I Don’t Like Motorcycle Helmets, so What Options do I Have?
Posted by Lucy Lowthorp on
Table of Contents
Do you like cruising the streets on your motorbike? Of course you do! But do you wear a helmet whenever you take your bike for a spin? Probably not, but you definitely should!
Low Profile Lightweight Motorcycle Helmets
Investing in your low profile motorcycle helmet is imperative to ensure your safety whenever you go out on a ride. But who wants to stick a heavy, outdated on their head? Nobody does, especially when it makes you look like a mushroom! Instead, get a comfortable, modern helmet that keeps you safe. Motorcycle beanie helmets that are lightweight and easy to wear are the types of helmets worthy of an investment.
Helmets cushion your skull protectively. They provide you with safety when you ride a motorcycle; however, you can't buy just any old helmet -you need to do your research to get the helmet that best fits you. It may not seem like such a big deal but studying the construction material and shape of a helmet to see if it’ll suit your head’s size and shape while being comfortable is a must.
What are the Helmets made of?
Unlike any other motorcycle gear piece, the materials used in our low profile motorcycle helmets get chosen with much care. The helmet’s material must be able to take the force of an impact and absorb the kinetic energy on a larger surface area than the rider's skull. Motorcycle crashes happen at different speeds, and it could impact different areas of your head.
What are the different helmet materials?
The most common materials used for construction of low-profile Micro DOT half helmets are:
- Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (called ABS, for short)
- Fiberglass
- Carbon Fiber
- ABS helmets are the most popular ones!
The most common type of helmet material used is ABS. A typical astronaut helmet like those worn in the Apollo missions is made of highly strengthened polycarbonate ABS. Polycarbonate is a high impact-resistant plastic that you can also find in bulletproof glass and exterior automotive parts. It can even handle temperatures higher than four-HUNDRED degrees Fahrenheit! I’m not sure when you’d be choosing to ride on the surface of the sun, but if you go there this helmet will probably prevent at least your head from getting sunburnt.
High-performance engineering plastics are a natural fit for motorcycle Helmets. Lightweight and with half of the density of aluminum or glass and 1/6th the density of steel, these helmets provide the strength you need at a weight your neck can handle.
Alongside that, they give you the necessary design freedom you need to express yourself! You can paint it many colors or give it a different texture and be guaranteed to have it sealed in well. Even the natural wear-and-tear that riding around won’t impact this helmet badly!
- Fiberglass Helmets Offer flexibility!
Fiberglass has been so named because while it is made from glass (yes, the same glass windows are made from) it is the manufacturing process that fiberglass goes through that gives it the form and strength bikers know and love. The glass is melted and forced through holes that are superfine in diameter, producing extremely thin filaments of glass. They can be woven into sheets or made into puffy substances that we then use in Biker Helmets.
Fiberglass is used to manufacture many products, ranging from automobiles and aircraft to Micro DOT Motorcycle Helmets.
Let's have a look at its properties.
Fiberglass is more flexible and less expensive than carbon fiber. It is lightweight and highly malleable, which means that it can be molded into different shapes with ease.
- Strength
The resistance of fiberglass is greater than that of steel, making it a high-performance material able to take the natural wear and tear of the elements as you ride.
- Thermal Conductivity
One of the best properties of fiberglass is that it’s not sensitive to temperature, making it a very useful material to have on your head when you’re biking for hours on end under the hot sun.
- Longevity
Fiberglass is a very durable material that doesn’t rot or get affected by the elements easily. This means you’ll be able to wear this helmet for a long, long time before you have to worry that it’ll fall apart on your head
3. Carbon Fiber:
One of the most common elements on Earth is carbon. You’re made of carbon, a wooden desk is made of carbon, and these helmets are, you guessed it, made of carbon! Or well, carbon fiber in any case. But what is carbon fiber?
To use carbon commercially, we must process carbon into a more suitable form like the carbon fiber composite. Carbon fiber has high tensile strength, high chemical resistance, high stiffness, low thermal expansion, and low weight properties. What does that mean exactly? Basically, carbon fiber is an incredibly strong yet lightweight material that’s made from a material that’s everyone on Earth.
With all these benefits it’s no surprise that the biker industry has tried to take advantage of it and construct helmets out of it. Unfortunately, we’ve also faced quite a few challenges and obstacles in this field. One of these challenges is de-lamination. Basically, de-lamination is when the layers of the composite material slowly separate from each other. In most cases, the separation is due to impact and repeated cyclic stresses, so you can already start to get the picture as to why using this material for motorcycle helmets comes with challenges. Alongside de-lamination, the carbon fibers may also wrinkle while they are in the fabrication phase, becoming stiff and weak.
Status of the Helmet’s Industry
While the helmet industry has taken a lot of steps to overcome these challenges or obstacles, spending financial resources for further research and development of carbon fiber helmets, we must follow the guidelines necessary to ensure our helmets stay DOT certified. And throwing money at the problem means that not only do we and the manufacturers end up spending a lot, but riders like you also end up having to pay way more for the final product.
As a responsible company, every MicroDOT Helmet is constructed out of the highest quality materials available. Our products meet or exceed the customers desired level of protection while upholding our goal of a product that exceeds the industry’s “Best Practice” standards.
Conclusion
Because, of our dedication to delivering a great product, MicroDOT has determined that ABS and Fiberglass are the two materials that with the best cost-to-benefit ratio possible. So unfortunately, at this time we do not sell any carbon fiber helmets.
if you have any questions, please reach us at info@skootdog.com or call is at 817-478-0497
For additional information on MicroDOT Helmets please visit us here
To find the nest SOA Inspired DOT Beanie Helmets, please click here:
To get the Best Reversible like Baseball DOT Helmet, please click here
To read reviews on our SOA Beanie Low Profile Blister Helmet please clikc here
To read reviews about our Reversible Twister Helmet in Fiberglass just click here
To learn about our Original Twister Helmet like Jockey style, click here
And last but not the least, learn more about our Mayhem the German Lowest Profile DOT Helmet here