Since the only reason I wear a lid is because the law says I have to, I don't replace them unless they get lost or destroyed somehow. In the 20 years I've been riding Reaper, I've replaced my lid once, when I forgot it was sitting loose on top of my luggage, and it flew off into who knows where, after taking it off after crossing the Florida border.

Cheers!

 

Years ago, that happened to my Arai full face. It was one of the few full face helmets that I could wear comfortably. It actually hurt, to have to throw it out!
It taught me to replace them, after a few years.

 

Could it be (gasp!) simply to sell more helmets? Say it ain't so!

I'm thinking it's also a CYA (cover yer ***) type thing.

 

As often as I replace my seat belts. I have older vintage helmets that I wear with older vintage motorcycles. I also store my helmets dry and in an airtight (not gas tight) bin. If the helmet gets damaged, scratched or the padding feels stiff from loss of plasticizers, I retire it, garbage it, take it to the range and shatter it, then collect the pieces and bury it ceremoniously in the trash can. I have at least 8 working helmets, used for different bikes, different rides, different state laws. I never go helmetless, but I do use a 1/2 helmet for short in town rides. 3/4 with shield most of the time and Modular’s for winter, rain, and cold. Each set of styles has one with a speaker and mike. I don’t answer the phone, but I do listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd channel on Pandora of the Meatloaf channel.

Like gloves, I have lots of helmets, but one go to for helmet for 2-4 week trips and three pair of gloves for that same trip. Rain, 110F, blowing dust, bugs, thunder, are not an issue.

If they mandated 7 year updates, that would be a pisser to enforce. I trust my judgement more than the helmet salesman’s lobby.

 

I have 2 that are at the 5 year mark , I’m about to replace the inside padding on one while the other Shoei is still in great shape and fits my noggin perfect .

700$ helmets add up

 

After every crash or 7 years. So far it's been every 7 years!

Paul

 

I have been wearing the same helmet since 1993. Two years ago I had the interior refurbished, the padding was flat and did not smell so good, go figure. New padding made a world of difference, much better fit and odor. No plans to replace my lid, my preference would be to move to a free state and not wear it at all. Good luck.

 

My main helmets I replace every 5 or 6 years. My guest helmets, I have for a while as theyre hardly used.

 

I gave an old helmet to my local fire department. The station that took it trains cadets and they were happy to have the helmet.
I go by the five year rule, and the same with tires. It’s just two little patches of rubber that make the bike stick to the road, and if I do go down and my head slams against the road it’s a foam helmet liner that’s going to disperse the force from cracking my skull. While rubber and foam degrade over time, so does the performance of materials improve. Five years seems like a good replacement interval.

 

Not often enough. Old habit from poor country seems like we are getting there in US now. Everything is so freaking expensive.