New Helmet

[Duane]

I'm onto my second shoei xr1000, ive had cheaper helmets and I just find it fits my head well and keeps the noise down.

[mikeman]

Mikeman, according to Australian law a helmet without the sticker is equivalent to you not wearing one at all. Voids your insurance and it is a fineable offence and probably points.(don't know your state's fines)

The legality of it doesn't bother me at all - it's protection I care about, not some silly law that rips consumers off. The 1100 series helmet is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of protection, so having a sticker on it makes zero difference from that perspective. Even if I have to pay a fine, it's still cheaper than buying it locally.

However, I wasn't aware that it affects insurance. That I'm a little worried about.

Regarding the points - I've never actually heard of anyone being fined for it personally, though I know that they can do it. While it might be illegal, it's certainly not 'wrong' in my view, given that the helmet I'm wearing provides more protection than many (if not most) of the helmets in the Australian market.

[Bogan]

However, I wasn't aware that it affects insurance. That I'm a little worried about.

In my opinion you should be. Imagine having a significant off and picking up a brain injury or something, then the CTP payout being $0 and you having fines to go with it. It's not worth it for me, I'd love to save some money on a helmet but for the sake of being 'properly equipped' to deal with the consequences of a smash I'll continue to get ones with AS stickers until such time as we don't have to.

[Dafuzz31]

yeah id be getting that Aus standard sticker or u could find urself ina bit of barney rubble

[mikeman]

However, I wasn't aware that it affects insurance. That I'm a little worried about.

In my opinion you should be. Imagine having a significant off and picking up a brain injury or something, then the CTP payout being $0 and you having fines to go with it. It's not worth it for me, I'd love to save some money on a helmet but for the sake of being 'properly equipped' to deal with the consequences of a smash I'll continue to get ones with AS stickers until such time as we don't have to.

I'd concur with that if I got a totally different helmet that is not available in Australia. But we're talking about a top end helmet that's identical to the one sold locally (minus the sticker on it).

It's made in the same factory under the same specifications. So my head is protected exactly the same as the local helmet with the sticker on it. Unless that sticker has some magical forcefield that I'm not aware of.

Point is, if it comes down to it, I'd rather argue this in court out of sheer principle. Consumers shouldn't have to spend twice on a product due to stupid legislation, if the product is the same as that which is sold locally.

[Bogan]

While I'm sure there have been many threads on this, a search will probably reveal them, I recall someone saying that not all Arai Vectors are created equal, it depends on the testing they have to go through to get the relevant certification. Whoever said that could have been talking out of their arse though .

I'll be getting helmets with AS stickers on them, to each their own though, but consider the risks.

As you were .

[mikeman]

So I called up VicRoads, TAC and my insurer and low and behold, nobody gave me a straight answer. In fact NOBODY even knew anything about the stickers and I spoke to 5 different people.

The VicRoads site states the following (via http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Saf ... Riders.htm)

"Riders and pillions must wear an approved helmet carrying AS1698 or AS/NZS1698 certification. A face shield or visor must meet the Australian Standard AS1609."

Now, I could contest it in coart that my model helmet is actually approved in Australia albeit mine not carrying the sticker.

The whole insurance thing is a scam. They'll obviously try everything to get out of paying up. "What's that, you have a Decepticon sticker on your motorbike? Sorry, that's a modification to the bike you never told us about..."

I think any reasonable consumer can assume that purchasing a helmet with the same design/specs/product name from overseas implies that it's the same helmet and ergo offers the same protection as the local product, regardless of the sticker on it.

It will hopefully never come down to it, but if it does, I will contest it on the basis of principle.

If I got a cheap helmet from China then fair enough, but not if I got a Shoei helmet that's the same as those sold locally.

Also, if the helmet itself had no relevance in the accident (i.e. you hit another car) any lawyer could easily contest that it made no difference what helemet you were wearing.

[mikeman]

Also, I read my insurance policy and while this may not apply to everyone, there were zero references to the sticker, AS1698 or anything to do with helemets.

Insurance companies can't come and say things unless they're stated clearly in their policies.

[Takamii]

Hi people

without giving away to much (privy ) info I can tell you that a certain unnamed large scale manufacture when certifying some of their helmets for the Australian Market had to modify the helmets to meet the AS1698 standard as the "overseas model" did not meet our standards requirement.

The talk of the overseas model is the same as the one here is not 100% correct

Up to you as an individual to take your chances - Think of the worst case scenario consequences of your choice and if you can live with that risk

[zxsixr03]

With out giving away to much but if your shopping in the top range of helmets AGV GP Tech for example, how is a UK,USA spec different to ours?

If MA, ANDRA accept Snell and DOT pretty safe to say they would be fine for the road at half the speed....

ANDRA at one point were not accepting helmets with the OZ standard... Snell or DOT only

[Takamii]

I will not speak for other manufacturers but I can say that if the ECE 22.05 standard was accepted in Australia that I could save 200 - 300 grams of weight from my helmets and as such they would be only about 1000 grams - however they would not pass the penetration tests - I am sure none of us would like that what a bar end or foot peg penetrates the shell and liner.

Keep in mind with standards that you are comparing apples to bananas when looking at snell v dot v as1698 v ece 22.05

Unless you read all the standards comprehensively and what is involved with them and the testing then making a blanket statement opens up everything up for a lot of misinformation.

[EDU]

Do any of the top brands even make a 1Kg helmet anywhere in the world? And by top brands I mean well known such as Shark/Shoei/Arai/Suomy/AGV.

[zxsixr03]

Stackhat

[Kawawog]

Stackhat

Haha, good ol trusty stackhat.. Think i still have the one i had as a kid lying around somewhere

[Takamii]

Do any of the top brands even make a 1Kg helmet anywhere in the world? And by top brands I mean well known such as Shark/Shoei/Arai/Suomy/AGV.

BMW Sport Integral about $2000 I believe