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The Best Bike Helmets There’s a helmet for every head.



All bike helmets sold in the United States must meet the same strict Consumer Product Safety Commission standard. “The protection offered by most helmets is pretty similar,” Randy Swart, the executive director of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, assures us. “And it’s a good level of protection.”To get more news about ebike helmet, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

With that knowledge, you can pretty much just pick a helmet according to your personal riding habits and how much you’re willing to spend in the name of comfort and aesthetics. And you’ll definitely want to make sure your new helmet fits properly. It should sit level on your head with the chin strap drawn so the helmet moves slightly downward as you open your mouth. The fit should be snug enough that you’re significantly loosening and tightening the rear adjustment dial (or equivalent mechanism) in order to take the helmet on and off. A well-fitted helmet should feel comfortable and relatively weightless. “It’s like a seatbelt,” says Swart. “Once you put it on and buckle it, you should pretty much forget it’s there.”
Below, find the best helmets for different kinds of riders according to a range of experienced cycling experts — including a budget pick that should work for both road racers and casual commuters, helmets for large and small heads, and a collapsible helmet approved by the Citi Bike crowd.
What we’re looking for
Intended use: Ben Sawyer, the head mechanic at CycleMania in Portland, Maine, says there are three categories of helmet: road biking (“generally lighter weight, with better ventilation and more aerodynamic design”), mountain biking (“typically with a front visor for protection and more coverage in the back”), and commuter biking (“designed for a little bit of everything”). We’ve taken note of which helmets suit particular styles of riding — and also found a few versatile commuter helmets that’ll work for a variety of riders.

Safety: As long as a helmet carries a CPSC sticker (and all these do), comfortably fits your head, and matches your budget, it’s a smart purchase and could help save your life. For this list, though, we mainly considered helmets that have been subject to additional voluntary testing by independent authorities such as Virginia Tech, Consumer Reports, the Snell Foundation, and the American Society for Test & Material International. We think that if you’re purchasing a higher-end helmet with supposed state-of-the-art features, you might as well get one that’s been put through its paces by more than one lab — especially as there’s evidence that more bells and whistles might actually make some helmets less safe.

Most of our recommended helmets also feature anti-concussion technology such as MIPS. Developed by a team of Swedish scientists, MIPS is a thin web of yellow plastic attached to some helmet interiors that’s designed to move and flex upon impact. The idea is that your helmet rotates, but your brain doesn’t. MIPS and copycat technologies like Bontrager’s WaveCel are not a CPSC requirement, and our experts were divided as to whether they actually work. Swart is skeptical and pointed us to an inconclusive Snell report published in December. John Watson of cycling blog Radavist is evangelical about MIPS ( “I don’t see ever wanting to own a non-MIPS helmet — it’s your life you’re talking about”), as is Sawyer, whose store stocks only MIPS-equipped helmets. Everyone we spoke with agreed that MIPS could theoretically offer some degree of additional protection against brain injury and is unlikely to cause active harm.

Helmets will lose their powers over time, mainly from sweat and sun. “Rule of thumb: Use a helmet for three to five years, because after that, the Styrofoam will deteriorate,” says Five Boro Bike Club communications vice-president Alfredo Garcia. And even a brand-new helmet should be dispensed with in the event of a collision — they’re single-use items. “Once you’ve been in a crash, never use it again,” advises New York Cycle Club PR director Neile Weissman.

Comfort and aesthetics: With bike helmets, comfort and safety are interlinked. You may end up adjusting an uncomfortable helmet to the extent that it’s no longer effective — for example, pushing up the rim until it’s too far above your forehead to protect against face-plants or loosening straps to the detriment of a snug fit. For racing and long-distance rides, we considered lighter and more streamlined helmets; for summer cyclists, those with extra ventilation. The helmet that fits your head is the helmet that fits your head, but we looked for brands with wide sizing availability and clear guidance on adjustability and measurements. Several of our experts mentioned that bike helmets in bright colorways are the safest despite the ubiquity of charcoal-gray styles. “You want the most visible color on your head that you can put there,” says Swart. “At least in the daytime, it’s one of the most important safety factors.” We tried to find helmets available in an array of bright colors. For night riding, we also considered helmets with built-in lights.