Yet again average Joe consumer ends up being none the wiser. Who do we take as the "experts" to believe? We have British Standards, CE, ACU Gold, Snell etc.etc. and of course Sharp. The Sharp standards are quite interesting in that they have used injury data to try and analyse what makes a good lid as opposed to a bad one and test helmets to see which ones give better protection. The result is a grading system (1 to 5) that has produced very predictable responses from helmet makers. The "best" helmets, Shoei, Arai and so on have not generally scored well and some cheaper helmets have. These "best" makers respond by saying what a bad system Sharp is and the cheaper makers are crowing with delight. Yet again poor Joe is really no better off... So really you pays your money and makes your choice. Just make sure it fits properly and the colour matches your bike!