Getting The Fit Right: A Guide To Helmet Sizing

Once the shell is formed and cured, it moves through finishing: sanding, painting or leather trimming, and fitting the internal padding and retention system. Every stage is checked before the next begins, since a fault caught early is far cheaper to fix than one found at the end.

This is slower than fully automated manufacturing, and that is the point. A handcrafted shell trades speed for a level of finish and individual attention that a purely machine made helmet does not offer.

The liner deserves the same care. A removable, washable liner keeps the inside fresh, and following the maker's washing instructions protects both the padding and the stitching around it.

None of this needs to be bought at once. Building a complete kit over time, prioritising the areas most exposed in a typical fall, is a realistic way to get there.

Getting helmet sizing right starts with a proper head measurement, taken with a soft tape around the largest part of the head, just above the eyebrows and ears. That figure points to a starting size, but it is only a starting point, since head shape varies as much as head size.

Certification is not a formality. It is the baseline that separates a genuine protective helmet from something that only looks the part. Any open face helmet worth wearing on the road should carry a current, verifiable certification.