Kudos Chopsy. Thanks for going to this extraordinary effort to visit our test facility and tell the story in such a clear way.

For anyone questing this it's simple. All materials expand and contract with heat everything from your front door to a bridge all he is looking for using lasers is uniform movement any irregular movement is a sign of either damage or a secondary material

Great video but would still love to see at what point they would deem a helmet unsafe and at that point prove it off against a new helmet of the same make in say an impact test. I really don't see how a modern Carbon fibre Helmet that weighs next to nothing can be wrote off by a 1mtr tumble (Empty) when they are designed to protect your Mellon at speed when the forces would be insane. Most Manufacturers must take something like this into account as people would never buy another high end Helmet again if you're paying £400 a time for a light drop? # I would be very interested to hear a manufactures point of view on this topic.

Having worked in Destructive and non-destructive testing for years I understand and was aware of this method. Great to see the information presented in a basic and understandable form for the layman 👍

Great idea and the science is good. Only question is - when they see defects, how do they/we know when it is serious enough to say helmet isn't fit for purpose anymore?

Fascinating and a real eye opener. It's a good idea when a decent helmet is now £4/5/600, you think twice about throwing it away.

Exellent post, I could have listened to the professor for the hour, fascinating stuff. The big bike shops should be offering a service like this, if they don't they are fools.

Hey chops thanks for highlighting this service it certainly provides peace of mind, my only concern is sending a lid via a courier they aren’t known for their gentleness - a bit like your travelling on a plane scenario. Never the less the actual testing is really worthwhile and useful, cheers Mr C 👍

What a great service, thanks for sharing Chopsy! Also demonstrates how great we are as a country at developing smart solutions to real world problems. Just bookmarked the link for future reference. Cheers!

I liked this and while it sounds all good ( and I know you gave your warning about snake oil/ Baffling with Bull-S~~t) Id really like to see you test some helmets from "new". Maybe a cheapo £40-60 one and a mid-range one and if you can find the backing for this a higher end one? Id love to see what the tests says before and after "dropping " them. I appreciate this is probably pie in the sky idea but this would have been a more thorough test (Although admittedly not exhaustive). Maybe a idea for collaboration with these guys again?

Thanks for putting this fascinating video out Chopsy. Must be the most useful biking vid in years. £40 is just the right price point to get your precious lid checked out. I'm definitely going to make a note of the details for future use. 👍

Bloody interesting! The fact that it can be done in a nondestructive way and on the real usable product makes it truly amazing.

Absolutely fascinating Chops, thank you. I was expecting you to announce at the end that the testing was prohibitively expensive to those with anything other than top end helmets, but absolutely not, and if in doubt you'd have to be mad not to use this incredible service. I just hope they don't get deluged and have to put the price up!

Lasers, LambChops and learning, yes please! Thoroughly enjoyed this one chops, like something you’d see on the discovery channel👍🏻🆒🔝🙌🏻🎬🎥

What a great idea and at £40 it's very affordable... I've dropped my helmet once, it landed on the open visor which snapped the hinge so I assumed that absorbed the shock so still use it. Only £40 to get it checked out is very affordable!!

Excellent job and very informative , but, it now raises more questions, helmets are manufactured and distributed all over the world and all over our country being delivered to customers then returned to the shop and sold again, shipped again, vicious circle of handling and mis handling, although as your video showed that defect cannot be detected visually so what do we do as customers, buy the helmet that you would like to keep and wear then to satisfy your self that your helmet is safe to use have it tested, now faults are found caused either during manufacture or mishandling along the line to you, what happens then, return for inspection(probably only visual) no fault found and returned back to you, or send it back with the report from the tester, bit of a vicious circle? Apologies for my ramblings but it does beg the question, how do we buy a helmet that has not travelled many miles and handled by many people to end up on ones head and know that it is defect free, million dollar question? Cheers and ride safe.

