Bike helmets?

[siderea]

Where may one shop for bike helmets in the greater Davis co-prosperity sphere?

I'm looking for retail establishments that will have a variety of options I could try on for fit. Previous experiences buying headwear suggests I will have trouble finding something that works for me, so I should not buy on-line and I should find a place with a diversity of style to try before I buy.

ETA: Report on results.

Thanks, all for the suggestions (feel free to keep them coming). I went for my initial round of bike-helmet shopping this evening. (For anybody else planning on shopping for bike bits, Thursday evenings turn out to be particularly good evenings, as several shops are open later on Thursdays.)

I went to:

City Sports (which I was turned on to by googling "women's bike helmets") - Modest array of Bells and Giros, and a commuter style I forget the manufacturer of. Maybe some Specialized?

Bicycle Belle - Yakkays only. These are (I don't mean this meanly) hipster helmets. They are somewhat pricey higher-end fashion accessories, concealing the actual hardware in a fashionable hat.

Wheelworks (which does not have "Ace" in its name anymore?) - Lots of Giros, Specialized, and Bell. Possibly others (Nutcase? I'm not looking for commuter style, so I didn't pay attention to this.) The biggest selection I saw.

Bicycle Exchange - Bells and Giros, overlapping with City Sport's selection, plus some Nutcases.

Haven't hit up Bicycle Boom yet.

Comments

[siderea]

Do you think of running shoes as disposable?

Do you slam your helmet into the ground a couple times a second for hours every day for years?

[squirrelitude]

It doesn't seem like you read the comment you replied to: The foam in bike helmets degrades over time.

Edit: Well, according to the manufacturers. Take that as you will.

[siderea]

Right.

I have no opinion or theory one way or another as to whether it actually does. After an evening of trying on bike helmets, I can entirely believe that after 3 years, the inside of a bike helmet gets too nasty to stand -- nothing in their manufacture[*] seems to be optimized for cleaning. Perhaps that answers the question of why the market tolerates helmets which rot, from almost no mechanical stressors whatsoever. (UV? Coat them. Abrasion? Coat them. Deteriorates in sweat? Coat them in something hydrophobic.)

Making a bike helmet which will endure for 20 years or your first impact, whichever comes first, strikes me at first blush as a not too challenging engineering problem. But clearly, there's no market for such a thing.

[* Exception: found some high-end helmets online with special anti-microbial liner materials.]

[jducoeur]

My experience supports this. I've twice gone through periods of some years of no biking (mostly because it didn't suit the area); in both cases, when I came back to it, I found that the helmet was *structurally* fine, but the foam had semi-disintegrated...