A £40 helmet from Lidl
Would you buy one?
Posted: 20 February 2012
by Visordown
In these straitened times saving a few quid here or there is usually a no-brainer, and this Thursday budget supermarket chain Lidl is doing another of its occasional sales of motorcycle kit.
Now, for a cheap waterproof over-suit (£17.99) or even a tank bag (£19.99) or bike cover (£8.99), let alone a set of “motorcycle socks” at £2.99, it could be well worth a visit if you're not too fashion conscious to pass up a bargain.
But the real puzzler is the firm's £39.99 helmet. Not just a helmet, either, but a flip-up lid with a removable, washable lining, spare visor and pretty much all the stuff you'd expect to see on something costing many times as much. OK, so it's made of ABS plastic rather than carbon fibre or even fibreglass, but to legally be on sale here it's got to pass all the latest EU safety laws.
Which all begs a couple of questions... How come it's so cheap? And would you buy/ride in one?
Discuss this story
Well I bought a set of those waterproofs for my trip to scotland last year and they were spot on. Totally waterproof and blessed with many design features lacking in other more expensive options (step foward oxford...)
So if thats an indication of the quality of the lid I would buy one.
(if I wanted a flip up lid, which I don't)
Posted: 20/02/2012 at 16:25
Had one as my first lid, and got t-boned by a car. went over the car landed on my left side, and fairly smacked off the ground. Couldn't move properly for the next 3 months. The lid did what it was supposed to, and that one was only £40 as well. They are EU marked, and MUST meet the standards, so I personally would get another. Times are tough, and if you can afford more, then go for it, but in my experience, they do the job very well, and at the price tag, your not going to be crying about getting a new one if the worst is to happen. (unlike some of those £500 jobs!!)
Posted: 20/02/2012 at 19:02
im not the type that goes for all the safety gear in the world and i don't believe a thousand quid race suit will save you from a lamp post
but i do believe you shouldn't cut corners when it comes to protecting ya noggin!
Posted: 20/02/2012 at 20:07
Most of us buy our kit based on what others are using and are easily swayed by marketing and whatever the current stars are paid handsomely to wear on the track. Make no mistake about that ,just look at riders on road bikes wearing knee sliders or leathers with aerodynamic back humps as a shining example of marketing working. A crash involving impact to the head will cause damage regardless of the shell covering it,there is only so much deceleration the brain can take before its damaged and an inch of polystyrene wont decelerate your head from 50 mph to stop when hitting a barrier or wall any more safely that 2 inches,you will still have brain damage ,or a broken neck. What the shell will do though is absorb abrasion as you slide down the road so the chin piece and visor fixing points need to be tough too. Lidls kit is cheap but punches way above its weight in terms of value and performance. I'm reminded of the Renault Clio ads on TV with Nichol and Papa a few years ago, the campaign was successful and it put an additional £500 on to the cost of each car sold which of course the buyer paid for. Marketing costs are added to everything we buy so if rider X is getting £100,000 to wear a helmet you help pay for that when you buy a replica.
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 10:40
@MIChael Wilkinson, expensive helmets cost that much for a REASON and its just not just pay Rossi and co. I had a lid I bought for about £75 when I was at university to use as a passenger lid for when mates wanted to go get beer or whatever. However I'd never wear it myself and I'd certainly never wear it at motorway speeds. I'll stick to my plain black Shoei X-11 thanks very much! Its your head do you really want to take a chance???
It may be okay in town though, considering that most of the time you're barely going quicker than a bicycle anyway, but for anything quicker I wouldn't want to be in a Lidl lid if I crashed!
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 11:43
Sorry Michael you are wrong, an inch of ARAI, SHOEI, X-LITE, SHARK etc, polystyrene is not the same as an inch of cheap Chinese polystyrene,reflected in the price;as is the composition of the shell.You need to see a slow motion film of a multi directional composite structure (see Shark web site ) to see how much more effective it can be at absorbing impact.
As for the shells ability to 'slide' down the road compare the coefficient of friction of a multi composite fibre,carbon,kevlar,even fibreglass; to that of PLASTIC which is what the Lidle-Aldi helmet is made from[cheap to manufacture].The plastic doesn't do it basically.
You are right about the advertising costs being included in the final price the consumer pays, to get round this look at the price of some X-lite, Shark, cheaper alternatives they have the same test results as the £500 stuff and are less than half the price, I bought one for£99 (£230 recommended retail price)ok it was last years colour so what!
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 12:40
There could well be an element of loss leading here - by offering such a cheap lid it has gained Lidl publicity in the biker community that otherwise they would not have enjoyed.
Afterall, how many of us visit a supermarket and only buy what we came in for?
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 13:40
Er, Mr. Wilkinson is not wrong. Decelerating your head as described will do you a proper mischief whatever you are wearing.
