10-12 years ago without breaking the bank.

A basic Giro or Bell is still more durable and fits and attaches to the head better than what you're going to get at Wal-Mart. And personally, I'm hooked on better equipment, not necessarily the latest and the lightest, but stuff that fits and holds up. The last time I fell and hit my head was over 40 years ago, so a nice, new helmet every four or five years isn't a frivolous extravagance.

But, yeah, they could be cheaper. But I suppose a good chunk of that goes toward ensuring CPSC compliance, maintaining product liability insurance, and retaining lawyers. I never heard of anyone suing the manufacturer of one of these because it failed to prevent a head injury.

 

[swampy1970]

This one was pretty weird, too. Gone with the Euskaltel Euskadi ProTour license, I can't remember who made it:

That's an Orbea Odin helmet. The team had a thing for weird lids, they used the Catlike Whisper Plus next.

 

[swampy1970]

. I never heard of anyone suing the manufacturer of one of these because it failed to prevent a head injury.

It's hard to take anyone to court when you're happy with the fact you can breathe through your mouth and get fed through a straw... Cycling, it's a word you can't pronouced after a very hard hit to the bonce in the leather string lid. In that patent leather look it'd go well with Campy's patent leather Harley chaps.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

My Cinelli hairnet and my Kucharik hairnet are not patent leather.

The Kucharik was like an overstuffed recliner. It was also hot. Very hot. I wore it for a couple of races and went back to the Cinelli hairnet for a year or so. By then, lightweight beer cooler helmets were available and soon made the standard for competition use.

45 years ago less than one tenth of one percent of cyclists wore hairnets or helmets. I was pretty involved in racing and training and cannot remember one single incident of a serious head injury.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Speaking of the return of the skull cap...

The new, name unknown as of now, semi-aero road helmet from Giant as worn by Marcel Kittel:

I can see the spiked picklehaube making a return soon. Prices to be determined...

 

[sbatz72]

I can certainly see the point you are trying to make. I have similar comments to make about organic food, which takes less money to produce. However, I would like to add to you comment and tell you more holes might mean the helmet is not safer. I am just saying that more holes and lighter helmets seem to sound less effective.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Aero skull caps...how do they work?

They were fugly in 1985 and they're fugly still.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Once upon a time in races far, far away I wore a Brancale Giro:

Aero? Possibly. A sauna bath? You bet it was! I sweat buckets while wearing this lid.

As far as padding and protection went, I'm pretty sure my Kucharik hairnet offered better protection. There was no Styrofoam and very little padding under the plastic hard shell. It was fairly light weight for the era. IIRC, it was about $20 at Nashbar.

 

[oldbobcat]

I was racing, wearing a hairnet, just as the hardshell helmets were coming around--the Bell BIker and the Skidlid were two. I remember guys wearing hockey helmets, too. The hardshells were clearly in the minority, though, and we hairnet guys used to joke that the hardshell guys rode like they intended to use their helmets.

My first riding buddy who used a hardshell had something made by Vetta. It was yellow, didn't look half bad, and matched the outline of the logo on his Trek 1000.

The fit of my first hardshell lid was a Bell Image, chosen because it sort of looked like a white hairnet. Its fit was so ambiguous I once rode six miles down the road before I realized it was on backwards. The second, a Bell Alchera (Spanish for "got it cheap at Performance"), fit a lot better but drooped over my eyes a la Beetle Bailey whenever I got low on the drops. The Bell Sweep was cooler and fit better, but created a lot of wind noise and didn't survive floor drops too well--the fins on the back would break off. Bell and I finally got it right with the Volt.

 

[classic1]

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Skid-Lids were popular among both the racing and touring types because they were cool...as in, well ventilated. They were quickly banned from racing use because the lacked what was deemed to be 'adequate protection'.

Bailen built a tank of a helmet that was probably pretty good at both protection and building up neck muscles like Ahnuld's. The thing weighed a metric ton.

I think it was the Bell Biker that became the ubiquitous standard helmet. Good protection and just barely heavy enough to use as an anvil.

Pre-Tec and Giro revolutionized the market with their first 'busts into 26 pieces upon impact!' beer coolers. I remember the faux-outrage among folks when the 'it snags & drags and causes broken necks!' crowd did supposed research into the sliding characteristics of the cloth Styrofoam covers. BTW. the faux-outrage continues to this day only the supposed 'researchers' have focused on the snags & drags and causes broken necks!' aspect of the points and fins at the rear of road helmets.

I'm happy to wear the only semi-toaster oven warm modern road helmets, but I think I'll wait a while longer before trying to by one of the new semi-aero styles. The ventilation looks to be only 1/2-notch better than my old Brancale.