What do you do with your helmet when it is not being used?

and here's some stuff from the Snell Memorial Foundation: (smf.org)
"Why should you replace your helmet every five years?
The five year replacement recommendation is based on a consensus by both the helmet manufacturers and the Snell Foundation. Glues, resins and other materials used in helmet production over can affect liner materials. Hair oils, body fluids and cosmetics, as well as normal "wear and tear" all contribute to helmet degradation. Petroleum based products present in cleaners, paints, fuels and other commonly encountered materials may also degrade materials used in many helmets possibly degrading performance. Additionally, experience indicates there will be a noticeable improvement in the protective characteristic of helmets over a five year period due to advances in materials, designs, production methods and the standards. Thus, the recommendation for five year helmet replacement is a judgment call stemming from a prudent safety philosophy."

and:
"I dropped my helmet! Do I have to go buy a new one?
Generally the answer is probably not. Helmets are one use items, but are quite durable otherwise, at least the ones we certify. Frequent dropping or spiking a helmet on the ground, or other hard surfaces may eventually degrade the helmet's performance. Similarly if the helmet falls to the ground at highway speeds unoccupied the owner must be aware that some degradation may have occurred. In general the real damage comes when the helmet contacts an object with a head inside. The Foundation recommends that if you are participating in an activity that requires that you wear a helmet, that you avoid hitting stuff with your head. It can be difficult to readily determine if a helmet has been damaged, and the protective capabilities compromised without a thorough inspection by a trained professional. Some manufacturers may provide this service or direct you to these others that can perform these inspections. The Foundation recommends that if you suspect your helmet may be compromised, then replace it. If the helmet has been involved in an impact while in use, replace it."

manicmechanic said:

"Back in the day..." when I used to build and fly R/C planes, a technique for building a fiberglass part was to carve the part from styrofoam/expanded polystyrene, then apply the fiberglass over the foam. When the 'glass had set up, remove the foam by chipping out the big pieces, then dunk the part in a container of gas to dissolve the rest of the foam. Just sayin'.

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So, the take-away here is, don't use your helmet as a bucket to transport gasoline?

After all, there is a difference between the chemical composition of gasoline as a liquid and the explosive gas that is created once gas is mixed with oxygen, never mind the concentration levels involved. Same thing goes for paint solvents which, interstingly enough, usually come in painted containers that seem to retain their painted exteriors so long as the liquid is not spilled on the paint. Just sayin'.

bikerfish1100 said:

It is not wise to store helmets near gasoline, cleaning fluids, exhaust fumes, or excessive heat. These factors can result in the degradation of helmet materials, and often the damage goes unnoticed by the wearer.

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So, don't store your helmets in home's steel haz-mat cabinet or on the shelf sitting directly over open fuel or solvent containers, don't sit it on top of a furnance, heater or close to work areas where you're welding, brazing or stripping materials with a heat gun, keep it away from your shop lights and by all means don't leave your helmet in a closed garage while commiting suicide by CO2 posioning. Do I have that right? Just askin'.

I'm sorry, but IMHO if YOU can't figure out if YOUR helmet is 'good enough' to provide adequate protection in the event of a crash where head-trauma would otherwise be the primary cause of death AND where a 10% - 15% loss in the effectiveness of the helmet's protective properties (as opposed to a 10% to 15% loss of protective properties because it was not sized, fitted or secured correctly) would be the difference between being brain damaged / brain dead or not, then you've probably got bigger issues to deal with as well.

For example, is your living will and final will and testament up to date? Let's face it, if you ride a motorcycle your chances of ending up on life support or in a box are just a bit higher than the average Joe who doesn't ride a motorcycle.

When's the last time you checked your tires for proper inflation, wear and just how old are they? It's not like tires have an unlimited shelf-life either. How about your shocks and brakes; when's the last time they were serviced to ensure they're at 100% effectiveness?

How's your health? Are you overweight, do you smoke, engage in other high-risk activities or do you eat healthy and get regular exercise? I'd venture a guess that we lose more riders to heart disease or other health-related causes than head injuries.

