Trying to find somewhere to purchase the Casco Speed Airo but having a lot of trouble. And is this helmet approved for use in IM? Any help appreciated, thanks.
No, it is NOT approved for competition in the USA yet. Please search threads already posted about this. Therefore, if you buy one, it will be a very costly training lid.
Chicagovelo’s website “The only source in the USA for USPC CERTIFIED CASCO Protection and Precision!
USACycling bans any non-certified model. All other web sellers are not selling CERTIFIED helmets.”
This was specifically stated under the description for the speed airo. I also saw people racing kona wearing them. I’m confused…?
I stand corrected- the Casco Speed Time helmet is what everyone’s talking about that isn’t yet approved for use in the USA. This is a similar helmet that is approved.
The Speed Airo and Speed Time are not CPSC certified to my knowledge. I’ve got both and they both have big “NOT FOR USE IN COMPETITION” or something along those lines.
The Chicago store that sells Casco - from my understanding - took it upon themselves to certify the “TJ Tollakson” helmet so they could sell and distribute in the US. It is/was a very popular helmet amongst trackies. The reason why you saw people wearing them at Kona is because Kona and 70.3WC’s make an exception to this rule due to the number of non-US athletes competing. They make you sign a waiver prior to the race.
Not sure what the “tj helmet” is or means but they are selling a casco speed airo.
http://www.chicagovelocampus.com/shop/accessories/casco-speedairo/
Correct. But if I understand the original post correctly, you want to find out if it can be used for Ironman. Unless it’s CPSC certified, it cannot be used in the US for competition. To my knowledge, the only CPSC certified helmet that Casco makes is the one TJ Tollakson wears (The Warp Carbon). The website is a bit confusing as it says “the only source for USPC certified helmets” which either means CPSC and they’ve since gotten the certification, or USPC is something completely different, which would still mean you can’t use it for US races (except Kona).
My suggestion would be to contact the folks in Chicago for a definite answer. If they tell you it’s CPSC certified, you can use it for whatever you want. Otherwise, you either have to be a pro, or as someone else said, it’s just a training lid.
Hope that helps.
Got it, thanks for the help
.
I bought the Speed Airo helmet recently. My understanding is as follows:
The Speed Airo is not CPSC certified . It therefore cannot be worn in USAT sanctioned events. This includes all Ironman races in America. However, Kona is the exception due to the large international field. I bought the helmet because I live in Canada and race all over the world. Races outside of America (including Ironman races) are not governed by USAT. The CPSC certification standard thus does not apply. The Speed Time is CPSC certified because the Chicago store paid for the CPSC certification.
In case it helps I bought the helmet from the Queen K Shop in Montreal: http://queenk-shop.ca/
USPC means the helmet is certified by the US pony clubs for equestrian riding! This isn’t a joke. That’s a real organization and the velocampus website is very misleading. I highly doubt they made a mistake but it looks they are trying to Mislead people to assume the helmet is CPSC certified when really its not from what I’ve heard from Casco & Velodromeshop.
I don’t think you’ll see many people riding horses using that helmet but I guess they would be airo!
I googled USPC and that’s what I came up with, but had no idea why a velodrome would care about equestrian certification. I figured either they meant CPSC or as you pointed out, made a mistake, etc. Casco does make equestrian helmets so I give the online store the benefit of the doubt.
Regardless, point remains the same, no SpeedTime or SpeedAiro for Ironman or USAT sanctioned races.
The Chicago Velo Campus site says “**The only source in the USA for CPSC CERTIFIED CASCO Protection and Precision!”, **but I emailed them a while back about coming in and trying one on and when they emailed me back they mentioned USPC as well (I haven’t made it up to try one out yet). So maybe someone just keeps getting acronyms messed up. I emailed them back to check for sure and will post when I find out.
Looks like they’ve changed it from when the thread was started. I’ve not gotten official confirmation from Casco as my contact has been out of the office. I would certainly be interested in offering them at our shop if in fact are CPSC Certified. Great helmets, but until I hear otherwise, I’ll go with what I know so far.
What’s absurd is that the Euro helmet standard meet or exceed the CPSC standards.
But bureaucracy…
Hello NordicSkier and All,
http://www.usacycling.org/usa-cycling-recognizes-new-helmet-standard.htm
USA Cycling has recently added the European helmet standard to its list of approved standards for legal bicycle racing helmets. In 1986, USA Cycling became the first cycling federation to make hard shell helmets required for all bicycle races. At that time we acknowledged numerous government agencies, such as SNELL, ANSI, and the US CPSC. In the last few years, the UCI has made hard shell helmets mandatory for all races, and a new standard has recently appeared on the market, the European Committee for Standardization. Helmets approved by the European Committee will carry stickers (ECS or CEN) similarly to the stickers found in all American-made helmets.
Maybe USAT will follow suit ………….
**The European CEN standard is less stringent that the US CPSC standard **
Good news: Which means that European bicycle helmets can be designed to be to be thinner and more aero than US CPSC bicycle helmets.
Bad news: European helmets will not protect your head as well as CPSC certified helmets.
http://www.helmets.org/stdcompsum.pdf
CPSC 2.0 meter drop
European 1.5 meter drop
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1139.html
http://www.bhsi.org/stdchart.htm
Some interesting helmet information here:
Critique of article above here:
http://www.helmets.org/bicyclingmag1305.htm
More info here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/helmets.html
http://www.bikexprt.com/research/pasanen/helsinki.htm
http://www.bhsi.org/stdcomp.htm
Cheers,
Neal
+1 mph Faster
The USAC policy referenced there is from 2006 and has come and gone. Current rules for the last few years is CPSC only except for international events.
Appendix 4 of the current rules. http://www.usacycling.org/usa-cycling-rule-book.htm
Section 1. Helmets Mandatory
Part 1. At all times when participating in or preparing for an event held under a USA Cycling permit, including club rides, motorcycle drivers and all motorcycle passengers shall wear a securely fastened helmet that meets the US DOT motorcycle helmet standard.
Part 2. At all times when participating in or preparing for an event held under a USA Cycling permit, including club rides, all licensees who are mounted on a bicycle shall wear a securely fastened helmet that meets either the US DOT helmet standards or the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standard for bicycle helmets.
Helmets with the European CEN certification may be worn by riders only while participating in a race inscribed on the UCI calendar.
Riders shall show documentary proof of this, such as a manufacturer’s label, upon request by event officials.
This provision does not apply to riders who are riding rollers or any other stationary device.
Hello slindell and All,
Thanks for the correction.
I guess we will not see USAT accepting to the European bicycle helmet standard in the US soon.
It would be better for athletes if there was a global bicycle helmet standard or standards … at least for competition.
Cheers,
Neal
+1 mph Faster
The news archive is nice but it would be better if there was some effort to link rule change announcements or mark old ones as superseded as this one has come up a couple of times.
I heard back from Chicago Velo Campus. The Speedairo they sell is CPSC certified. Anything that said USPC was an error. They also have the Speedtime and Warp. I think I’m going to go ahead and order the Speedairo since I don’t seem to be making it up to Chicago. I believe they had to go through the process of getting them certified themselves, so you could probably contact them and see if you could buy from them for your shop.