I guess the Phil Hughes incident (and other less serious ones) has put helmets in the limelight, but i have to say, My Helmet is maybe 4 years old, was top of the range then and cost me about 50 pounds. I appreciate the new regulations have meant changes were required but it does strike me that some companies do seem to have have used both the aforementioned things as an excuse to hike prices right up.
Can I ask what lid it was? RRPs on top model Titaniums from the big helmet brands have been at least £100 since we started in 2011.
Masuris helmet is entirely UK made. Whether it is right or wrong to say this justifies the prices is up for debate but they do offer a helmet for virtually every realistic price point given the new regulations.
The fact is, the days of a helmet for £20-£30 are gone, for that cost the suppliers cannot get the required technology into the lid in order to pass the test.
I'm also certain costs involved in R&D to get new models to market add up. And
@Ayrtek has mentioned straight monetary losses from wasted stock broken on the testing rigs runs into the thousands.
This is pure speculation, but Albion to my knowledge have not put forward any proposed products to pass the new test, they also were not present at the recent Lords trade show. Have they tried to stick to previous pricing policies whilst developing a new standard product and failed miserably?