I ordered a brand new Tipperary helmet on a website. The name of the store rhymes with Rover. Since the store has so many buyers, i expected the date in my helmet to be this year’s. When i opened it today, i immediately checked the date. The helmet was made 10/21. That means it is already 2 yrs old. We are supposed to replace at 5 yrs old. I sent an email asking for a replacement. I feel very awkward having to ask. Do you think i was wrong to ask for a replacement? This was not a sale price. A full price. I would say that i would also be willing to accept 2/5 of the cost credited back to me also. But i feel weird asking for this. What are your opinions?
Just got an email from them. Idk if i believe it or not, bc IDK how things were stored, but i guess i have no chance at getting a refund or replacement.
Personally I would just return it as a non fitting item. Especially if you have a local store you can pop into sometime soon to do so. Or ask the local store to exchange it if they have less aged stock. I am with you that made date should be expected to be closer to purchase date. While yes active use is a factor if we are replacing because of material decline that should start as it sits in a hot warehouse not just when starting to be worn.
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Bullshit. Return it and get it somewhere else
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That is how the helmet manufacturers say to calculate the three to five year replacement timing. I had the same question and all the helmet manufacturers websites I looked at say first use, not date of manufacture.
This is from the Charles Owen website:
How often should helmets be replaced?
The maximum useful lifespan of a riding helmet is five years , from the date of first wear, depending on frequency of use.
Even if you haven’t been in an accident with your helmet, it’s important to replace it after it expires past this time. This is due to natural wear and tear on the materials.of first wear, depending on frequency of use.
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You absolutely can return it to a rhymes-with-Rover store. Call or livechat their customer service. Just don’t wait too long.
Very true that you can just return it …
… but you may encounter the same situation re manufacture date no matter where you order your helmet, any make, any style.
I don’t know how helmet manufacturing runs are scheduled, how long they plan to store stock, etc. etc. But it could be that there are piles of 2021 Tipperarys, or any other make/style, waiting to be bought and delivered. Maybe in other retailers as well. Helmets aren’t dairy or produce, they keep.
If there is a store that you can visit that has a stock of several, you could check dates there. That might give you an idea of what to expect.
If you order another helmet from any online retailer, and ask that they check the manufacture date before they ship it … I’m guessing that they can’t do that. Depending on how their stock is set up, they may or may not be able to access individual items to look at them before shipping to a customer. But you could ask.
With another caveat that of course I don’t know what the stock situation is for any helmet manufacturer … even Oct. 2021 may still have been experiencing fallout from the throes of the supply shortages, international shipping backlogs, and assorted craziness that was a prime feature of manufacturing during 2021. When the whole supply chain for almost everything kind of collapsed in on itself. Just speculating, maybe they weren’t able to make any helmets, then got the materials they needed and made a large number of helmets, but got ahead of the market for helmets. Or maybe that didn’t have anything to do with Oct. 2021 helmets. Who knows. Even (d)Rover may not know everything in the backstory of Oct. 2021 helmets.
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I work in a small privately owned tack and we would tell you the same thing.
Doesn’t matter what the manufacture date is -the ‘expiry’ is 3/5 years after first time you wore it. Sitting in a box on a shelf in a store does not ruin/destroy the protective surfaces. Your sweat and how you treat the helmet does that.
Dropping it…even a few inches … will make a difference. Keep the helmet in a padded carry case.
Excessive hot or cold temperatures also affect the shell… so don’t store it in your car.
If it has a removable liner…… make sure you take it out after every ride to air.
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IMO the store-that-rhymes-with-Rover should take the helmet back.
That said, I’d be more concerned that the helmet might have gotten damaged en route from their warehouse to my house, whether it fell off the shelf, got dropped by a driver, got kicked by accident, etc. …
I have decided to keep it. Many companies are now saying that it is 5 years from the date you first open the box and put it on. So i wrote in the new helmet, the date of purchase. My concern is that idk how hot the warehouse was, idk if anyone dropped it, etc… but i guess we can’t know that about any helmet unless we walk into the plant where it is made and get one there. So i will chose to believe that the companies making them are correct. Too stressful to worry about all the “what-if’s”. !
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no wait …
Simply existing doesn’t damage the helmet. Excessive heat/cold, sweat, chemicals (sunscreen, makeup, etc) damage the helmet over time, while an impact of any kind should result in immediate replacement. All helmet manufacturers will tell you the same thing. It’s based on date of first use, not the manufacture date. There is no guarantee that you will receive a helmet of any brand, from any retailers with a manufacture date in 2023.
If you’re really that concerned, I wouldn’t purchase online. Go into a tack store and actually handle the helmet before you purchase, so you can ensure a manufacture date that better fits what you want.
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I think I understand why the OP was concerned.
It was just a few years back that at (as an example) Pony Club would check the date in the helmet and it had to be less than five years old in order to be used.
When the five year thing first came out, everyone was going with five years from the production date.
Now they have changed it to five years from when it started being used.
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OP has a good idea to mark inside the helmet with the date of first use.
Maybe that is a good suggestion for helmet manufacturers. Put an easily visible sticker somewhere inside the helmet, labeled as the ‘date of first use’, with a blank spot for a buyer to mark the date.
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How many of you replace your seemingly undamaged helmet after five years? I know I should and also upgrade to a MIPS one. Does the price of your helmet decide if you replace it?
If it’s undamaged, I don’t replace it. I doubt it has deteriorated significantly. Looks the same visually, also feels the same. What does a deteriorated helmet even look like? No one has shown examples.
With 5 years of use, the replacement price isn’t a huge deal to me.
The ‘5 years’ thing is too universal and arbitrary sounding, to me. The actual life of an individual helmet could vary quite a bit, I’m thinking, depending on its life history.
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I actually do. Every 5 years. I feel that it is worth the price to protect my brain. I have seen people living in wheelchairs with severe TBI that they cannot even function. I will do everything i can to make sure i am not in a similar situation. To me, it is worth the cost of the helmet. If you break it down, you might pay $125 for a helmet, and divided by 5, you are paying $25 a year. Totally worth protecting your brain, IMO.
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@pony_baloney - I do replace mine even if there’s no obvious wear. I only have one brain and I need it to work in order to fund my horse habit 
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I replace mine. Sometimes sooner if an advance in helmet design comes to market (MIPS, for example).
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I replace mine. Sun and sweat/skin oils/products are very damaging to the materials used in helmets. Much more than sitting in the box in a warehouse.
This is partially why I have 2 helmets: show helmet ($$$$) stored inside and only taken out for shows, and schooling helmet used daily. I might not replace the show helmet every 5 years on the dot, depending on use, but the schooling one, yes.
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