Great information, mind boggling for sure. For £40 it’s well worth checking if you have dropped your lid, especially with the cost of most of them these days. 🙄👍🏻👍🏻

Thank you very much for the test based on facts ( I am btw an auditor for composite material in the aircraft industry, it means I have a little inside of the material and that was very interesting) ...I am just considering to buy a new Shoei because I dropped my AGV last year...4 years old...decision is clear...a new one is ordered....thank you again and many greetings from Hamburg Germany

Wow , that was really interesting , I dropped my helmet and bought a new one just to put my mind at rest , but this is a service where you can have it tested and have it checked and to know the outcome of the helmet once and for all . Thanks for doing this video John 👍

Thanks Mr Chops,that has cleared up the muddy waters of dropping your lid.

Timely video chops. I put my new Arai on the bike seat while I was open my garage door and it the floor. Only a small chip in the side . I just brought another one costly mistake. Proper interesting stuff.

Great informative vid chopsy had no idea this service was available. Also the only problem I can see is would you trust a bloody courier service not to damage it on route lol. 😂😂

This is one of the most interesting videos I can recall that I've ever seen. The funny part is it's kind of way above my head but the way this guy explains it makes sense to me.

I had my Aria Rx7 skittled 10ft across the concrete in Santander ferry port after taking it off in 30c heat , placing it on the floor next to the bike , and some idiot came running through the line of bikes and chose between mine and my wife’s bike to cut through , clattering my helmet and snapping off the visor and GoPro 🤬🤬🤬 Good interesting video chops, will bear that service in mind if I’m ever unlucky again mate 👍🏼

So they can see spots of weakness in dropped helmets but how are they the authority stating it's damaged beyond protecting you adequately. Conventional wisdom claims a dropped helmet is fine as it's a impact while being worn putting counter pressure on the inside really damages a helmet too much.

A fascinating video. I heard from an ambulance crew recently that it is important that when a helmet is removed from a biker it is taken with the patient to hospital so that the surgeon can choose whether to have the shell scanned give more information about the location and severity of a head injury. It would be interesting to see whether a hospital scanner might be similarly used for testing and how that data compares to the laser/heat expansion approach on strain testing. Could AI remove the need for human interpretation?

I would actually say that if my helmet is going to be write off if it fells of the bike, then I will not buy that brand of helmet ever in my life :))..... If I want a tinfoil helmet I will make one myself, If not I would like it to keep me warm and safe in an impact at 60 mph at least :)).... I had an IXS helmet with which I hit the ground at 40 mph ( was oks) and the guys at IXS and the service looked at it and said that I could try that some more times, because the scratches were only to the paint :)) Sounds legit, measuring engineer specialist here :))....... Might as well be a lovely try to see if my IXS is still worthy after a hard fall and some branches over it in the dirt :)).... And how obliterated is it compared to it still looking decent enough :D.

Very interesting. It would be fantastic if he had a baseline quality spec for the big manufacturers to compare so you could at least say the structural integrity is the same, better, or worse than the spec limit of the manufacturer.

Looks fabulous tech and probably worth the cost if you have an expensive helmet. I wonder what faults they would find if they scanned my actual head 😬

That was a fascinating topic. The professor was easy to listen to, explaining things very clearly. Good video

If you dont mind posting it I for one, sure would be interested in the long version of the chat. Awesome job as always Chopsy.

Chops has learned me summat…wonders will never cease! Really good article this, very interesting and something that will affect most of us at some point, we’ve all done it and all thought the same thing. Well done fella!

That sound when it hits the ground is almost physically painful.

Absolutely great video Chops! I think this is a great idea - particularly for club racers etc maximising safety and minimising costs. Top job 👏

I had my carbon bell helmet on my mirror stork while in the garage getting fuel and the wind blew it off onto the floor. It chipped the clear coat. I was unsure to use it or not. So I took it to the TT in 2017 and had the riders sign it. It’s now a display item

When they analyse the crash helmet do they give you any images or data regarding damage? Would be great to send one to them I have crashed in and see how it held up! Another great video chops

Years ago on Jay Leno's Garage, Jay had an official from Arai helmets that said a drop of the helmet will not make it unusable.

