Have you guys heard of Vivimax?
Monton?
http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21309249245214
I found out that Taiwan mostly stocks the expensive Giro helmets, not the 60USD ones I see on Amazon.
MontĆ³n -> Spanish for heap.
Example: Ā”vaya montĆ³n de mierda! - what a heap of junk!
I forgot about Exustar! They make really good stuff as well, itās a very popular brand in Taiwan and itās starting to sell well in Europe.
Vivimax is doing a lot of advertising on cycling magazines but Iāve never tried anything from them.
For the price of the helmet thereās been a lot of debate recently. The problem is that as long as weāre talking about good brands (not crappy helmets made by ripoff companies) there doesnāt seem to be any improvement in safety from a 30$ helmet to a 200$ one. Differencies are usually in materials (lighter, better feel on the skin), design (more aerodynamic, better air circulation) and look.
If I was a pro rider or a time trial athlete Iād invest more money in a helmet for all those factors, but as someone who uses the bike 20kms a day to go to work and 50/100kms in the weekend just for fun, Iād say the look of the helmet is more important than aero profile/weight.
The main problem from cheap helmets is not usually their safety but their cheap design: you look like a mushroom. A better helmet will have thinner sides made of a better material that can give the same protection as the thicker one, while at the same time giving you a non-mushroom look.
Itās a bit like carbon bikes: a cheaper carbon frame is cheaper vecause the carbon has lower quality and needs to be used in larger amounts in order to achieve the required stiffness/strength, while a high-end carbon can be pressed into thinner tubes without compromising the durability of the frame.
When the pro rider told you to get a cheap helmet that you feel happy about wearing he was probably referring to all this stuff, so if you can find a cheap helmet from a decent brand you can go for it, just match it with your bike and clothes.
Decathlon would be my first stop for a helmet, the quality is pretty good and they have a large range of colors. Iāve checked their UK website and along with their own brand they also stock cheaper Giro helmets, but youād have to go to their store to see what they have available in Taiwan.
not much difference in helmets apart from fit and durability. I would never buy a 300 USD helmet when the protection of a 30 USD helmet is just about the same. Just get from a bigger manufacturer and youāll be OK.
That said, there ARE some differences in the high end helmets. Carbon fiber shell instead of a nylon shell, for example. But 90% of the job of a helmet in case of accident is done by the crushing of the polystyrene foam inside the shell, so thatās not a real issue. Once the helmet is crushed, you throw it away and get a new one. Even if not crushed, you should get a new helmet every 2-3 years, as the polystyrene foam ages, and wonāt crush at the right rate for proper protection, plus it ages faster if you wear it out in the sun more often.
If it fits your head, buy it. Buckle systems, strap mounts, etc, are the only selling points, not the safety aspect which is pretty similar in most helmets (following rapid evolution over 20-25 years).
[quote=ājesus80ā]MontĆ³n -> Spanish for heap.
Example: Ā”vaya montĆ³n de mierda! - what a heap of junk!
[/quote]
I will stay away from Monton then.
Just wanted to add to the wise advices above that the most important thing about the helmet is how it fits you, and I donāt mean how it looks on your head, I mean that it needs to fit your head nicely, and protect your back head and sides too. All the modern helmets seem to have pretty good adjustments, but mine for example has a plastic strap on the back that might be too thinā¦
Less spending money, more riding!
[quote=ājesus80ā]Just wanted to add to the wise advices above that the most important thing about the helmet is how it fits you, and I donāt mean how it looks on your head, I mean that it needs to fit your head nicely, and protect your back head and sides too. All the modern helmets seem to have pretty good adjustments, but mine for example has a plastic strap on the back that might be too thinā¦
Less spending money, more riding! [/quote]
More like, less researching and buying the bike for me.
Iām almost there Jesus, almost there!
I think at this point Iām just running brands by you guys just to make sure theyāre not no name brands made in a sweat shop in China.
Have you guys heard of GVR? Did some research and found out that itās a Taiwanese brand? HQ in Tainan?
Never heard of them, if I were you Iād get a 1300nt Giant helmet or something from Decathlon!
I donāt see myself wearing that giant helmet though. Design is ok, definitely made in China too. The Giant store employee even told me that Giant doesnāt make helmets, they just slap on their name.
I didnāt try it on, but it doesnāt look comfortable. The strap looks like itās suppose to give me rashes
Sorry for repeating myself: Iām positively surprised with the cheap Merida helmets. Giant bike and Merida helmetā¦ weird? mehā¦
After all this time, yesterday was the first time I tried on a helmet.
Are they suppose to be that light? I tried on the 1300NT Giant helmet, and it felt like I was putting onā¦nothing.
the lighter the better!
After much thought, going to go with the 1300NT Giant helmet.
Iāve just spent a week riding in Hokkaido with a guy who rides a Cannondale and has a Specialized helmet, and another who rides a Specialized and looks sideways at my Cannondale helmet.
Which is a great helmet but quite loud. Especially above 40kmh
Hokkaido has some fabulous places to ride and some absolutely shitty places in between, BTW.
Man, I donāt know how the people from this forum get so much spare time. Weeks and weeks of vacationsā¦
When Iām donig 40 and up noise is the last thing Iām thinking of. Normally I think soemthing like āman, this is tiring as fuckā or āwow, am I a fast rider or what?ā or āIām going to get myself killed with this trafficā.
Today I reached something like 70 kmh or almost in YMS. I only remember the feeling of the road, the curves, and me sneaking beside the cars. Helmet noises? next time I will try to focus on that 
Iāve just spent a week riding in Hokkaido with a guy who rides a Cannondale and has a Specialized helmet, and another who rides a Specialized and looks sideways at my Cannondale helmet.
Which is a great helmet but quite loud. Especially above 40kmh
Hokkaido has some fabulous places to ride and some absolutely shitty places in between, BTW.[/quote]
Helmet noises??? I thought the most you can hear from riding is the sound of nature and the turning of your wheels and gears?
Iāll definitely have to look out for this āloudā helmet.
Iām becoming a riding billboard with my Giant gear. I think I should mix it up with my pants and shirt.
Rode from Shizhi to Da-An MRT, way too much dust in my eyes for my liking. Luckily I didnāt get a bug in my eye at 40kmh. Will look forward to doing research on a pair of glasses.
Donāt forget, we are all wai guo ren :discodance: :discodance:
Best benefit packagesā¦ever.
Just kidding. Iām surprised at the amount of people taking vacations as well. :eh:
You can get quite decent and affordable glasses at the decathlon. Starting off with the simplest glasses for around 200 NTD, up to around 1000-2000 NTD for photochromatic glasses or glasses with exchangeable ehmā¦ well glasses 
You can get quite decent and affordable glasses at the decathlon. Starting off with the simplest glasses for around 200 NTD, up to around 1000-2000 NTD for photochromatic glasses or glasses with exchangeable ehmā¦ well glasses [/quote]
Thanks for the suggestion Jur. At night, this usually isnāt a problem since I wear my glasses glasses when I ride, but since I knew I was going to sweat 10x more during my afternoon ride, I decided to put on the contact lenses. Little did I know that it was not a great idea.
Definitely will make my way over to Decathlon soon. Been buying too many things from Giant.
Thinking about arm and leg sleeves soonā¦
Hi all, just thought Iād share a good seller on ruten that has pretty decent deals on cycling clothes and some accessories. The website is Ruten, so you will need an resident card/ARC to register for an account.
http://class.ruten.com.tw/user/index00.php?s=pldzh11
I just bought a 1600NT cycling shirt/short/sleeve/gloves set. Will get back to everyone on if I got ripped off or not. 