Hey, and how up to date and well-practiced are your riding skills and situational awareness? As someone who is new to BMWs and Sport Touring bikes I'm amazed at all of the gadgets folks install that clutter up their field of view and/or that are positioned in such a way that they can draw attention away from the road... just like in a car but without that steel safety cage.

So, once again, I submit that overt concern about the risks associated with storing a helmet in your average garage are much ado about nothing. But, hey, if y'all want to be paranoid, knock yourselves out. The only way I know to be certain that I've eliminated the biggest risks I face as a motorcyclist are to cease being a motorcyclist... and I'm just not ready to do that. So, in the mean time I'll continue to manage all of the risk factors that I can in a prudent manner. As for that helmet in the garage, no worries, eh?

I don't store my helmet in the garage. For one, there are a lot of solvents and things out there, two, it's dusty, three, I don't have a place to put it where it's not more likely to be knocked over.

Also, there were photos I saw of a guy who left his helmet in a non-climate controlled garage in his top case. When he pulled the helmet out after some time sitting, it had mold all over the inside. Yuck!

Mostly mine is stored on the dining room table if I'm riding frequently and otherwise it's in a closet in the house with coats, hats, and other riding gear.

jdmetzger said:

Also, there were photos I saw of a guy who left his helmet in a non-climate controlled garage in his top case. When he pulled the helmet out after some time sitting, it had mold all over the inside. Yuck!

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I'm guessing if someone sealed-up a well-used or otherwise moisture-infused helmet in a sealed top case that was stored it in their hall closet it would have ended up just as mildewed and moldy...

Again, common sense stuff and not-germane to the garage environment.

Just for context, I'm not advocating for garage storage... I'm just not buying a lot of weak arguments put forward that suggests storing a helmet in the garage will shorten it's service life that don't pass the common sense test.

There are many, many good reasons not to store gear in a garage, i.e., the 40 yard walk mentioned above, lack of space and other environmental issues that are related to what someone may do in their garage, e.g., woodworking without an evac. system or auto restoration and painting. But, they stand on their own merits just fine.

For my situation, the shelf beside the parked bike is the best place for me to store my helmet. I have cement steps leading from the garage down to the house. I figure that with my luck (a lot of it bad), I'd lose it and bounce it down the steps. However, in a week or so (hope it's not sooner), the K will have all the oils changed and then will be covered for the winter. Then the helmet will be stored in a helmet bag on top of a cupboard for the winter.

I've never had mold nor left a helmet in the Givi top box for any great length of time, but it did take a long time this spring to get the Givi smelling decent again. I forget what I left in the box over the winter, but the odour was not pleasant come spring.

TandemGeek said:

Just for context, I'm not advocating for garage storage... I'm just not buying a lot of weak arguments put forward that suggests storing a helmet in the garage will shorten it's service life that don't pass the common sense test.

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i must be missing something here. how does this "It is not wise to store helmets near gasoline, cleaning fluids, exhaust fumes, or excessive heat. These factors can result in the degradation ofhelmet materials, and often the damage goes unnoticed by the wearer" flunk the common sense test? The issues of exhaust fumes, heat, gasoline and (likely) cleaning fluids are all germaine to the garage question, yes? And unless your garage in Atlanta has a/c, (and it certainly could, but i'm just sayin') heat is most certainly an issue for anything stored inside.

Motorcycling entails the acceptance of some risks as being inevitable, with the purposeful intention of reducing or eliminating as many risk factors as "reasonably" possible. in that light, i will advocate for not storing a helmet in a garage, as that is an easily controlled factor that can be eliminated, and bring about some slight improvemetn in the controlling of other associated risk factors (helmet longevity and effectiveness).

bikerfish1100 said:

i must be missing something here.

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Yes, you are.... the common sense part.

