If you?re anything like me, it?s not often you?ll get the recommended 3-5 years out of a crash helmet; I?ve usually smashed them to bits way before that, crashing some bike or another. But not everyone?s as clumsy as me. In fact most people take much better care of themselves (and their kit) than I do. So if you haven?t had a crash and you polish your helmet regularly how long does it last" And do you really have to throw it away after five years"

There?s a lot of stuff online about shells, linings and chinstraps deteriorating over time; rendering a helmet unsafe after X amount of years. And there?s also a bit of culture of over-cautiousness with helmets. Most people will say ?if in doubt, replace it?. On second thoughts, perhaps that?s not over-cautious at all, perhaps it?s thoroughly reasonable. I?ll let you decide. But what I want to know is how and why does a helmet become useless all of a sudden, once it reaches its fifth birthday.
Alright, I realise it?s not as simple as that. Helmets don?t just ?go off? all of a sudden, like a pint of milk. But nothing stays the same for ever, does it" A motorcycle helmet, although fairly simple, is made up of loads of different parts, all of different materials. Materials that all react differently to moisture, sweat, makeup, hair gel, sunlight, impacts, detergents and extremes of temperature to name but a few. And those are the kind of things that our helmets have to deal with on a daily/weekly/monthly basi...