Crashing Sucks Part 2: How My Bell Helmet Performed
I have bad news for you. You’re going to crash. Hopefully not today and hopefully not tomorrow, but one day you will. For this and many other reasons, there is no better investment you can make in your riding experience than that of a high quality helmet. I took a significant departure from my planned route in late 2023, right through a barbed wire fence. Here’s how my helmet performed.
Lesser Helmets
There are times I have worn less than stellar helmets, but not many. When I first purchased my 2019 Triumph Speed Twin I went out and found a very cool looking helmet in a very cool graphic to perfectly match the character of my bike, but I found it had too many compromises from my race lid. It basically had zero active ventilation while producing high levels of noise at anything approaching freeway speeds. I quickly grew tired of the compromises and began to wear my track helmet with increasing frequency. At this moment I’m glad I did.
Good looks aren’t everything
My Choice of Helmet
I can’t tell you what all my head hit in the crash. I don’t even remember the crash. Heck, I barely even recall the day. So maybe that’s not a ringing endorsement for the helmet. The fact that I was also unable to work a full day for the following six weeks probably won’t make it into any marketing literature either. But I am still here and my brain is once again intact—at least as much as it ever was—and I have my Bell Race Star DLX Flex helmet to thank for that.
Geared up as I was the day of the crash
Helmet Design 101
What you are about to read isn’t simply regurgitated Bell marketing speak. In the ‘00s, I designed several helmets for the Shift Racing division of Fox Racing. We did a deep dive on research, gleaning everything we could from Fox as well as benchmarking each competitor in the field. Combining that knowledge with a top helmet manufacturer, we created some good mid-range helmets. Although time marches on, incredibly the street helmet we designed is still available today, some 14 years later and presently on sale for $120. Even the most poorly functioning brain has to be worth more than that. As much as we put into those helmets, they are a far cry from today’s top tier helmet designs.
The top of the Bell line protects the skull and its contents with a 3K carbon fiber shell and a three layer foam structure inside it. When you’re shopping for helmets, don’t get hung up on the number preceding the K. All that tells you is how wide the weave is, whether it contains three thousand strands or 12, the difference is very much about the look. Where brands tend to set themselves apart is almost entirely invisible to the average rider because it is sandwiched between the comfort liner and the shell. This is where the bulk of the impacts are absorbed.
Traditionally most helmets use a single layer of a single density of expanded polystyrene or EPS, commonly known by its trade name, Styrofoam. This works well for one level of impact, but crashes come in many different varieties, including low and medium impacts as well as the more massive types. The thing is, when you optimize your foam for one level, you can no longer protect for the others. This is the problem with test standards that are constantly increased for maximum impacts. Snell, I’m looking at you. All concussions are bad, so a helmet that works to protect you from as many as possible is going to be your best bet.
A concussion arises from the forceful contact that causes the brain to collide with the inner walls of the skull on both initial impact and rebound. Initially, the impact propels the brain to move rapidly and abruptly. The impact may inflict damage upon blood vessels, leading to bleeding or insufficient oxygen and nutrient supply to the brain. Collectively, these factors contribute to the array of symptoms experienced following a concussion, such as headaches, confusion, dizziness, and difficulties with cognitive functioning and motor skills. While most individuals gradually recover from concussions through time and rest, severe cases can result in lasting brain damage.
Image: Science Daily
Bell Flex Technology
To help mitigate this, Bell uses three layers of (more or less) three different materials. The innermost layer is constructed of polypropylene foam. This is the softest layer, designed to deform and absorb the energy of relatively low impact forces. It is also designed with channels that, in addition to allowing better airflow, allow the foam to twist within the helmet, slowing the effect that rotational forces would have on the brain. The next layer which they color red in hopes you’ll notice is a material they describe as a “polyolefin.” What throws me a bit is that polyolefins are a family of materials basically comprised of just two types, polyethylene which is possibly the most commonly used plastic on Earth, and polypropylene which is not particularly uncommon itself. Why they are less specific about the middle layer is a mystery to me, but let’s just move on. This second layer is said to be more dense than the inner layer to absorb medium impact forces. Lastly on the outside is that more traditional material, EPS for—you guessed it—high impact absorbtion.
The inner lower density foam layer (black) absorbs lower energy impacts and is allowed to flex and rotate around the second medium density foam layer (red) which is designed for medium impacts.
As I mentioned before, I don’t remember my crash, much less the exact impact and rotational forces I experienced. You can read about my accident and initial recovery in Part 1 of this series so I won’t go back into it here. What I will say is that I still believe in the quality of the Bell Race Star helmet. While my insurance will cover a partial replacement of any helmet of my choosing, I have ordered the exact same helmet I crashed in.