"New" Helmet - What does this mean?

spray____

spray____

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Forum Sponsor
Was looking for a new helmet for the wife today and stopped by Cycle World Superstore. They had some helmets for around $100 and we found a Bell one that fit her really well, and was marked down quite a bit.

Was just about getting ready to take it up to the register when I saw the round date stamp on the back:
bell_helmet.jpg

This isn't my photo, but the round date stamp on the left is the same. Big difference? The one saw had 05 in the centre.

I asked one of the employees there if that mean what I thought it did - that the helmet was manufactured in 2005 and is already 8 years old. He said:


  • It wasn't the manufacturing date, it was the year of the Snell certification
  • The helmet came in to them last year and was "new"
  • An 8 year old helmet isn't a big deal as long as it's "new"
  • It would be great for the track because it's Snell certified (not interested in that)

I found most of this hard to believe, because we looked all over the helmet and there was no other date of manufacturing. The only thing we could find was inside it did have a Snell sticker with a serial number, but no dates or years. I couldn't find any non Bell helmets that had this style of sticker, and I also looked at some other Bell helmets and the years ranged from 10-12.

So whats the deal? Did I dodge a bullet, or am I misunderstanding things?
 
looks like a date of manufacture sticker, considering the months being on it.

it is definitely not the snell sticker

they probably bought a bunch of someone elses old stock to clear out.

foam degrades. some types more than others.

i'd be ticked if a shop sold me a bike thats been sitting in a showroom for 8 years, especially if it was implied that it was recent manufacture.
 
The salesperson had no idea what they were talking about. That is obviously not a SNELL sticker and I would be pretty ****** if I were looking at a SNELL approved helmet and realized that it isn't SNELL approved.

The Snell sticker is usually located inside the helmet and looks like this:
snell-2010-sticker.jpg


Also has a sticker like this or similar on the back:

IMG_0264.JPG


I would think the sticker you're looking at is the manufactured date.

http://blog.jafrum.com/2011/06/22/for-how-long-is-a-motorcycle-helmet-okay/
 
Last edited:
The Bell 500 didn't yet exist in 2005. It's the cert date. If the colour is in the current model lineup, the helmet is couple of years old at most.
 
raydowe said:
Was looking for a new helmet for the wife today and stopped by Cycle World Superstore. They had some helmets for around $100 and we found a Bell one that fit her really well, and was marked down quite a bit.

Was just about getting ready to take it up to the register when I saw the round date stamp on the back:
bell_helmet.jpg

This isn't my photo, but the round date stamp on the left is the same. Big difference? The one saw had 05 in the centre.

I asked one of the employees there if that mean what I thought it did - that the helmet was manufactured in 2005 and is already 8 years old. He said:


  • It wasn't the manufacturing date, it was the year of the Snell certification
  • The helmet came in to them last year and was "new"
  • An 8 year old helmet isn't a big deal as long as it's "new"
  • It would be great for the track because it's Snell certified (not interested in that)

I found most of this hard to believe, because we looked all over the helmet and there was no other date of manufacturing. The only thing we could find was inside it did have a Snell sticker with a serial number, but no dates or years. I couldn't find any non Bell helmets that had this style of sticker, and I also looked at some other Bell helmets and the years ranged from 10-12.

So whats the deal? Did I dodge a bullet, or am I misunderstanding things?
Click to expand...
\

The Bell 500 is not a Snell certified helmet
 
Last edited:
Acadian1974 said:
\The Bell 500 is not a Snell certified helmet
Click to expand...

I've edited the photo to only show the date stamp. Sorry for the confusion...

The photo isn't of the same helmet I was looking at, it's just the only photo I could find that has that same round sticker. Either way it sounds like the helmet was infact manufactured in 2005, and they probably shouldn't have it on their shelves.
 
Last edited:
The round sticker is manufacture date. The pic you posted is January 2010 for example. The SNELL sticker would read "SNELL 2010". ECE 22.05 is also another standard to watch for which is good. SNELL certification changes every 5 years. The foam tends to degrade over time. 4-5 years is the maximum shelf life I would be comfortable with in a helmet. I tend to change mine every 5 years and turn the old one into a hanging flower basket at the cottage.

And I would be ****** at the sales man. Even if it was a snell 2005 cert helmet you wouldn't be allowed on the track with it now because it would be to old.
 
I always figured that sticker was date of manufacture. Snell stickers generally indicate the year (aka version) of certification the helmet received on a single large sticker and that's it. There's no need for them to indicate the exact date because the certification requirements don't change until the next version is ratified. For example, my helmet has a snell sticker that says something like "M2010 SNELL". If yours is Snell certified what year does it say? [edit] re-read your post stating no year is indicated.[/edit]
 
AF4iK said:
[edit] re-read your post stating no year is indicated.[/edit]
Click to expand...

If it not on the sticker it will be on a tag inside the helmet. SNELL will just be a year ending either in a "0" or a "5" since the standard is updated every 5 years. Should be obvious but the "M" is for motorcycle. So M2010 is the 2010 Helmet Standard For Use in Motorcycling. SA/K2010 is the 2010 Helmet Standard For Use in Competitive Automotive Sports & Kart Racing and so on.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom