as you are aware there are many great bike things available at a cheap price online through the many overseas shops.  unfortunately, bike helmets are also readily available to be shipped into australia.  this is unfortunate as these helmets do not have an australian standards sticker inside of them.  it is not to say that they are an inferior helmet, but the testing for the australian standards is much higher than that of the usa and the uk.  for one thing, the aussie standards test a sample of every batch of helmets that come into the country.  other countries just test the initial model and give all of them the ok.  there are also different tests performed on the helmets here that give them a higher safety standard.  these involve impact tests that more reflect the types of conditions that a cyclist may encounter on the open road.

anyway, why is this important.  firstly, many race organisers are starting to check helmet standards before the race.  it happened at the team time trial here in perth last year as well as the masters nationals that mike and stu went to in canberra.  if your lid is not to standard you don’t race.  the reason is that there is a good chance that your insurance claim could be void as you are not wearing an aussie standard hat.  this is also the case with club training rides.  that little bit of cover you may have, may not be worth anything if you are not following the road rules that state you must have an approved helmet on.

what we are looking at doing is trying to standardise the helmets so that they become a part of the club kit.  it is great when you get a whole bunch of the spr crew together on a ride all with the club kit on.  the thing that stands out to me is the wide variety of colours and models of helmets out there.  everyone has to wear a helmet, so why not make it part of the kit.

to cover both the aussie standards and the standard kit, we have managed to get a deal with TBE in Belmont to provide a Giro Atmos (white/silver) helmet to the club at a reduced price.  how much, i hear you ask.  well they retail for $470 and we can get them for $239.95.  if you look online this is quite close to the price you can get them from overseas, but these ones have the australian standards sticker inside.

so, what do you need to do.

well firstly, this is for club members only.  to get this deal you must present your cycling australia card to Dave Rice the mananger at TBE in Belmont.  once he has confirmed that you are a member of south perth cycle club, you can get your helmet.  this applies to both full racing and recreational licences so all you need to do to save $200 is to get a recreational licence for $77.  apart from putting a bit of coin back into the club you also get a bit of insurance coverage. 

now this is planned to be an ongoing deal with TBE so that new members can still take advantage of it in the future.  we are aware that accidents do happen and you can need a couple of helmets per year if you are unlucky.  however, please do not try to take advantage of the situation and buy more than you need.  we will be taking note of who is buying the helmets.  we are hoping to also get some sticker sets made for the helmets to make them true spr lids.

hopefully this will just be the start of some “member benefits” that we can get organised for the club.  so, if you need a new helmet, head on down to TBE and Belmont and talk to Dave Rice.