How Much Should You Spend on a Motorcycle Helmet

There is a long-standing debate about how much one should spend on a motorcycle helmet. When you get right down to it, there are motorcycle helmets with extremely high price tags, and you would wonder whether the amount of money you’ll spend on such an expensive helmet will be worth it or not. Also, the question arises of why are some motorcycle helmets more pricey than others?

The price of a motorcycle helmet depends upon the type of helmet you want, the design, and other specifications it offers. Typically, you’ll get a helmet costing as little as $35 to as high as $4,000. The half-shell helmets are much cheaper than the full-face, dual-sport, dirt bike, and modular helmets. 

A good quality helmet with a good safety rating will cost you up to $250. On the other hand, if you need a high-end helmet with premium features and high-level comfort, you will have to spend around $450 to $650. Generally, you’ll pay for safety up to $250, and you’ll pay above that for the added features and comfort.

To know what makes a helmet more costly and how much should you spend on a motorcycle helmet, read this article till the end.

The factors on which a helmet’s cost depends

Various factors affect the cost of a motorcycle helmet, such as:

Now, let’s discuss each of them in detail.

Safety certification

The most crucial factor to consider while getting a helmet is that it should have the necessary safety certifications. If nothing else, you should pay out enough to get a DOT-approved helmet because a helmet without even the minimum safety certification will not be able to offer you the protection you need on the road. Therefore, at least a DOT sticker attached to the backside of the helmet is mandatory.

The material used in the construction of a helmet’s shell

The outer shell material affects the cost of a helmet to a great extent. The low-budget helmets are made of plastic, while resin and composite fiber are used to construct a high-cost helmet. But keep in mind that if the plastic shell helmets are low in cost, it does not determines that they are less safer than the pricey ones. There are several kinds of plastic shells that are pretty durable to protect your noggin.

However, the idea behind the solid outer shells of costly helmets is that the impact forces are scattered over a much larger area before being dispersed by the soft inner liner.

Some high-quality helmets feature fiberglass shells with bird’s nest arrangement of fibers, which resists splitting and cracking of the helmet in an impact. This is more expensive than regular fiberglass because it is more challenging to manufacture, and of course, it is way more costly than plastic shells.

Different brands use different technologies in the construction of a helmet. From this discussion, we can conclude that the shell of a helmet alone can notably impact the price of a helmet.

The visors

All the helmets must provide the minimum view angle and clarity to meet the ECE 22.05 standard. However, the expensive helmet is designed to let you see more to the sides or a bit extra out of the top or bottom. Also, many helmets now feature an anti-fog Pinlock visor insert to prevent a steamed-up visor. In contrast, some of the cheap helmet’s visors may deform a bit at the edges after some time.

The comfort liners

The primary function of the comfort liner is to wick away moisture and to keep your head comfortable. If you are paying more for a helmet, it may come with an anti-microbial and removable liner, with a complex construction to enhance comfort, airflow and to give an ideal fit. So the extra money adds more comfort to the helmet.

The soft inner shell

The soft, expanded-polystyrene inner shell differs hugely in helmets. The cheap helmets often use a single piece with a soft section at the top and channeling cut into the back to vary the shell’s density.

As the outer resin shell is rugged and robust, the inner shell is made softer than that for added comfort and minimizing the forces passed on to the head. The inner shell of a high-quality helmet is made of multiple densities for structural integrity, which are more costly to produce. Some top-notch helmets like Shoei and Arai are handmade in Japan, which also adds to the cost of the helmets.

The softness of the polystyrene shell varies between cheap and expensive helmets. If the inner shell can easily mold your head shape, it will give you a more comfortable feel.

Ventilation

Any good quality helmet will offer plenty of airflows to keep your head cool so you can entirely focus on the road. They come with a lot of vents and exhaust ports to circulate the air. On the contrary, the cheaper ones do not have many vents because it may affect their structural integrity. The money you are paying for a high-quality helmet is for the research and development they’ve made for making sure that you have plenty of air movement and ventilation holes in the helmet, but it is still a safe helmet.

How much should you spend on a helmet?

The following things matter when you have to decide how much should you spend on a motorcycle helmet:

Preferably, you need a budget of $150 to $250 to get a good helmet. Nevertheless, if you are a daily rider, you should spend more than that, and it will be worth it. Because the high-priced helmets will offer more comfort, perfect fit, and the added features which will make your riding experience better, so you’ll ride with more concentration and safety.