Not sure who your comment's aimed at, Tom, but that's one of the major reasons why I bought it.
And the answer from AGV as to whether it [EDIT: the Rescue Pull System] is reusable, in pretty good English (way better than my Italian):
We do inform you that the Rescue Pull System has been developed to be used just in case of emergency. Therefore, we do not suggest to use it if not necessary.
Anyway, please consider that it is possible to re-insert the same pads afterwards (if they are not damaged).
From watching a video of the most recent version of the helmet, you can remove all the innards of the helmet, by unpopping the pads and linings, without touching the red pull tabs. (No - I can't be arsed to remove mine - I leave them exactly as standard, so no pics.)
So, my theory is:
- emergency removal by the 'Rescue Pull System' causes the removal / unpopping to be done at an angle, which may or may not damage the poppers and linings - they're begin dragged downwards rather than popped off the surface. If there's a head stuck in the helmet too, that may put additional stress on the removal
- even if it does damage the linings/cheek pads, you could replace them.
Last thought:
- am I really likely to reuse a helmet if my noggin has been bashed around inside it? As the nice & very honest NEXX helmet distributor said in a talk last year, it's not generally the knocks to the outside of your helmet that matters, it's the potentially unseen damage done to the inner layer of expanded polystyrene by the head inside, in a crash.
Or to put it another way:
- Drop it from hip height, and it will be fine, even if it's got a few scuffs. Drop it from hip height with a head inside it = bin the helmet!