7 days ago I crashed hard pre-riding for the Bear Mountain Enduro. Pro-tip: if you're riding a trail you're familiar with and come across obvious signs of significant trail work that may have altered the path of said trail, don't be an idiot and assume the trail goes where it used to and continue at full speed. Instead roll more slowly through the new section first like a normal sane human.
Anyway, after flying off the trail at full speed... going full OTB, I hit my head, hard, on the ground, on some rocks and I think maybe a tree... or two, bushes, dirt, sticks etc... it's all a blur now. The forced dirt massage ripped one side of the visor from my helmet (pulled the bolt straight through the shell) and pushed it into my face cutting my nose (was wearing riding glasses, not goggles... I may wear goggles for racing in the future), and put a big dent in the top/side of the helmet.
I had to sit down at the side of the trail for a good 10 or 15 minutes, collect myself, check for damage and just generally chill out and breath....
After I determined I was all good, I cut the day short and headed home. I seemed to suffer no ill effects and actually finished my pre-ride the next day... I felt great after the shock from the crash had worn off with nothing but a few scratches and soreness.
I was wearing a Bell Super 3R MIPS with the chinbar attached. Seemed as if the chinbar did it's job as well because there was a big dirt streak over the mouth area, not sure how hard the impact was to this area though.
Interestingly... I'm not sure if MIPS is supposed to do this or not, but it does seem as if the system sacrificed itself. It definitely "spun" or allowed the helmet to spin on my head (for the record, I do have hair). It spun so much it seemed to have gone beyond where I thought it could. In the end it was stuck far beyond it's normal position. It moved so much it was now partially blocking many of the vents, yet was still firmly attached to the helmet. I could sort of push it back, but it seemed compromised and didn't want to go back to it's original position.
Brought it into my shop and was happy to learn Bell offered a 30% discount on crash replacements. Bonus, the chin bar was deemed fine and so I only needed to replace the shell.
So a total anecdotal opinion and crash event, but it seemed to me that the helmet more than did it's job and it looks like MIPS may have worked? I was protected, suffered no injuries to my head (except for the nose scratch) and I seemed to walk away without any kind of significant concussion. Would a different helmet have done worse? Better? Who knows... all I can say is that I was able to ride the next day and race on Sunday.
And yes, the helmet does fit me well... I only need to use 3 to 5 clicks of the doohickey to make it snug or tight.
April 4, 2019, 2:14 p.m. - IslandLife
7 days ago I crashed hard pre-riding for the Bear Mountain Enduro. Pro-tip: if you're riding a trail you're familiar with and come across obvious signs of significant trail work that may have altered the path of said trail, don't be an idiot and assume the trail goes where it used to and continue at full speed. Instead roll more slowly through the new section first like a normal sane human. Anyway, after flying off the trail at full speed... going full OTB, I hit my head, hard, on the ground, on some rocks and I think maybe a tree... or two, bushes, dirt, sticks etc... it's all a blur now. The forced dirt massage ripped one side of the visor from my helmet (pulled the bolt straight through the shell) and pushed it into my face cutting my nose (was wearing riding glasses, not goggles... I may wear goggles for racing in the future), and put a big dent in the top/side of the helmet. I had to sit down at the side of the trail for a good 10 or 15 minutes, collect myself, check for damage and just generally chill out and breath.... After I determined I was all good, I cut the day short and headed home. I seemed to suffer no ill effects and actually finished my pre-ride the next day... I felt great after the shock from the crash had worn off with nothing but a few scratches and soreness. I was wearing a Bell Super 3R MIPS with the chinbar attached. Seemed as if the chinbar did it's job as well because there was a big dirt streak over the mouth area, not sure how hard the impact was to this area though. Interestingly... I'm not sure if MIPS is supposed to do this or not, but it does seem as if the system sacrificed itself. It definitely "spun" or allowed the helmet to spin on my head (for the record, I do have hair). It spun so much it seemed to have gone beyond where I thought it could. In the end it was stuck far beyond it's normal position. It moved so much it was now partially blocking many of the vents, yet was still firmly attached to the helmet. I could sort of push it back, but it seemed compromised and didn't want to go back to it's original position. Brought it into my shop and was happy to learn Bell offered a 30% discount on crash replacements. Bonus, the chin bar was deemed fine and so I only needed to replace the shell. So a total anecdotal opinion and crash event, but it seemed to me that the helmet more than did it's job and it looks like MIPS may have worked? I was protected, suffered no injuries to my head (except for the nose scratch) and I seemed to walk away without any kind of significant concussion. Would a different helmet have done worse? Better? Who knows... all I can say is that I was able to ride the next day and race on Sunday. And yes, the helmet does fit me well... I only need to use 3 to 5 clicks of the doohickey to make it snug or tight.