Spot on video Chops! It does show the science in a digestable way.

Could save someone’s life…. Key information in this fantastic video. Firstly, Thankyou. And, secondly, very well put together. Great work. 👍👍👍👍

It'd be really interesting to see some data sets from this. How many people are riding with structurally compromised helmets without knowing it? Are helmets generally fine after a drop or not? Does it vary between brands and materials?

Thanks Chops. Interesting, but to what extent does the damage shown render the helmet useless for its intended purpose? Does any darkening mean it is fit for the bin, or is there a threshold? Also agree with another poster that the courier is more likely to kill the lid!

Measuring heated expanded material does not tell you, in my point o view, if the material is compromised, it only tell's you that part is easy expandable by heat because of prior movement do to low G impact, it can still be more than strong engouht. Helmets are tested for high G impacts drops are drops.

Now knowing this service even exist is great and would do well with your advertising. Cheaper to test and poss bin the lid than just replacing +£400 helmet.

It's hard for me to keep thinking about helmets. I purchase one, maybe two helmets every 3 or 4 years. I believe that the human skull, with brains included, can at best survive a 28 mile an hour to zero deceleration. It's way, way, way better to have a high-speed get off and tear up most of your body then have a skull deceleration at more thanks 28 mph. What happens is coup- contracoup. The initial impact creates a frontal assault and your brain, with inertia, accelerates forward and brakes many important nerve connections. When it rebounds it will also break many frontal lobe connections. I mean break as in being disturbed or disconnected. If your brain is gone I suppose it's time to think about the afterlife if there is one. ( Of course your brain being gone........)

It's amazing what can be be done with proper application of materials science now. I think they are missing a trick here though. What I think they need is a biker cafe hookup next door. Hand in your lid, collect a voucher for a breakfast or a pie and cuppa and go sit on a nice comfy seat surrounded by like minded folks to shoot the breeze with :>)

Chops depending on the difference in thickness materials will experience thermal expansion at different rates, this is true of most overlaying processes such as carbon Fibre and fiberglass. Thicker areas could possibly show as dark areas depending on the rate of expansion. Depending how you interpret the results the dark areas could actually be viewed as stronger 💪. Surely we should have witnessed a test of a couple of brand new helmets before and after impact. I know I sound sceptical boardering on negative "believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear and you won't go far wrong" what I'm trying to say I haven't discounted the process I'd just like to see tests conducted with a little more vigor! Cheers Chops still enjoyed the video 😁

Fascinating stuff! Being a geek this is right up my street.

Thanks Chopsy. Really interesting and a potentially lifesaving video. Great idea to go into other aspects of biking on occasion.

Chops, this is brilliant vid - so interesting. Great work!

Really useful info for something I for one had no idea existed - thanks for the info.

Very informative and interesting. Just to say I’ve took my helmets abroad but never put them in the hold luggage. Always took my helmet on as hand luggage. As you said you just never know how your bag/case is thrown around.

