Every nerd loves a good tech war Windows vs Mac, Apple vs Android, Intel vs AMD.They give us something to armchair argue about over beers with friendsor to rant.A lawsuit against two former Air Force psychologists who developed the CIAs postSeptember 11, 2001 enhanced interrogation torture techniques, James Mitchell.Bicycle Helmets for the 2.Season. Bicycle Helmets for the 2.Season Summary Our review finds no radical safety improvement this year that would compel you to replace your current helmet, although new and promising technology is finally coming to the marketplace.Almost all of the helmets described below meet standards and offer good if not excellent protection.We have tested a sample of cheap and expensive helmets and found no real performance differences by price.We recommend looking for a helmet that fits you well and has a rounded, smooth exterior with no major snag points.Trends this year.There are new models in 2.The trend continues toward the compact, rounder, smoother profile that we think is best when you crash.But there is still no verifiable major advance in impact performance, ventilation or wearability this year that would compel you to replace your current helmet.A slip plane addition to some helmets exploded in the market in late 2.Bell bought a large chunk of the MIPS patent holder company.Other manufacturers have quickly followed.We still regard MIPS as unproven technology unless you have a helmet that couples so closely to your head that you cant move it.Your scalp is natures MIPS.We have more on that on our MIPS page.Triathlonspecific, road and timetrial bikes are the most common options when it comes to purchasing a bike for a triathlon.Determining what type of bike.Trek Livestrong Time Trial Bike Vs Road Scholar' title='Trek Livestrong Time Trial Bike Vs Road Scholar' />Trek Livestrong Time Trial Bike Vs Road MapTrek Livestrong Time Trial Bike Vs Road SignsAlmost all of the helmets listed below meet national or international standards and offer good protection, although some standards are tougher than others.For the US market the CPSC standard is required by law for any bicycle helmet.Without comparative test data we usually do not know if a particular model exceeds the requirements of the standard and offers superior protection.Most of them probably do not, except those that provide additional coverage.There are unpublished indications that the lightest and thinnest helmets do not perform well when impact levels exceed those required by the CPSC standard.Highlights for 2.Impact liners are finally evolving this year.Smith Optics promises a helmet this spring that uses collapsible plastic modules in place of foam, but with some EPS still included in the liner.POC has a liner partially composed of a honeycomb material.There are more Conehead designs with dual density impact foam in helmet liners this year, introduced by Cannondale in their 2.Teramo model and Kali in their 2.Maraka. Conehead helmets have two layers of standard EPS foam.One is lower density, and should crush more easily at lower impact levels, possibly offering an advantage in avoiding concussions.Abus has shown a model with a cardboard liner section, backed by standard EPS, and there may someday be a full cardboard liner helmet.In football, hockey and lacrosse there have been helmets using collapsible plastic modules in place of foam for some time.A new type of helmet has appeared the aero road helmet.Not as slick as a chrono time trial helmet, but made more aerodynamic than a normal road helmet, often by covering the vents.Some have adjustable vents, or use vent plugs.They are used by pros in some races, but abandoned for stages where ventilation becomes critical.They will not improve the average road riders performance very much, but you might want one for the image, and some have the rounder, smoother profile that we recommend.A slip plane helmet appeared in 2.This is claimed to mitigate the rotational force on the head, and in some cases that has been measured.The hope is to reduce rotational brain injury.Search for MIPS, the patent holder licensing the technology.Others are working on similar concepts.Most helmets slip anyway on impact.High visibility colors are back.After the bright neon color craze of the 9.But last year neon came back, usually referred to as Hi Viz, and never called neon.POC is actively promoting hi viz for 2.Green helmets are growing, pioneered by Urge and this year by Kali.They use renewable materials, but still rely on EPS for energy management, and recycled EPS is just getting to the stage where it can be incorporated into helmets without too much performance penalty.When the time comes to dispose of the helmet, it is still difficult for the consumer to get EPS to a recycler.Rounder profile city, urban or commuter models are in almost every manufacturers lineup.The list below has more than 6.Higher priced helmets usually have big vents, but no verifiable advantage in impact performance.Our testing showed that the sample of very expensive helmets and very cheap helmets we tested had about the same impact protection.Ring fit systems, the one size fits all solution, have taken over for much of the market.They work well for some, but not at all for others, who find that they have to tighten the ring uncomfortably to get a stable fit.You have to try them on to be sure.There are still models using fitting pads instead, but you may have to look for them, and you may pay more.Several manufacturers now have fit systems with fixed side straps to compete with Bells True Fit system.But they do not have the internal strap anchor cage that makes the True Fit system work, and we found that they do not work for us as well as the True Fit helmets do.That includes Bells own bike shop line of helmets and the Giro version.True Fit is still sold only in big box retail stores, in helmets priced around 2.Strap adjustment fittings buckles and side pieces still badly need improvement.Most of them slip too easily, resulting in the strap creep that can loosen straps even on riders who have adjusted their straps carefully.Expensive materials Carbon fiber is coming back in some high end motorcycle style helmets and a few bike models.It allows slightly lighter construction, but saves minimal weight except in the heaviest full face BMX or downhill racing helmets.Manufacturers are searching for ways to use titanium, another glamorous and expensive product that saves very little weight in a helmet.Kevlar, Graphene and Aramid are found in a few helmets, mostly in the internal reinforcing.There is no verifiable impact performance advantage in any of the helmets that have these materials, since they are mostly used to make the helmet thinner and lighter or open up bigger vents.Rubber finishes and a fabric finish are still found in some helmets.We do not recommend them for road use because rubber or fabric surfaces might increase the sliding resistance of a helmet when it hits the pavement.If you doubt that, scrub one hard on pavement and see the difference for yourself.LED flashers in the rear of helmets are more frequent, but most of them are too small and have low output compared to this years best third party flashers, so you need to add your own.Anti microbial pad materials are increasingly used in high end models.Most use silver or other chemicals, and might be useful if you are having unusual helmet odor problems.If you are seeking to reduce your exposure to industrial chemicals and metals they may not be something you want to have held against your sweating head on every ride.Electric bike helmets designs for e bikes began to appear in 2.Casco E Motion Cruiser.There is no separate ASTM or CPSC standard for ebikes.Price adjustments are more up than down for 2. Best Golf Clubs For High Handicappers 2014 Movies . Some Interesting New Models.Smith Optics began marketing their Forward model this year, with a new German liner material called Koroydtm.In June they began promoting the 2.Overtake. The liner looks like a bundle of short, small diameter drinking straws, perpendicular to the head.In the Smith helmet they are surrounded by normal EPS foam.The straws collapse along their length when impacted, managing the impact energy by slowing the transmission of energy and reducing the peak impact, just as other helmet liners do.Smith says that the new material works better than foam, but we have not seen test results of their helmet, and it still uses foam in some areas.Riders who tried the helmet in Nevada heat said the ventilation through the straws was excellent.POC has had a honeycomb material called Supracor tm in their hard shell Super Skull Comp ski helmet, but it still has an EPP foam liner as well.They have a project helmet, perhaps coming in 2.Koroyd liner made from a flat sheet of the material and formed into the liner.You can see this page with photos of the Skull Comp DH Koroyd where the liner resembles porcupine quills.We dont see it on the POC web site yet.
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