Earning more 4 & 5-Star Ratings from Virginia Tech's independent helmet testing facility than any other helmet manufacturer
When it comes to protecting your head and reducing the risk of concussion, Lazer offers more top-rated helmets than any other helmet manufacturer. With the recent introduction of Lazer's KinetiCore protection technology, the company now has 19 helmets scoring a perfect 5-Star Rating and 3 helmets scoring the 4-Star Rating from Virginia Tech's independent testing facility. The lab, which has operated since 2007, uses real-world testing protocols to determine how well a helmet can protect against the risk of traumatic brain injuries in the event of a crash.
With the technology built into the helmet instead of added on after manufacturing, Lazer KinetiCore offers lighter weight helmets with improved ventilation and a reduction in plastics while still offering top rating protection against both direct and rotational impacts. Learn more about KinetiCore here.
Safety Ratings and Standards
All bicycle helmets sold in the U.S. have been and are still required to pass the Consumer Product Safety Commission standards for head protection. These regulations require a helmet to protect against skull fracture and brain injury caused by direct impacts of a certain threshold. You’ll find a small CPSC sticker inside any helmet purchased in the U.S., certifying it has passed this general safety check.
However, when the wheels wash out from under us, we may hit the pavement and bonk our heads in different ways as we tumble to a stop. While the road rash, the torn kit, and maybe the scrape on the helmet are the first injuries we often notice, it’s the less obvious injuries that could be the most critical.
Concussions and their association with long-term brain injuries are better-understood thanks to decades of in-depth studies on sports like collegiate and professional football. These studies helped identify that concussion can occur when both direct AND rotational forces act on the brain. Traumatic brain injuries are not always easy to see or notice right away, but these kinds of injuries are much more common than the catastrophic scenarios that CPSC standards address.
Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings
For over a decade, Virginia Tech’s independent helmet testing lab has offered unbiased protection ratings to help consumers determine which helmets best reduce concussion risks. The testing is 100% independent of any funding or influence from helmet manufactures.
The program began by studying the impacts that Virginia Tech’s football players experienced on the field. And the data collected over the years has changed the way the world understands concussions and what causes them. The lab has analyzed over 60,000 hits on the field and cross-referenced each hit with video and medical info to develop detailed models of the exact kinds of impacts that will result in a traumatic brain injury. Once researchers knew the conditions that caused a concussion, they could determine the helmets that best protect against that risk.
Utilizing its extensive impact data, Virginia Tech’s helmet lab created a rating system for bicycle helmets as well. While the ratings are not a replacement for the CPSC standards, they are meant to help identify the most protective helmets on the market. Using protocols and tests that mimic real-world bicycle crashes, the lab can help distinguish the different levels of impact protection offered by different helmets.
Why STAR Ratings Matter
The STAR Rating system aims to provide an objective, impartial evaluation of how well a helmet protects against a concussion. It measures real-world forces, linear and rotational, that are experienced in a bike crash and how the helmet reduces those forces to help prevent concussion and brain injury. It's a straightforward, non-biased assessment of helmet protection that consumers can choose to utilize when purchasing their next helmet.
Lazer offers a wide range of helmets that boast Virginia Tech's 4 & 5-Star rating. Virginia Tech recommends any helmet ranked 4 or 5-Star and there are 15 total models to choose from mountain bike helmets to road helmets that deliver top-rated protection for riders of all kinds.
Learn more about Virginia Tech's independent testing facility here: https://helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html
All 5-Star "Best Available" Rated Lazer Helmets Available in North America:
