Yesterday I took a pretty good fall and here is the evidence. I’ll have the video up soon.
My shin/knee pad also broke and caused this to happen. There is much more rock rash on my lower back and legs, but I didn’t want to take off all the bandages just to take pictures. All I can say, is I’m glad that I have body armor and shin pads that cover all the way down to my ankles, otherwise it would have been MUCH worse.
When I put up the video, you’ll see that most of the impact was directly on top of my head which caused the GoPro mount to break in two places. The one on the helmet is the one that broke and the one I am holding is one that hasn’t been used. You can see the difference.
The impact also caused the GoPro case to break on the bottom where it connects to the helmet. The lense protector isn’t scratched, but there are quite distinct gashes on top where it hit the ground. The camera is perfectly fine though!
After some research on helmets on bike fat, I’ve concluded that it isn’t good to continue using any kind of helmet after a significant impact. Even if there is no noticible cracks on the helmet, the EPS foam that is inside the helmet doesn’t expand after it has been compressed with a large impact. The helmet I’ve been using has endured a lot of hits, and I’ve decided to retire it. I still don’t think that after one or two small hits should be enough to go out and buy a new $450 helmet, but if you hit hard enough, or are really concerned with the health of your noggin, people won’t think you’re crazy for replacing a helmet after a good knock on the head.
One more rock rash picture for ya.
I also tore up my new jersey a little bit… >:(
Good call on replacing the helmet. I’ve gone through three XC lids in the past four years. In some cases it’s hard to tell how hard the helmet was hit so for peace of mind, if I have any doubts, I just replace them. I’ve noticed that some people are maybe a little to reluctant to retire their full-face DH helmets though, since they are rather expensive and it’s even harder to see the extent of the damage done to the EPS foam, so again I’m happy to hear you’re playing it safe and getting a new one. Stay safe out there, thanks for the link up and keep up the nice work on your blog!
I’m not sure how I missed this comment on my helmet post. I’ve been reading your blog a bit and it’s pretty cool. I really like your November 6th Picture about winter being back. If you’re ever up in the North Shore, let me know and we should get a ride in.