Comparison test of children's bike helmets: They have to protect you
28.7.2022
Translation: machine translated
When it comes to the safety of their own children, the protective effect for parents cannot be great enough. This is also true for bicycle helmets. Stiftung Warentest tested and compared 18 models.
There's really no arguing about the sense and nonsense of bicycle helmets. The advantage is well proven. However, because there is no obligation to wear them, many cyclists, especially in everyday urban use, do not do so or do so only rarely. What everyone agrees on, however, even non-helmet-wearing parents: children should always ride with a helmet.
The market for children's bicycle helmets is correspondingly large. If it were up to the little ones, the helmets would probably have to do one thing above all: look cool. For parents, on the other hand, what counts is the quality, i.e. the protective function. With the latter in mind, Stiftung Warentest conducted an extensive test of a total of 18 current models from various suppliers.
The test system
The test was based on the criteria of accident prevention (weighting 50%), handling (weighting 40%), heat resistance (particularly relevant this summer; weighting 5%) and harmful substances (weighting 5%). A grading scale of 1.0 (very good) to 6.0 (poor) was used. Of the 18 models tested, 11 can be found in the Galaxus shop. The complete test is available here (but only against payment).
As the father of a 7-year-old daughter who always wears a bicycle helmet, the decisive criterion for me is, of course, protection in the event of a fall. The other three criteria would be secondary at best for me when choosing a helmet, which is why I list the 11 helmets according to the criterion of accident protection and not according to the overall score in the test.
Protection: Good
In fact, only two helmets in the test received the rating Good (score 2.5 each). They would therefore be in my shortlist.
Protection: Satisfactory
The majority of the helmets tested received an accident protection rating of Satisfactory. The range from the best to the worst is only 0.4 points. The three best-rated helmets are only 0.2 to 0.3 points above the rating Good.
This is followed by my personal midfield, still with an accident protection rating of Satisfactory, but now further and further away from a rating of Good.
Protection: Sufficient
Apart from Rank and Tract, i.e. the worst rating Poor, none of the helmets tested achieved a score in the criterion Accident Protection. However, I would certainly not be satisfied with a rating of Sufficient when buying a children's helmet.
Conclusion
In principle, I would of course consider the two best-rated helmets for my daughter. However, because wearing comfort is particularly important in addition to more or less objective quality, I would also shortlist the next three models to give her enough options.
Experience shows that it's not easy for a 7-year-old to make a decision anyway, but to avoid a drama about the uncomfortable helmet on every bike ride, it has to be comfortable. So it's better to try out one more model than to insist on the objectively best but subjectively most uncomfortable one. Since my daughter is second to her dad in terms of head size, she no longer wears a children's helmet anyway, but this one:
The reviews I've read about it are consistently good, it looks cool and it's apparently comfortable too. Drama? No such thing.
Titelbild unsplash.com/@shotbyh
Oliver Fischer
Teamleader Editorial
Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chGlobetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.
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