And what kind of person buys a cheap lid for other people while refusing to use it themselves, rossy56ross? tossy56toss more like it...
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 14:01
just to add, if you have a £40 head, get a £40 helmet ...........
I prefered [ had a major off, at slow speeds, that took out my leg, loss of job = loss of house + car + bike too :o( ]to go to my local bike dealer, and look at last years model, with at least 60% discount purely because it was last years colour scheme, for when I used to replace my helmets
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 14:27
Fair comments, but I think i'll stick to my Arai - i have no shame in saying i am brand loyal, their lids are fantastic - i would say at times over priced but then you pay what your willing to. Nobody is forced to buy anything and you certainly shouldn't be treated with derision for your choices, however you've got to consider all the factors of buying a lid, ventilation, visor quality, durability, accesibilty of spares, aftersales service,additional extras and add on components (tear off posts/de-misters etc) and most importantly if it feels physcially and mentally comfortable. If you wouldn't feel as safe is there a risk you would be distracted, consciously or otherwise..? My kit lets me concentrate on riding because i genuinely feel its the best quality i can afford.
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 14:41
Last 2 years i've run an Arai viper last time they sold one I got one because I fancied a flip for next full time helmet, Have to say was really pleased with it, definately on a par with the Caberg I tried that workmates used.
I too am a believer in the forty pound head theory but if your on a budget I wouldnt hesitate.
I also own an Aldi full face that was about the same price I took it to bits and seemed very well put together defo better than the nitro I had the unfortunate luck to use
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 17:03
The official line. Check your lid with your mates, with every other lid you manufacturer makes.
http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 18:21
On a possitive note lidl's performance tops and trousers are excellent value for the price,also the motorcycle socks. Bought a bike cover last year and still going strong unlike the one I got from a well known dealer costing over twice as much that ripped apart after 3 weeks. Just because it costs more doesn't mean it's better.
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 19:42
All you've got to do is not crash. Then it doesn't matter what lid you are wearing. (Tounge stuck firmly in cheek).
When I took my test I went and bought a helmet just so that the tester would think I was a bit more serious about biking. They weren't compulsory.
30 years later I did three days of Advanced Rider Training, which was the most expensive accessory I have ever bought for a bike. It was the best accessory I ever bought. Much more valuable than a £500 helmet.
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 20:51
I bought a £10 digital vernier gauge from Lidl 10 years ago & it's still doing fine.
Their waterproofs are good at a fraction of the bullshit motorcycle presses 'recommended products.'
Sorry I digress. I rarely wore a helmet prior to 1973 I now wear an Arai costing £500. Where does this leave me? It leaves me with the opinion that anything (including a cardboard box) between your head and the road is good news.
I used to think Nolan helmets were joke but I notice a certain Mr Stoner wears one.
Posted: 21/02/2012 at 21:09
this helmet does not want to cmpete with the big brand created for a day at the race track,
this unit wants to beat the price of the rest of the second class for everyday use,
it is indeed a good price if you compare it to the price you find in motorcycle stores where they sell you the same helmet for twice the price just because it has graphics on it.
if you disagree from me you dont know what youre talkin about.!!!!
Posted: 22/02/2012 at 03:02
For all the pro's and cons, it's still a matter of choice.
I wouldn't criticise Lidl at all on this. In fact, I hope they market more bike stuff.
BTW. I don't work for Lidl and I own an Arai RX-7
Posted: 22/02/2012 at 09:31
If you look at the SHARP ratings there are several relatively inexpensive helmets (eg Nitro Aikido) that out perform the more expensive ones, based on their test results. A few of the well known, expensive helmets performed fairly poorly.
Perhaps we should be consulting the SHARP ratings first rather than simply going for a well known brand or a lid with a flash paint job?!
(Be interesting to see how the Lidl lid would fair in the SHARP testing.)
Posted: 22/02/2012 at 13:31
rossi 55 whatever you moan about you probably buy organic shite and pay more for it
why not go and knock one out you boreing tosser
Posted: 22/02/2012 at 23:54
Er, play nicely children!
Not sure I'd be happy sticking my noggin in a forty quid lid, but then again, I tried on a mate's AGV Rossi rep and thought it felt pretty poor and wouldn't fancy crashing in that.
I'll stick to my Shark RSR2, 5* Sharp rating and at less than half RRP cos, as others have said, I got last season's look.
Posted: 23/02/2012 at 15:12
Been looking at them in my local lidyl,a report in another forum said they were flimsily made, don't buy one etc. But they look well made to me, certainly not flimsy. spare cheek pads, spare visor, internal sunvisor...
Looks to be good value. Only thing I could fault was the helmet wasn't really a snug fit on my bonce, but that could be just my head shape. Probably all be gone by the time I make my mind up!
Posted: 11/03/2012 at 11:48
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