Heat: No, no A/C in the garage here in Atlanta. So, if it's 100F - 105F outside, then it's probably about the same in the garage. Of course, guess what: if it's 100F outside and I'm riding my motorcycle with my helmet on, the helmet is also 100F, if not more given how solid objects tend to absorb and hold heat in direct sunlight. But, the last time I checked, the temperature required to deform EPS is a heck of a lot higher than normal ambient air temperatures and once a solid object is heat-soaked to a certain temperature, the time spent at that temperature won't really matter: it's a helmet not a turkey. So, the common sense part would be, don't put your helmet where it will be subjected to abnormally high heat that could, in fact, damage the shell or EPS liner, i.e., out from under Halogen spot lights, off of furnaces and the like. As for the example of the styrafoam cup & heat tolerance, last time I checked folks pour scalding hot coffee into those suckers. So, just how hot would the air in a garage need to be?

Exhaust fumes: Short of my previous example of someone committing suicide by running their car in a closed garage, just how much CO2 do you think builds up in a garage when folks warm-up cars and the like? I've got a CO2 sensor in my garage and the ONLY time it goes off is if I run a 2 cycle leaf blower to blow wash water off the cars/bikes or leaves out of the garage. Frankly, I'd bet there's more C02 in the air around my helmet when I'm sitting or riding in traffic during a Code Orange or Code Red SMOG alert during August than you'll find in the average garage where someone's warming up their car or bike.

Gasoline and Solvents: As mentioned before, unless you store your helmet on top of an open gas or solvent container or next to them on the floor, it's pretty hard for any vapors from those open containers (never mind closed containers) to defy gravity and do damage to your helmet. Yes, gas vapors are heavier than air, as are most other solvent-based vapors. Again, this is why it's considered safe to install a gas-fired furnance or water heater in a garage, so long as it's elevated off of the floor where any gasoline vapors might collect. It's also why garage floors are set lower than any adjacent living space floor such that you must always climb up a step or two to get into the house.

In closing, IMHO it's not just the presence of potentially harmful elements that you need to consider, it's the concentration levels. Again, for any of these concentration levels to be high enough to damage a helmet during it's 5-year prescribed service life, you'd have to assume that there'd be a heck of a lot of other things stored in your garage for much longer periods of time that would suffer as bad or worse a fate, never mind anyone who goes out and spends any time working in that garage.

TG- my only point in this is that the garage exposures, even if relatively small in comparison to real trouble levels, or in comparison to those exposures that are part of the actual riding environment (sun, traffic exhaust, etc) is that the garage exposures are ENTIRELY avoidable and UNNECESSARY.
i choose to avoid those readily avoidable potential concerns. ymmv.
(and i don't know about in your garage, but i know that if it's 90 outside, it can climb to quite a bit more than 90 inside of mine, and stay there for much longer than the outdoors does)

bikerfish1100 said:

i choose to avoid those readily avoidable potential concerns.

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That's where we differ.

I choose to cast a critical eye on some of the dumbed-down 'information and guidance' offered up by litigation-wary manufacturers and perpetuated by well-meaning folks (to include MSF) that defy logic and reality for vast majority of enthusiasts.

As I said, there are many good reasons to store gear in a home and they stand on their own merit, just as the good reasons to store gear in a garage. There's no need to perpetuate the dissemination of junk science to 'justify' why someone else's choice is less prudent than your own.

Peace and out....

TandemGeek said:

I choose to cast a critical eye on some of the dumbed-down 'information and guidance' offered up by litigation-wary manufacturers and perpetuated by well-meaning folks (to include MSF) that defy logic and reality for vast majority of enthusiasts.

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I bet you leave your battery connected to the bike's electrical system when you charge, it, too

I keep it on a shelf in the garage next to where I park the bike. Please don't let this start a flame war, but suggesting its not good for the helmet to be in the garage seems pretty Henny Penny to me.

Just my $0.02....

Here's an idea (if you're a hoarder)

DRUDOLPH148006 said:

What do you do with
yours to keep it from being dropped or scratched when it is not being used?

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Nothing...I'm careful!

When it is stored for the winter, it goes into a lined Dow Canvas helmet bag.

mistercindy said:

I keep it on a shelf in the garage next to where I park the bike. Please don't let this start a flame war, but suggesting its not good for the helmet to be in the garage seems pretty Henny Penny to me.

Just my $0.02....

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AGREED!!!!!!


OOPS, Hide the helmet!