FIRST LOOK
Bell
Full 9
WORDS AND PHOTOS: Mike Kazimer
Bell has a long and storied history in the helmet world, but in recent years the company seemed to have taken a pitstop. They were still a presence on the lower priced, mass market side of things, but lacked a high-end, cutting edge professional grade helmet. With the introduction of the Full 9 helmet, Bell has reemerged, fueled up and ready to race. Drawing inspiration from their already successful Moto 9, which was developed for the demands of motocross racing, the California based company sought to create an industry leading cycling specific full-face helmet. Led by Amy Martin, an energetic, tattooed mechanical engineer with a passion for safety, the team at Bell created the Full 9 over a two year period, a period which included extensive real world testing on the head of the fastest rider on the World Cup circuit – Aaron Gwin. The final version of the Full 9 is scheduled to be available at the end of March.
Full 9 Details
• Full carbon shell • Eject Helmet Removal System compatible • Certifications: ASTM F1952-00 DH, ASTM F2032-06 BMX, CE EN1078, CPSC Bicycle • Overbrow Ventilation
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• Magnetic, removable cheek pads • Integrated, breakaway helmet camera mounts • Built in speaker pockets • Weight: 1050 grams • MSRP: $400 USD
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Behind the Scenes: Designing the Full 9Inside the DomeBell has the ability to design a new helmet completely in house - they have graphic design, rapid prototyping, impact testing, even wind tunnel testing capabilities all under one roof. A helmet like the Full 9 can go from a sketch on a piece of paper all the way up to a final version ready to be sent off for production without leaving the building. The actual production of the Full 9 takes place in China, in the very same factory where Fox and Troy Lee helmets are made, along with composite parts for Boeing aircraft.
The heart of the design facility is called The Dome, a brightly lit office area where the number of tattoos outnumbers the number of collared shirts by a huge margin (Danny Sun, Bell's senior illustrator, is also a talented tattoo artist). Sketches and concepts are tacked up on the low cubicle walls, and helmets in various stages of design are scattered on every available surface. It's controlled chaos, a gathering of talented engineers and artists with a passion for artfully executed functionality. Inspiration can come from anywhere - shapes and colors found in nature, or from Bell's long history. Since the company has been around since 1954, there's a wealth of racing heritage and style to draw from. From Evel Knievel and Steve McQueen to James "Bubba" Stewart, Bell has a history of putting helmets on some of the wildest speed demons around.
A Tour of the Easton-Bell Test LabTestingBell does extensive testing of their helmets in house before sending them off for certification. This allows them to be certain that the helmets will meet or exceed the various safety standards, as well as test new design concepts without needing to outsource. It's infinitely more convenient to walk into the next room to test a new design than sending it off and needing to wait for the results. The focus of our visit to Easton-Bell was on helmets, but the testing of wheels, handlebars, as well as helmets for other sports (
football, lacrosse, etc...) takes place here. There was a particularly nasty looking machine designed to fire an object (
like a baseball) directly at a helmet, testing its behavior when hit with a projectile. The test center even houses a small wind tunnel - paying $5,000/hour to rent a wind tunnel was getting old, so Bell decided to build their own, which allows them to test helmet venting and aerodynamics.
| I take a lot of pride in my work - I don't take my job lightly by any means. It's people's safety, it's people's heads. It's a matter of life or death sometimes. - Amy Martin, Bell Product Manager |
A Note on Helmet StandardsWhen it comes to helmets, safety is the most important feature. A few years ago, there was an upswing in the number of riders wearing DOT approved helmets - the reasoning was that a helmet designed for the high speeds of riding a motorcycle on the highway would be more than adequate for bicycle riding. While understandable, there is a flaw in this logic. DOT helmets have a much stiffer outer shell, and therefore are much less capable at absorbing slower speed impacts, the type typically encountered by cyclists. Energy absorption is the key component of a helmet's ability to prevent injury – the outer shell of a helmet needs to be able to transfer the energy from an impact into the expandable polystyrene (
EPS) inner portion of the helmet. With a DOT helmet, it takes a much greater force to transfer the impact energy past the outer shell, which means that for cyclists there is a greater chance of an injury compared to a helmet designed specifically for cycling. For this reason, riders should wear a helmet designed specifically for their sport
www.bellhelmets.com
Sorry for the blatant plug but...
Vote for "Launch Bike Park / Spring Mountain PA" for Downhill Trail.
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In most high energy impact crashes that requires the helmet to be "designed to break" rather than be as hard a shell as possible. When the helmet breaks it absorbs energy and takes the peak force out of the hit, plus it helps to deaccelerate the head more slowly = avoiding damage to the brain.
To be honest, I think that kind of crude DIY testing is about as useful, as a dual crown fork on a road bike... Shits and giggles, nothing more.
Such a sick helmet! Love all the design features!
I want!!
I thought we were beyond that bullshit? The speeds at which a DOT helmet becomes less safe is approximately 9mph according to the snell foundation. (and it's going to be addressed by the snell standard soon) I'm fairly certain most riders here go faster than 9mph
This from helmets.org "We have ample evidence from medical studies that helmets are indeed highly effective, and you will find references on our statistics page and our Journals page. Although bicycle helmets are tested in labs in impacts at 14 miles per hour, they usually do a fine job of protecting the rider in a crash where the initial forward speed is higher, because the severity of the impact is normally determined by the closing speed of the head and pavement, not by the rider's forward motion. Research on crashed helmets shows that most people hit the ground at a relative speed of about 10 MPH. If a rider is hit by a car or hits a brick wall at 30 mph and the head takes a direct blow at that speed, no helmet will prevent injury or death. But that type of crash is rare, and helmets are designed for the severity of the most frequent crash types."
This isn't the article i read but it mentions the speeds at which dot helmets are less effective. gizmodo.com/5966412/finally-an-actual-innovation-in-helmet-technology
Personally i ride moto and downhill. I ride the dh bike just as fast as the moto most of the time.
Funnily i cannot find ANY information about the actual requirements that a astm certified DH helmet has to meet. Snell has the full info on their website.