Met Helmet

Experimental shot with R7 and 24-70

Today (13th December, 2023) I got for myself a greyish white Met helmet from Rito's. They offered it at 5K against the MRP of 9K because it was lying around for a long time and had gathered some dust - nothing that didn't go with some isopropyl alcohol.

Along with it, I also bought a cheap full sleeve jersey in saffron and a rear view mirror. The mirror is from a Taiwan company named Guee.

Being used to driving cars and motorcycles, I am very used to a rear view mirror on my right hand side. Subconsciously the eye goes in that direction even when walking. Also vehicles in Calcutta come very close to you and often cross you with hardly any space in between. Mezda was knocked down by a motorcycle a few months ago when it's protruding bag brushed against him. Luckily there was no other speeding vehicle coming from behind to crush him. 

I keep looking behind by turning the head. It's a good exercise for the spine and neck and I am quite good at it for my age. Another issue in Calcutta is the larger commercial vehicles often make so much noise that you think it is about to knock you down. Then you turn around and find it is nothing but a rickety truck, carrying construction rubbish to some dump and quite far off. The ones that do a close pass are almost always silent. 

So the mirror would help. Now on to the helmet.

My other go to helmet, the Merida black and green, is now 8K old. In summer the nylon strap becomes clammy and I need to wash it frequently. A spare helmet would help. I did buy a second Merida a couple of years ago. But it turned out to be an extremely cheap and painful helmet. The inner foam cushion has come off and it hurts. I guess I will give it away to the NGO that works with poor children and gives them cycles and teaches rugby etc. 

I loved the fit of this helmet and the colour. Apparently it comes with Mips technology. I have to study what it means. But it is some enhanced safety feature. I shall test it soon and give a feedback. As of now it fits fine. Have to see how airy it is. But given how chilly the mornings are now I have half a mind to ride in the morning with the warm woolen cap.

Mirror Comment - The mirror is pretty useless for me. A. the image is too small for me to see. B. If you can comfortably turn your head while cycling, this is totally unnecessary. In a nutshell, this is useless.

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 ;-)