What are your options if no helmet fits?

Stovepipes

Stovepipes

Stovepipes

Associate
Joined
20 Dec 2010
Posts
1,170
Location
Greater London
Forget the idea that there must be one out there and assume that there isn't. Other than getting by with poorly fitting dangerous helmets or giving up riding entirely are there any better options?
I had at one point got excited about a custom helmet but the only company I'd heard of that produced them in the States, Bell Helmets, didn't exactly make the service widely available.
 
I have similar problem, but for racing.

Shoei & HJC are quite good for weird heads... but you often have to special order the unusual sizes.

Simpson were the only one who'd get me a Snell helmet that just about fits... still working on finding a FIA approved one so I can race in LMP3 next year.
 
I have a HJC 4XL that's a bit too big for me that I've just persevered with for years, I didn't notice it so much when I had a 'fuller face' and wearing a balaclava but getting on the bike in summer now it really feels loose. I've recently tried on 6 different 3XL helmets and not a single one is a good fit. It's now becoming a reality that soon I will have exhausted the option of finding a helmet that fits properly and have to make one of them fit, not an ideal solution for normal folk but that might be all I'm left with.
 
crinkleshoes said:
Try the shoei xr1100 xxxl
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm gonna eventually try everything but started at the lower end to have more options. The Shoei is £350+ so I'll try it but that's more than double what I'd hoped to pay for a helmet. Then there's an Arai RX-7V which at £700 is so out of my budget that knowing my luck will fit like a tailor made glove.

Silly question how do you put on a modular/Flip up helmet, are they supposed to be open before putting or do you treat them like a normal full face?
 
tom_e said:
Open when you put them on, or at least that's how you put the schuberth I had on.
Click to expand...

Great I got A Schuberth C3 Basic that's tight but that's better than loose and hopefully it'll break in a little, I'm just trying to decide what is too tight.
I have a living room full of helmets and 2 more on the way next week, gonna cost me a fortune to return them too, hoping at least one more fits as the Schuberth is the most expensive of the lot so far.
 
Stovepipes said:
Yeah I'm gonna eventually try everything but started at the lower end to have more options. The Shoei is £350+ so I'll try it but that's more than double what I'd hoped to pay for a helmet. Then there's an Arai RX-7V which at £700 is so out of my budget that knowing my luck will fit like a tailor made glove.

Silly question how do you put on a modular/Flip up helmet, are they supposed to be open before putting or do you treat them like a normal full face?
Click to expand...
The Arai won’t fit.

The Shoei is like a better fitting and more comfy hjc xxxxl.

Where in London are you? Bring a balaclava and you can try mine.
 
crinkleshoes said:
The Arai won’t fit.

The Shoei is like a better fitting and more comfy hjc xxxxl.

Where in London are you? Bring a balaclava and you can try mine.
Click to expand...

Well that's good to hear my Shoei should be coming Tuesday next week thanks to paypal credit but it's so expensive. I was hoping to have a spare helmet but it is what it is.
 
Had a similar problem.

Shoei left pressure points on my forehead. Tried what felt like every helmet and only one that eventually fits ok is an XLite. Meant to be a similar shape to Shoei but whilst still leaving some marks doesn't create pressure points.
 
I'm kinda surprised there isn't a custom service. I don't 100% understand how helmets work but it's an outer shell then a EPS foam then you have the liner, now surely that's the part that could be made to measure. It'd break me but I'd pay £500+ quid to have my head measured and have the liner custom fitted by Bell, Shoei, HJC etc.

I read about Shoei's Personal fitting service and I wish we had something like that here.


Might have to go to Amsterdam.
 
Go to a decent store and they'll switch and swap your liner parts to get a better fit before you buy, all the more expensive brands like shoei, arai, schuberth offer multiple cheek pad and main liner thicknesses for each shell size.
 
tom_e said:
Go to a decent store and they'll switch and swap your liner parts to get a better fit before you buy, all the more expensive brands like shoei, arai, schuberth offer multiple cheek pad and main liner thicknesses for each shell size.
Click to expand...

Trouble with this approach which is what I did is with the best intentions you can only try the helmet on for a short period of time. I have a Shoei Neotec 2 that once fitted and adjusted in the store (H City) felt ok wandering around for 10 mins. Took it home and went for a ride - an hour or so later pressure points on my forehead.

It is frustrating when you don't have a 'normal?!' shaped head.
 
djjuk said:
Trouble with this approach which is what I did is with the best intentions you can only try the helmet on for a short period of time. I have a Shoei Neotec 2 that once fitted and adjusted in the store (H City) felt ok wandering around for 10 mins. Took it home and went for a ride - an hour or so later pressure points on my forehead.

It is frustrating when you don't have a 'normal?!' shaped head.
Click to expand...
That's always a risk you take though, even if you can wander around the house for 3 hours with it on fine it's still not indicative of what will happen when you're in position on the bike with the airflow and head movements etc.
 
djjuk said:
Trouble with this approach which is what I did is with the best intentions you can only try the helmet on for a short period of time. I have a Shoei Neotec 2 that once fitted and adjusted in the store (H City) felt ok wandering around for 10 mins. Took it home and went for a ride - an hour or so later pressure points on my forehead.

It is frustrating when you don't have a 'normal?!' shaped head.
Click to expand...
Agreed, according to my measurements I should be wearing a 2XL Helmet but I've never managed to get one past my eyebrows.
Anyway I decided to sit with the Schuberth C3 Basic for about 20 minutes to see if it's too tight and within 5 mins I can hear my heartbeat which is probably a bad sign lol.

Honestly I'm almost 100% sure I'm just gonna add padding to a helmet now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom