Motorcycle Helmets: Does paying more really give you more protection?

After having someone very close to me, experience a life altering brain injury two years ago, wearing a $400 full face helmet, I started to question the idea, “does paying more for a helmet really ensure better safety?” Especially since I owned the identical helmet!

I decided to investigate the safety standards of what goes into a full face helmet. I found there to be 4 standards in separate divisions.
These 4 standards base their tests on how much G-force ( Multiples of the force of gravity) a helmet can endure when being dropped from various heights onto right-angle and flat surfaces. The lower the G-force impact the better the helmet.
While some will argue that it will never be known what the particular impact might be and at what speed, therefore the basic standard DOT helmet is all a person requires, I have to disagree.

I feel, the softer the (ESP) foam as well as the outer shell, which can be made from either a resin/fiber composite or polycarbonate, along with the rating standards are paramount for my precious noggin. The noise, weight, fit, and airflow are secondary and I can perfect those features by going down my list of the highest rated helmets I was so pristine in researching.

The 4 Motorcycle Helmet Standards:

1. DOT ( Department of Transportation) was first issued in 1974 and revised several times, the latest being 1988. This standard is the mandatory U.S. government standard that ALL motorcycle helmets must meet to be able to legally sell for road use. The DOT standard is basically manufacturer self-certification, the manufacturer will conduct the required tests in their own lab and if the helmet passes, it’s considered compliant. Until the DOT receives complaints and then the helmet in question is recalled from the market.

2. Snell a private organization that issues it’s own motorcycle helmet standard. Saying this, the Snell certification has a great reputation and is supported by many of the top m/c helmet manufacturers. Snell is more stringent than the DOT tests, but purely voluntary by the manufactures.

3. ECE 22.05 ( Economic Community of Europe) this the most commonly used standard internationally. The ECE 22.05 is required by over 50 countries world wide. One thing that’s nice about the ECE 22.05 in the US is that it doesn’t conflict with the DOT standard. Qualified ECE helmets will also meet the demands of the DOT standard, in fact, the ECE standard asks for impact testing at higher velocities than the DOT. Not all DOT certified motorcycle helmets will pass the ECE standards, so you could say the ECE certified helmets are safer in ways than the DOT certified helmets.

The selling point for me on the ECE 22.05 certified helmets is the fact that its been approved for competition events such as, AMA, CCS, FIM, Formula-USA and WERA and are chosen by nearly every professional motorcycle racer competing in the world championship road racing, motorcross and off road events. The clincher for me was MotoGP being a part of this group!

4. BSI (type A 6658 from Britian) standard, is the largest and most prestigious standard. If a batch of helmets are tested and fail, the entire batch is rejected , and new helmets must be submitted for retesting, following an investigation and remedial action. Where other standards, such as Snell will retest the same helmets again. A BSI tested helmet has to earn a type A sticker to pass.

Below are an array of helmets that I collected, in what I would call “using your head” helmets. Notice the ratings are the same or similar, but not the price.

AFX FX-90 $ 69.95 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

SparX S-07 Torino $ 119.99 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Vega Altura $ 79.99 to 89.99 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Akuma Apache $ 349.00 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Velmar VSRev $325.00 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

AGV GP-Tech $549.95 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Nolan X-602 $529.95 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Shark RSI $419.95 DOT and ECE 22.05 approved

Suomy Vandal $422.95 DOT, BSI and ECE 22.05 approved


Top 10 helmets rated in a G-force test.

DOT only
Z1R ZRP
Fulmar AFD 4
Pep Boys Raider

BSI and DOT
AGV Ti-Tech
Suomy Spec 1R

ECE 22.05 and DOT
Schuberth S-1
Shark RSX
Velmar VSR

Snell and DOT
Icon Mainframe
Icon Alliance