What It Takes To Make the Perfect Moto Helmet

But, in a society where sports head injuries are front page fodder, the amount of riders who continue to let their heads fly freely is astonishing.  The folks at Bell Helmets are trying to put an end to that.

“We are a company here first and foremost to protect the wearer,” said Chris Sackett, Bell’s Business Unit Director.  “We are trying to get [helmets] to anyone who doesn’t wear a helmet.”

The biggest name in protective head gear has an impressive résumé, spanning 60 years and millions of heads.  With the inclusion of its sister companies, the Bell family of products can be found in practically every sport that requires head gear – from lacrosse to ice hockey, skiing to snowboarding and much more.  But it’s their work with two-wheeled sports that has helped revolutionize riding over the years.

There’s still plenty of work to do, however.

“Bell hasn’t survived for this long just resting; we’re constantly pushing the bar,” Sackett added.  “50-percent of the motorcycle population doesn’t wear a helmet – and that’s mind-boggling to me.”

Motorcycles have both evolved greatly during the company’s 60 years and Bell has continued to find ways to evolve motocross headgear as athletes look to push the sport to the extreme.  The process of coming up with the next helmet is a tedious one – and it’s a process Bell does not take lightly.

A lot goes into making a full face helmet and the team at Bell makes sure that, through rigorous testing and specifications, each and every helmet that goes out meets the highest qualifications.  Though there are many steps in the process, at its infancy, each piece of head gear starts simply as a mold.  Bell has several proprietary head forms it uses and from there, the company works outward on the helmet.  That way, from the very beginning, comfort is a priority and isn’t sacrificed for the benefit of safety. 

Once the helmet has been designed, it’s onto the testing stage.

“We have the largest test lab in the world here in our building, and by that I mean sheer volume that we test,” Sackett admitted.  “We test more helmets in this lab than all other helmet testing labs combined and we’re the only company that has a design and testing facility in the United States.”

The biggest test is velocity.  Motorcycles don’t move at just one speed, which is why Bell tests their helmets at a wide range of speeds – from low-speed, to high-speed and in between.  That’s because the possibility of the rider crashing at a low speed is just as high as when moving at a slow, casual rate.  But they don’t test the various velocity crashes with humans, obviously.  Bell instead uses several machines to test the impact, so consumers are assured the product will perform to its value.

There are four different conditions that the helmets must be tested in – a hot condition, an ambient condition, a cold condition and then a wet condition, actually soaking the helmet overnight.  Meanwhile, Bell continues to adjust head coverage and how the helmet performs during rotational injuries. 

With design and testing such a time consuming procedure, there’s a long amount of time between the initial process and when Bell’s head gear is on the shelves and ready for use.

“We have a six month validation period built into our development cycle, which I guarantee is unique,” said Sackett.  “And then we have another six months were we can go back and fine tune the product, so we’re essentially adding a year onto our development cycle just to make sure it’s passing the rigger of what he want in a helmet.”

It’s clear that a lot of time, energy and man power goes into the helmet you put onto your head before revving up your bike and hitting the dirt.  Through constant advances, helmets have become much more comfortable and less of a hassle when trying to go to the extreme.  Keep that in mind the next time you decide to hop on two wheels with nothing on your head.

Ed Miller is a contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.

Photo courtesy of Bell Helmets