Fitting a helmet

concorde

Proving to be very stressful. So far I've sent 3 back to crc.

One got an urge all in here which is best fit butt struggling with the side adjustments. Basically I can wobble it too far.

I've got another 7 on order!

Any tutorials that show how to do it spot on as om thinking I must be doing it wrong or expecting too good a fit?

Cheers y

cooldad

Concorde wrote:

...
One got an urge all in here which is best fit butt struggling with the side adjustments. Basically I can wobble it too far.

..

Wobbly butt and urges? You do know helmets go on your head?

fat daddy

Butt struggling ... been there !

Surely going to a shop trying them on would be quicker ?

fenix

You've ordered 8 helmets ?

What helmet do you have now ? If it fits - then start off with that brand. Different helmets tend to fit different shapes of head - and you'd be much better off just going to a shop I think rather than all that pallaver.

concorde

Ten lids been ordered. Shops have a crap selection on offer on the whole, crc has frewe returns, no brainer. Giro I had in past but it never fitted great, could slide it up head too far

fenix

Trekking to the post office with 10 helmets sounds a lot messier than finding a bike shop unless you're in the Outer Hebrides or something ?

cooldad

Concorde wrote:

Ten lids been ordered. Shops have a crap selection on offer on the whole, crc has frewe returns, no brainer. Giro I had in past but it never fitted great, could slide it up head too far

Are you Yoda?

.blitz

Concorde wrote:

Any tutorials that show how to do it spot on as om thinking I must be doing it wrong or expecting too good a fit?

Troy Lee and Fox offer similar advice. If you can pull the helmet backwards to expose your forehead or forwards to obstruct your vision, it's too big/loose.

Most lids have a cradle or padding that offers some adjustment but to work properly the polystyrene liner needs to be in contact with your head. Try as many as you can until you find one where your head kind of slots in to the helmet, and any adjustments via the cradle or padding is just fine tuning.

concorde

.blitz wrote:

Concorde wrote:

Any tutorials that show how to do it spot on as om thinking I must be doing it wrong or expecting too good a fit?

Troy Lee and Fox offer similar advice. If you can pull the helmet backwards to expose your forehead or forwards to obstruct your vision, it's too big/loose.

Most lids have a cradle or padding that offers some adjustment but to work properly the polystyrene liner needs to be in contact with your head. Try as many as you can until you find one where your head kind of slots in to the helmet, and any adjustments via the cradle or padding is just fine tuning.

That's what I'm aiming for, so that it doesn't slide back and forth too much. 90% of people wearing helmets I see have terrible fit!

mugensi

First of all measure your had using a tailors tape. My head in 57.5cm and so I will only buy a helmet with a maximum size of 58cm (most will actually allow up to 59/60cm despite the size guide) I would advise you not to buy any helmet where your head size is at the lower end of the scale, ie if your head is 58cm and the helmet is sized for 57-62cm as they will ultimately be too big and you'll look like a mushroom on wheels. I have 5 helmets and they're all a perfect fit for me, theyre all Medium in size with a maximum of 58cm however two of them (a Kask and a Briko) both have quite a bit more room in them than the other 3 (Uvex, BBB & Met) and so I can easily wear a cap underneath if need be.

concorde

MugenSi wrote:

First of all measure your had using a tailors tape. My head in 57.5cm and so I will only buy a helmet with a maximum size of 58cm (most will actually allow up to 59/60cm despite the size guide) I would advise you not to buy any helmet where your head size is at the lower end of the scale, ie if your head is 58cm and the helmet is sized for 57-62cm as they will ultimately be too big and you'll look like a mushroom on wheels. I have 5 helmets and they're all a perfect fit for me, theyre all Medium in size with a maximum of 58cm however two of them (a Kask and a Briko) both have quite a bit more room in them than the other 3 (Uvex, BBB & Met) and so I can easily wear a cap underneath if need be.

Cheers!

LimitedGarry

Damn. I may be forced into buying a helmet next a year by someone who's got more concern for my safety than I do and reading this makes me so not looking forward to it.

cooldad

It's a really easy process, if you don't make it hard.

larkim

I don't know what the online guides suggest but with growing kids I've had to do this regularly.

