How to Choose a Mountain Biking Helmet

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Debbie, and this clip will be about choosing a good helmet, and why you always need to wear your helmet. When you’re riding there are basically two types of wrecks. There’s the type where it’s kind of slow motion and you’re trying to figure out how best to tuck and roll and save yourself. The other kind of wreck is you’re already laying on the ground trying to figure out what happened. And when you’re laying on the ground and your head hit the ground, you’ll be happy your head was in a helmet. To pick a well fitting helmet there are a couple of things to look for. You pay for air. The more vents it has, the more it’s gonna cost, although you can get a decent helmet in the $40-50 range. Most helmets today come with what’s called a universal fitting. You wan the shell, or shape of the helmet to basically fit the shape of your head, and the adjustment to do the minor adjustments on your head. Pull the straps out. Some helmets have visors and some don’t. That’s a personal choice. When you put your helmet on you want it to sit low on your forehead. Adjust the straps so its reasonably snug on your head. You don’t want to wear your helmet up like this, because of you hit the ground face first, your face is gonna hit and not your helmet. If you wear it too low, you can’t see. You adjust the straps on the side to fit under your ears. When it’s buckled, you want it to fit a little bit loosely. What you don’t want is to be able to stick your hand underneath it. If you can stick your fingers under, that’s okay. If you can stick your whole hand, that’s too much and you probably want to choose a different helmet. A helmet is the most important aspect of riding. If you get a brain injury, you’re not going to be riding anymore, much less feeding yourself possibly. People who ride without helmets are often called organ donors; there’s a reason for that. Always wear your helmet, and be safe on the trail. "