Buying Helmet from US

Being.smart

Being.smart

Adept
Can we buy bike helmet from US and get it imported to India

One of my friend is telling that only ISI helmet is allowed in India, so is there any chance that custom people will hold the helmet saying that it don't fulfill the requirements ??
 
No, they won't. DOT / European / Snell certifications are accepted by the police in India, though I've heard of an idiot cop in news who fined a guy for wearing a DOT helmet.

What budget are you looking at? You can get great helmets from India shops, no need to import.
 
I wear an LS2 phobia which is DOT and SNELL certified. you get them for around 3-5-4K. ofcourse they don't have ISI mark but no one cares.
anyways you will need an ISI mark helmet while registering a bike here in Hyderabad. other than that, police never look for ISI mark here in Hyderabad. the moment they see the helmet, they will ask "imported hai kya?, kitne ka hai. 4 hazar ka helmet!!! :-O" and that's all.

you can even get exotic aria and shoei helmets which cost upward of 20k here in india. so you don't need to import them. and the weight of the helmet will cost a bomb at courier too. so better buy a good helmet on ebay/banglore/Mumbai.

remember, always buy a full face helmet.
 
@blkrb0t , i am planning to buy Xpeed helmets, and almost finalized one :D, the one with matt black finish :X X:

budget is strictly 7-8k :(

here i visited 5-6 shops, none of them carry good helmet, all they have is wide range of colorful helmets costing rs. 500-800 :(
 
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@Being.smart I was talking about online stores who ship locally, or if you can visit Mumbai or Bangalore, there are many retail stores also who stock them. PlanetDSG, Bachoo Motors, and Performance Racing Store are some of the better known online stores.
 
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look at performanceracing.in, although in your budget you will find only 5-6 helmets. :p

Shipping a helmet is not advisable. A helmet is a one use item. Each impact. whether it is bouncing around in the cargo hold while shipping or just dropping it on the ground or an actual fall reduces its effectiveness. I would instead ask someone to carry it with them rather than get it shipped (assuming you can't find one locally).
 
ashvarybabul said:
But my trick works when you are fined by cop because you own a 5k helmet which is so poor quality that it doesnt have a ISI mark, mark a 150bucks helmet Also have
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The cost of the helmet is not the issue, the quality of it is. ISI is the base standard that you have to follow, anything else such as DOT / ECE / Snell are also accepted by the Police. There are some really stupid and idiot cops who bug otherwise, but that's illegal on their part.

You can have the ISI logo printed on the helmet for backup, even though it is already covered by other standards, but you'll still be committing a different crime.
 
Being.smart said:
is DOT SNELL certification is better than ISI ??

do we have something like ISO for helmets also or not
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There is no single ISO standard. ISI is the Indian standard, DOT is Department of Transport, USA certification, Snell is an independent organisation from Australia, ECE is European certification. The USA and ECE standards are stricter than the ISI, hence the quality of helmet is good. Snell helmets are tested more rigorously.
 
^ To add, AFAIK DOT is compulsary in the US, ECE in the Europe and SNELL is voluntary. I think that the ISI certification is based only on a single impact test, whereas ECE, DOT and SNELL certify for multiple impacts (your head bouncing on the road :p ) in varying degrees.
 
Safety is the most important, but not the only criteria - The helmet should fit ala Goldilocks - not too tight, not too loose. It should damp out the wind noise without putting you in a dead zone where you can't hear anything, It should have ventilation. The strap should be a double clasp type, it should be as light as possible etc etc.

Considering all this you would land up buying the 40k ARAI/Shoei helmets :p

Frankly an LS2 or equivalent is more than enough when backed up with and learning to ride better/safer.
 
^Cool, but if you ride a lot at night make sure you put reflector strips on the helmet to improve your visibility to other drivers.
 
soggy316 said:
Safety is the most important, but not the only criteria - The helmet should fit ala Goldilocks - not too tight, not too loose. It should damp out the wind noise without putting you in a dead zone where you can't hear anything, It should have ventilation. The strap should be a double clasp type, it should be as light as possible etc etc.
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Actually, when buying a helmet, you should buy the one which fits you a little tighter, over the next 3 months it will fit exactly to your head. if you buy the one which feels comfortable at the time of purchase, it will become loose later.
 
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