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KALI Protectives

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freeridefool

Monkey
Jun 17, 2006
647
0
medford, or
the owner is awesome. i just bought the knee pads and really want to pull the trigger on a helmet but my v3 ans shoei are still kickin. the helmet construction process is really intresting. give them a call they are awesome to deal with, and answered all my questions. he let me demo his helmet at interbike a couple years ago. just bad light.
 
KleinGuy

KleinGuy

Chimp
Mar 5, 2010
82
0
Guyton, GA
Brad is a great guy. I spent an hour or so with him out at Sea Otter. He was explaining everything about the construction process. Super light stuff. Also seems like superior safety coverage as well. I am getting the Aatma helmet from them and then we'll see how much money I have left, ha
 
Inclag

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,775
459
MA
Call me crazy, but can someone explain to me why one of the main selling points of these helmets is that energy is MORE EFFICIENTLY transferred from shell to the foam??

Clearly if they meet safety certifications, that's all that really matters, but if I designed or manufactured helmets I wouldn't market them by saying they transfer energy more efficiently to the riders head.
 
KleinGuy

KleinGuy

Chimp
Mar 5, 2010
82
0
Guyton, GA
From what I remember Brad from Kali saying, its a way they can make it so that you can have softer foam against your head instead of super hard foam.
 
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redride

Monkey
Sep 23, 2007
215
0
Kuala Lumpur
imagine if u had a gap in your 8" fork. the sudden "drop" in travel... same thing...more Gs when it hits the next level of "protection".
 
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MarkDH

Monkey
Sep 23, 2004
351
0
Scotland
Inclag said:
Call me crazy, but can someone explain to me why one of the main selling points of these helmets is that energy is MORE EFFICIENTLY transferred from shell to the foam??
Click to expand...
Yeah, confused me a bit too. Only thing I can think of is that if a sharp object hits the shell and there is a gap, this will mean the shell can deflect inwards slightly and maybe reduce the surface area of the shell that makes contact with the foam, hence increasing the pressure on the bit of foam it does contact. If it's completely bonded then I suppose it spreads out the force more effectively and more of the foam absorbs the impact.

Just my 2p.

EDIT: Or what redride said. :)
 
W

wood booger

Monkey
Jul 16, 2008
668
72
the land of cheap beer
MarkDH said:
Yeah, confused me a bit too. Only thing I can think of is that if a sharp object hits the shell and there is a gap, this will mean the shell can deflect inwards slightly and maybe reduce the surface area of the shell that makes contact with the foam, hence increasing the pressure on the bit of foam it does contact. If it's completely bonded then I suppose it spreads out the force more effectively and more of the foam absorbs the impact.

Just my 2p.

EDIT: Or what redride said. :)
Click to expand...
Maybe "more efficiently" results in more of the energy going from the shell into the foam, and not into your dome.

I have an Avatar and it is super nice, comes w/ a spare cheek pad set and is super light and comfy. Should be nice and cool when it gets hot out.
 
rockofullr

rockofullr

confused
Jun 11, 2009
7,342
924
East Bay, Cali
wood booger said:
Maybe "more efficiently" results in more of the energy going from the shell into the foam, and not into your dome.
Click to expand...
Yup, the hard shell doesn't absorb much of the impact energy. The foam is where the energy absorption comes into play.

You can imagine that if the foam doesn't do it's job efficiently then your melon will take a bigger hit.
 
C

ChrisKring

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
2,399
6
Grand Haven, MI
by bonding the shell to the energy absorbing material (EPS foam), the load is applied to the foam over a larger area. That allows more controlled de-acceleration of the head as the foam collapses prior to the head bottoming out on the shell.

The ad that I saw in RacerX is a bit confusing though with the sideways force explaination that makes no sense. Not sure if he was refering to preventing buckling of the foam waves.

I think the idea was to make the helmet softer for light impacts. Not sure if I buy into designing for that if it gives up high impact protection. It is possible to do both but most DH'ers already complain about helmet size and weight.

Anyway, it would be nice for Brad to come on here to explain the theory of the design. Nerd post complete for today :)
 
B

brad@kali

Chimp
May 19, 2010
1
0
Hi All, I appreciate all the comments. The idea behind composite fusion was originally meant to eliminate the double spikes you see when you have a gap between the foam and the shell. When you look at the effective g forces that act upon your head on impact with a standard construction helmet we see a spike at the very start of the impact. Some energy is dissipated, but as the force hits the foam we see a secondary rising force to the head. This all happens in milliseconds. But as the impact acts upon the shell your brain shots across the inside of the skull. By eliminating the gap we found that the dissipation of energy could start happening right away. See in standard construction the shell has to break down. In this process some energy is dissipated, but not enough. In our initial testing we started to see the energy dissipation right away that lowering the density of the foam was possible. Lower density of the foam is great for many reasons, not only is it more efficient on the outside, the inside is softer so your skull hits soft foam. I personally like that. When the foam is to hard your head gets the energy... energy dissipation. On and on, I love to talk about this stuff, but I am not a great at typing it out. Even though we meet all the standards, and we make a really light helmet, I am supper proud of our team for keeping safety first and foremost. I will try to stay up on the forum, but feel free to e-mail me directly with more questions.
 
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ChrisKring

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
2,399
6
Grand Haven, MI
great first post and factually correct. I forgot about that first spike. In vehicles, we do the same thing by minimizing the space between the head impact absorbers and the sheet metal for the same reason.

How are you testing? Drop tower? What velocity? What's your maximum G load? HID(d)?
 
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illnotsick

Monkey
Jun 3, 2009
257
0
I ordered a Durgana this morning. For $135 I couldn't say no. I 'sploded my D2 over the weekend and a crash replacement was going to cost $100 more than what I originally paid. Can't wait for it!
 
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MarkDH

Monkey
Sep 23, 2004
351
0
Scotland
Brad, could you give us some more information on the Astra back protector? Specifically, what is the difference between the level 1 and 2 protectors, and how does the Leatt compatibilty work? Do you have to remove a top plate, or does the rear strut just fit in the recessed section on the top plate?

Cheers
 
bizutch

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,929
24
Over your shoulder whispering
I've got a set of knee pads from the Massanutten race I've either got to sell or send back for a smaller size. They are XL so way too big for me, but they fit good and I like the color.

But the helmets are too garishly decorated. Got to have at least one simple color scheme.

Big thanks for donating so much product to the Massanutten race brother! :thumb:
 
Gunner

Gunner

Monkey
May 6, 2003
533
0
Framingham, MA
Took a look at the body armor and the helmets at Highland on opening weekend. Helmets were super light and the body armor had some nice features like detachable shoulder protection.
 
R

redride

Monkey
Sep 23, 2007
215
0
Kuala Lumpur
MarkDH said:
Brad, could you give us some more information on the Astra back protector? Specifically, what is the difference between the level 1 and 2 protectors, and how does the Leatt compatibilty work? Do you have to remove a top plate, or does the rear strut just fit in the recessed section on the top plate?

Cheers
Click to expand...
yeah... read that its leatt brace compatible? how does it work? any pics you can share Brad?

Rizal
 
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