Getting The Fit Right: A Guide To Helmet Sizing

Visors are a wear item, not a lifetime part of the helmet, and most riders find a spare on hand is worth having, especially before a long trip.

Most manufacturers recommend replacing a motorcycle helmet every five to seven years even without a crash, since the internal materials that absorb impact degrade slowly with heat, sweat and UV exposure. The shell can look fine while the protective layer underneath has already lost some of its effectiveness.

Trying a helmet on in person, Hedon Helmets and wearing it for a few minutes rather than a few seconds, catches problems a size chart alone cannot. Padding also settles slightly with use, so a helmet that feels snug when new is usually the right call.

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.

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.

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.