Many people get confused between the 3 styles of helmets available to buy
- Bike helmet,
- Skater Style Helmet (‘bucket’) and,
- Skate Helmet (‘bucket’)
1 – Bike helmets have in Australia have been tested to the Standard AS/NZS 2063. These are the helmets legally required for riders on bikes.Hard shell, usually lots of ventilation holes, polyurethane foam inner and padding.
2 – Skater Style helmets are those that look like a Skate helmet but are actually bike helmets with the rating AS/NZS 2063. Hard shell, a few ventilation holes, polyurethane foam inner and padding.
3 – A SKATE helmet has a hard plastic shell as the outer that appears to be identical to that of a bike helmet; it is on the inside that it differs. The Skate helmet only has a soft foam cushion whereas the bike helmet has the polyurethane foam which is what is designed to shatter when an impact occurs.
Many families buy their children the ‘coolest looking’ helmet, (cos the kids wanna look cool and we want them to like it so they’ll wear it – right). The bucket Style helmet is high on the fashion appeal with many riders young and old, and from the outside the 2 helmets look identical, but it’s what’s on the inside that is going to protect them in a fall and an impact with either the ground or a vehicle.
From my professional and personal experience the best helmet is the one that fits snugly on your head, it is important to try on a few brands and styles before finally buying one. Just as Nike, Asics and DC are all known for their different shape fit to the foot, so to are helmet manufactures for the shape they make their helmets.
So try on the helmet with each child, another reason for this is that is takes the ‘present’ aspect out of it and opens up the conversation of it being a piece of safety equipment and also rights/responsibilities of bike riding.