Selecting That
Helmet
By James R. Dean
There are lots of reasons to use a full-
face helmet, but you won't unless the one you choose fits properly.
Believe me when I tell you that no
two brands of helmets will fit quite the same, despite being marked with the
same sizes. (It is maybe more important to note that no two heads are shaped the
same despite being able to wear similarly sized helmets.)
That should tell you that expecting
to wear a helmet gifted to you or that happened to come with a bike you buy is a
long shot, at best. Oh, you may find it 'wearable' for a few hundred miles, but
if you take a serious trip on your bike and that helmet was not selected for
proper fit, you can plan on not being comfortable for long or a desire to end
that trip long before you had planned to.
There are three issues involved in proper fit:
· Snugness - Your helmet must not be able to twist or 'lift'
because of the wind.
· Forehead - Your helmet must not
leave a red mark/indentation on your forehead.
· Ear
holes - Your helmet must not be able to fold or even press constantly on your
ears.
Proper snugness of a NEW
helmet is found when the liner presses firmly (but not tight or uncomfortably)
against your cheeks. There should be no gap between cheeks and liner on a new
helmet. After a few weeks
the liner will form fit
(because of compression) to the point that you will not notice any tightness
against your cheeks, though the liner will remain in gentle contact with
both.
Once the snugness issue is
dealt with you can deal with forehead fit. Invariably you will notice an area of
redness on a part of your forehead after wearing a new full- face helmet for
several minutes. You can cure that with the use of a large spoon. Use the back
side of that spoon and compress the Styrofoam in the part of the helmet causing
the marks. You will not have to remove the helmet liner to do this.
After you assure that the cheeks and
forehead are fit properly you need to assure that your ears are not contacted in
any way while wearing the helmet. Whether you have had earphones installed or
not it is
imperative that your ears are free from
contact. To cure any problems you will have to pull away the liner and use a
knife and cut away part of the Styrofoam around the ear wells within the helmet.
A little too much is FAR preferable than not enough! (After an hour of wearing a
helmet that binds your ears in any way you will be in simply awful pain -
Honest! Trust me!)
Now that your
helmet is properly fitted consider buying and using a skull cap with it. Two
reasons:
· You can wash the skull cap but you cannot wash
the helmet liner.
· You can soak the skull cap in water
before putting it on and it will keep you nice and cool on very hot days.
By the way, you might want to fold
the earflaps up so that they do not touch your ears when you put your
helmet on. Honest! Trust me!
Submitted by:
Mark Luketic
(Savage)
Chapter Educator