This is the first time I've ever seen an actual scientific test that makes sense and demonstrates just how easy it is to damage one of these buckets! One thing you might want to consider is when the author of the video had the engineer explain the damage to the interior of the shell of the bucket even though very little if any damage could be seen from visually examining the object. Notice the part where he explains how the outer shell of the bucket flexes inwardly upon impact. Some engineers from Australia in cooperation with some brain surgeons found that when a helmet being warn impacts a hard surface like the roadway in a fall off a bike, the helmet flexes inwardly transitioning the force of impact in toward the head which continues to move toward the flexing surface and receives the force of the flexing impact and then when the head continues to move toward the impact zone, the head is again impacted causing another impact force to impact the head causing a "double-impact effect" which would not have occurred if the head had not been enclosed within the bucket! So, wearing a bucket on your head actually causes more damage than if the head had made contact with the hard surface without the bucket being worn. Another problem with wearing these full-face buckets is that when in an accident the rider's body moves forward and his head makes contact with a hard surface the head will be forced to the rear as his body continues to move forward. Now, consider that the rider's bucket is held in plce by a strap that is tightened below his chin on his neck. Now, consider the helmet moving backwards, the body moving forward and as the bucket moves to the rear, the back of the bucket comes in contact with the shoulders and the upper back. This causes the force to be applied to the strap under the chin to tighten around the neck until the neck snaps the same as it would if the situation had been using a "hangman's noose" around the rider's neck, the rider drops and when the rope tightens to it's limit, the knott of the noose snaps the person's neck! Now consider the fact that the rider has to support his head upon his neck which amounts to a weight of approximately 11 lbs resting upon 7 small cervical vertebrae supported by several small neck muscles. Now, add another three pounds to the eleven and you have approximately 14 lbs of pressure forcing it's way down upon these vertebrae and musckes. Now, consider the force upon the helmet caused by air friction when the rider is traveling at 70mph! The strain upon the cervical vertebrae and those small muscles is extreme! So much so that it causes extreme fatigue of those muscles which causes the rider to become not only fatigued, but also less aware of his surroundings and less aware of the traffic around him! This can cause accidents and even death! Now consider this in addition to the "double-impact effect" and the neck is snapped even more easily in an accident. There are many reasons why wearing a bucket, even a very expensive on, is extremely dangerous and seldom thought of by the rider because he is unaware of the physical effects caused by wearing a bucket on his head! Neither the government nor the manufacturers of buckets will admit these facts to riders!

I actually understood everything ge said. I did my thesis in the field of laser speckle interferometry. This works

Brilliant and very informative. Thanks

Super interesting, and well done for resisting all the ‘helmet inspection’ gags Chops 😆

Takes me back to my Mechanical Engineering degree! Good stuff!

Good info I had no idea such a service or technology was available ! Well worth it if you have a £200+ helmet. Not really worth it for my NexxDX1 which has hit the deck more times than I care to remember, all green lane falls. It's due to be replaced soon coming up to 3 years old and has served me well. Thanks for sharing😀

Haha bloody hell chopsie you had me worried at the start there 🤣

Hi choppsie, good vid, when I took my advanced many moon's ago the police examiner roy used to tell me hit something head on at over 18 miles an hour you would probably have brain damage. Because your brain would dislodge it's self. He was a traffic motorcycle 👮‍♀️ cop.keep smiling 😃 .all the best mick 👍

Wow! Great video Chops, useful stuff - I wonder if they'll start doing shows (MCN Feb?) - such a useful service.

Excellent stuff. Its worth the money when the cost of a decent helmet is £500. Worth a check before spending big bucks ...

OMG how cool great work mate

I better not let the misses see this video then. She’ll never let me buy a new one again!

Interesting equipment they use with many applications. Certainly makes one wonder if its worth buying a 1000 dollar helmet if it can be damaged easily and you'd never know by looking at it. I'm encouraged to choose helmets wisely now and really get value for money. Also good to know we got machines to scan for damage. Thanks for original content Chopsie!

Excellent informative video sir. Good to know this possible life saving service is now available.

This is such a good idea, and the price seems very reasonable. They could have found a slightly less euphemistic name for the service though!

Really interesting video Chopsy well done mate! Other parts of biking just as relevant as the bikes. The main brands silence on this issue is telling…happy to charge crazy money for their products, not so keen on real world hi-tech testing it seems 😉

what a great process. great vid LCR.

Interesting video Lamb Chop and nice for a change.

A 4 week old hjc rpha 90 carbon fell off my mirror, pulled a tone of lacker off and cracked. Fair to say no helmet sits on my mirror anymore 😢

Sending a helmet for testing through the Royal Mail Parcel Service would be like wearing it and taking a header off the Grand Canyon.

great video chopsy very interesting watch just goes to show when you think its ok it probably is'nt very clever stuff .

Good it was not a Ruroc, that thing would’ve shuttered into pieces :D (talking from personal experience) Very informative video, thank you!

