mikli

wasting an entire 40 years of development by going in the wrong direction, and still introducing new technologies through gritted teeth even now, is just pure bullshit (yes, i'm talking about you, snell. also, fuck off, you clowns.)

and the worst part is that things were actually going in the right direction at first. but then one guy, because of a personal tragedy, became obsessed with helmet strength. he believed that an intact helmet meant an intact skull, and an intact skull meant survival

and that was it. everything went to shit

the whole industry got thrown in the trash with only a few weak attempts at changing course.

but apparently even that wasn't enough. after that shift, everyone dug their heels in and kept dragging their feet on new developments until two guys built a helmet with an ODS system in their garage, and suddenly everyone woke up because they realized their market share might actually be threatened

thank you, Bob and Robert, for your contribution and for pushing this swamp forward

rotational injuries are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries. i think it's around 70% of all cases? i don't remember exactly. and even after researchers figured this out and found at least some ways to reduce them, everyone collectively decided to ignore it for another 20 years

fun fact (no): in motogp, the FIM didn't even have its own helmet tests until 2016. if your helmet had a snell, jis or some other certification, then sure, go ahead. they didn't even have their own helmet standard until 2018, and it only became mandatory in 2019

civilian helmet standards, by the way, don't test impacts above 40 km/h. and honestly, even with the FIM standard things aren't that much better. i think it's still around 8 m/s at the impact point

in 2019, the FIM also introduced its first oblique impact tests, but the first helmet with a fully integrated system specifically designed to reduce rotational forces only appeared in the FUCKING YEAR OF 2023. it was Aleix wearing a MIPS helmet

motogp riders across all classes were basically playing 50/50 right up until 2019