My process is:-
- first work on getting the lid itself to sit snugly on the head with no straps using supplied extra padding / adjusting any tightenable loop around the head (if one is in place)
- then get the triangle around the ears right
- then move on to getting the chin strap sorted

I don't really believe too much that some brands fit and others don't - in the main most offer enough options of additional / less padding etc to make sure any head can sit snugly under the lid. There are some exceptions (one of my boys has some genetic issues which mean he has a really flat back of his head, so that needs to be catered for), but they are exceptions.

fenix

cooldad wrote:

It's a really easy process, if you don't make it hard.

+1

Never needed to use any extra padding to get a helmet to fit = and I'd not be taking out any padding - that's just wrong.

Really wanted a Spesh Sub 6 back in the day but far too narrow for my head.

There's plenty of brands out there though so you really don't have to mess round.

lostboysaint

larkim wrote:

I don't really believe too much that some brands fit and others don't - i

You're very, very wrong then. It's absolutely obvious when you try a few different helmets on that some fit and some don't. A decent helmet should require very little work indeed to get it to fit correctly - but there's plenty of different head shapes and sizes and helmet shell shapes and sizes. Same for motorcycle helmets (ask anyone who has tried Arai, Shoei and AGV lids if they all fit comfortably.........)

The fundamental goal is to find a helmet that fits on your head, doesn't move forward or laterally WITHOUT the chinstrap done up and has no "hot spots" that are applying pressure anywhere on your head.

FishFish

Concorde wrote:

Shops have a crap selection on offer on the whole,

But individually they do have good selections. I tried on loads at Halfords and bought one.

larkim

lostboysaint wrote:

larkim wrote:

I don't really believe too much that some brands fit and others don't - i

You're very, very wrong then.

I do believe that that is your experience. However, I don't believe that helmet manufacturers deliberately rule in or rule out certain head shapes from their markets.

I reckon if you don't think, say, Giro helmets fit you, if you went to Giro and let them fit it for you then you'd get a perfectly well fitted Giro helmet. They certainly wouldn't be telling you that you've got the wrong shape of head and send you off to Poc, Bell, etc for an alternative.

Perhaps some fit better "out of the box" or with minimal adjustment. But if you put in the time at first I'd be amazed if 95% of people couldn't fit any brand of helmet which was properly adjusted to their head.

lostboysaint

Again, you're wrong.

Manufacturers design what they feel will work best for people. Unfortunately "people" come in many, many different shapes and sizes and so whatever they produce will only fit a certain proportion of them. Once again, it's blindingly obvious once you've tried a few different makes on and it's also no different to shoes, gloves and many clothing items. Unsurprisingly some fit much better than others.

Unwittingly you've picked a great example. I have a "Giro" head. Which means the 661 Comp also fits me perfectly as well as a few other brands. However the Fox and Poc helmets border on unwearable no matter how much work I do to them. (When you've split a Giro in a morning session and are looking for a replacement before you're allowed back out on the trails for the afternoon and are frantically trying everything in sight on you learn these things ). I ride motorbikes as well and know that just about any AGV is unwearable for me and that I'm more of an Arai shaped head than a Shoei. As it is there is an Italian brand called Suomy that fit me so well that it's like when a custom fit.

Of course 95% of people could wear a single brand of helmet. But both it's comfort and therefore practicality and functionality would be compromised. Hence why you should always find one that fits properly.

larkim

As I say, I'm sure you're recounting your experience perfectly. But I still don't accept that Giro designs their lids to rule out large proportions of potential customers, as do Poc, Bell, Fox etc etc etc. And if they do, then you and I should go and work for them and open up brand new markets / revenues for them because they are missing out on crushing their competitors!!

larkim

You got me curious...

Found this in relation to motorcycle helmets:-
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle- ... shapes.htm

Seems to show that all brands create lids across all head shapes. Which is what I'd expect. Especially as I'd expect moto lids to be fundamentally less adjustable so that their safety features can't be reduced unwittingly by riders making too many wrong adjustments.

I truly doubt MTB lids are that different. But in the absence of a similar chart for MTB lids I can't point to any evidence.

Ross Gardner

I had lots of problems finding a lid as well. Tried on ones that rated highly to start with, which led me to the right helmet for me. For example, the Bell Super 2.0 I found highly uncomfortable, so I moved on to the next best. If you're completely lost on what to get, look up best helmets on a review site. Work down the list from best to worst. Maybe I'm telling you something you already do... just trying to help!

Hang on... sorry I posted in a dead thread: I think someone deleted their post before I submitted!