Saturday, August 22, 2020

New Merida Helmet

Today I got for myself a new helmet from Exadsports in Pune for Rs 2241. My relationship with them being very old I buy stuff from them directly rather than through a dealer. When it started they did not have any dealer for cycling products in Calcutta.

It's a shiny black Merida. The precise name of the model is like this - Merida Helmet Slider II K60 Black Shiny 58-63 cm. This is the largest size. They have this in two other sizes, I believe. My head size is 58. 

My other Merida helmet has hideous green graphics on it. This thankfully is more dignified with the Merida branding being in white. I adjusted the strap right away and it fits me nice and tight. There is a dialling knob behind the head which can be adjusted to fine tune the fit of the helmet. 

The straps are thankfully black. This will hide the discolouration that happens in the other helmet's white strap  after two rides. 

The new helmet came with a hood which I took off promptly. Those are meant for mountain bikers. I don't need them. There are two inserts that came for this purpose. I put them in the holes on either side of the helmet where the hood was stuck.

The Merida helmets are all CE marked. So that ensures some minimum level of protection as per EU standard. I hope their strength is not tested ever. The following is written in the literature that came with the helmet.

Product confirms to regulation 2016/425/EU and standard EN 1078 : 2012+A1:2012 this is personal protective equipment category II.

When you ride every day in the heat and sweat of Calcutta it becomes very difficult to manage with just one helmet or gloves. If it is monsoon and it's raining, or cloudy, the sweaty straps don't dry up properly and they stink. You wish you had a second one to wear alternately. I normally let my helmet and gloves dry out in the sun so that they don't stink. But in the rainy season that is not always possible. This second helmet, hopefully, will mitigate that problem. 

Merida makes very affordable accessories with acceptable quality. If I ever go abroad and have a lot of money I might splurge a bit on a Giro or Kask. For now let me wear these Meridas ;-)

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