How do you dispose of old helmets?
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 11:37 am
Our helmet shelf was pretty full, with my current winter helmet, current main summer helmet, the matching woodgrain helmets Kay & I got for when she goes with me and the older winter & summer helmets that I kept as spares. And our son Matt's motorcycle and bicycle helmets that haven't been touched since he died 7 years ago.
It recently occurred to me that some of the helmets must be getting pretty old so I checked the dates and they ranged from about 20 years old (my old winter one that hasn't been off the shelf for years) to 10 years old (the GM55s that is more comfortable than any other helmet I've ever worn).
"They" say you should replace your helmet every 5 years, but that number is based on an estimate of how much wear & tear a helmet could possibly get in a year with a healthy safety margin added (largely to cover their butts). Some will tell you that the reason for replacing them every few years is that the materials & adhesives deteriorate and they no longer protect you but one of the snowmobile magazines actually tested an assortment of helmets from new to over 10 years old and in all sorts of conditions and found that age & state of wear had very little to do with the amount of protection afforded.
In other words, any helmet is better than no helmet but even knowing that it was time to slim down the collection and get some new ones. So my new HH65 and Kay's new GM35 should arrive today and I'll order a new Gmax modular snowmobile helmet in the fall for winter use (I prefer Gmax helmets because they really are more comfortable).
I'll keep my GM54S (current winter helmet) and GM55 (now old main summer helmet) as spares but I still need to dispose of 6 helmets. And the recycling program won't take them.
Googling dispose old motorcycle helmet found recommendations ranging from sell them to someone else (no, no, no, NO - if it is too old to be safe for you it isn't safe for anyone else either!!!!!) to displaying them on a shelf in your home (one guy posted a pic of 10 virtually identical plain black Shoei helmets on a shelf) (we are trying to get rid of old crap we no longer use so that's out) to turning them into hanging planters (I may do that with the woodgrain ones).
The last time I disposed of an old helmet I tried smashing it with a big hammer to make sure nobody could use it and IIRC I cut the straps off when that failed.
I put the first 2 of them in the garbage today after putting big holes in them with a step drill (quick, easy & obvious)
So what do you folks do with your old helmets?
It recently occurred to me that some of the helmets must be getting pretty old so I checked the dates and they ranged from about 20 years old (my old winter one that hasn't been off the shelf for years) to 10 years old (the GM55s that is more comfortable than any other helmet I've ever worn).
"They" say you should replace your helmet every 5 years, but that number is based on an estimate of how much wear & tear a helmet could possibly get in a year with a healthy safety margin added (largely to cover their butts). Some will tell you that the reason for replacing them every few years is that the materials & adhesives deteriorate and they no longer protect you but one of the snowmobile magazines actually tested an assortment of helmets from new to over 10 years old and in all sorts of conditions and found that age & state of wear had very little to do with the amount of protection afforded.
In other words, any helmet is better than no helmet but even knowing that it was time to slim down the collection and get some new ones. So my new HH65 and Kay's new GM35 should arrive today and I'll order a new Gmax modular snowmobile helmet in the fall for winter use (I prefer Gmax helmets because they really are more comfortable).
I'll keep my GM54S (current winter helmet) and GM55 (now old main summer helmet) as spares but I still need to dispose of 6 helmets. And the recycling program won't take them.
Googling dispose old motorcycle helmet found recommendations ranging from sell them to someone else (no, no, no, NO - if it is too old to be safe for you it isn't safe for anyone else either!!!!!) to displaying them on a shelf in your home (one guy posted a pic of 10 virtually identical plain black Shoei helmets on a shelf) (we are trying to get rid of old crap we no longer use so that's out) to turning them into hanging planters (I may do that with the woodgrain ones).
The last time I disposed of an old helmet I tried smashing it with a big hammer to make sure nobody could use it and IIRC I cut the straps off when that failed.
I put the first 2 of them in the garbage today after putting big holes in them with a step drill (quick, easy & obvious)
So what do you folks do with your old helmets?