I was pleasantly surprised by the price of this service

Great useful vid lamb chop , many thanks 😊😊

I've read about this before and qas sceptical ... and I still am. The fact that different parts of the helmet expand at different rates is very arbitrary. It also doesn't show if there's any compression of the EPS below the outer layer.

1very good content and service! I wonder if if there is a service like that here in the United States?

Thanks for ding this video and has been really interesting and useful 👍 Think if I was to have my helmet tested I would drop it off and pick it up and not rely on a delivery company 🤣

Oh helmets don't go on seats 😱 looks like a good service

Very interesting and thanks for not talking over your guests. 👍

If you don’t know whether the damage is part of the manufacture or done in the supply chain it is a problem. Do you buy a helmet and get it tested before you wear it? Maybe they should be packaging the technology and supplying it to the supply chain so that images can be compared at different points. Trouble is how much would that add to helmet supply.

What an awesome service !!! Ta Chops 😊

Ok, so the helmet will “show damage” if dropped but does that mean it wont still do its job even though it has some damage to the exterior shell?

U did look like me in the dealership if the mechanic gets the computer and I'm like: OK, but where is the fun part with the 🔧 i pay u 4? 😀

Thank you for posting. Great video which generates additional questions. Seems like the testing is qualitative and not quantitative. You test a helmet and based on some (potentially subjective) criteria it is deemed good or bad. Would be nice to have a quantitative criteria to achieve more objective conclusions. Another question is with today's manufacturing where companies are laying thicker layers of composite on certain areas of a helmet, it creates a non-uniform layer/thickness areas throughout the helmet. Because of the delta in helmet thickness, when the helmet is heated, does it cause un-even expansion of the shell resulting in a false negative result?

I’d be inclined to get a brand new lid get them to inspect and run a report that way you can distinguish weather it’s been damaged or manufacture defect. If you’re spending mega bucks on a lid you’d expect it to be perfect but that would be the way I’d go about it for peace of mind.

Great stuff as always... but if one is to send in a suspected lid how long does it take to have it checked and sent back? As if you only have one and need it for the commute it's going to be a bit of a problem

I’ve had two helmets delivered in last 18 months both where damage in transit by the carrier between Sportsbikeshop and my home in East Yorkshire! I went to a Honda dealer eventually for the next two I bought a HJC AND my latest an Arai X4 Tour these have been fine .

Love this Chopsy! ... I would of taken the full length feature film! 🤓

Fastening stuff will worth watching very impressive 👌

Is any of that damage enough to render that AGV helmet finished, or is it still fit for purpose, that is the big question! How hard would you still have to bash that lid to get it to completely fail, and would your brain have already suffered catastrophic damage hitting the inside of your skull well before the outer helmet shell fails? Next question is, what % of motorcyclists die due to helmet failure against other injuries? And as it was said, do all brand new helmets pass this perticular test, or will fault normally be found? I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile service, but i am saying this opens up a lot of questions.

Very interesting, good work John👍🏍🏍👍

Interesting. Of course what it doesn't tell us is if the detected damage actually makes any difference in terms of protection? It might or might not have any impact. Especially since it only seems to test the shell and not the foam. Curious why you (or them or jointly) didn't just go out and buy a cheap £30 helmet from Lidl or Tesco etc.. for testing and destruction. I'm curious how the tech works on boats previously being the owner of a hand-laid up boat. It's never going to be uniform and will expand and flex differently in different areas. Anyway though it's an interesting video - cheers. 👍🏼

Abit of a long one for my shott lunch break, but an excellent and interesting watch! Going to finish this later on. 👍

This is a eye opener chops … Good review.

Need to have a look at these guys. Had an off in my shoei hornet but don’t think I hit my head. Only mark is on the wrong side of the helmet on the peak to the side I landed.

Looks like a great service.

Thank you very much sound interesting, something to think about! continue with your great work! I really enjoy watching your channel.

This is all good but you got to post it to them, like you said you thought the damage on your helmet was caused by being shipped, thrown about and so on. So sending helmet to them may show same issues, dont know how the courier is gonna look after your package.

I 'm trashing two helmets now , great video Chops .