Passed my test three weeks ago, riding a 125 in town and doing maybe 60 miles a week. Every shop has pushed me toward a different brand and the range they've shown me runs from GBP 90 to GBP 600. I have GBP 250 and what I think is an intermediate oval head, based on trying two on. What separates the GBP 250 helmet from the GBP 90 one in a way I will actually notice?
The UK has SHARP, the government rating scheme, and it's free to look at. Five-star helmets exist well under GBP 250. It isn't a perfect measure and people argue about the methodology at length, but it's more information than a brand name is.
This is exactly the kind of thing I didn't know existed. Spent an hour on it and it's already narrowed my list.
Town riding at 60 miles a week, the thing you'll notice daily is the visor. Does it have a proper anti-fog insert or at least the pins to fit one. Fogging while you're waiting at a junction in November is genuinely dangerous and it's the spec everyone ignores until it happens.
On standards, look for ECE 22.06 rather than 22.05. The newer standard added oblique and rotational impact testing, chin bar tests, visor optics and abrasion, and 22.05 helmets could not be sold new in Europe after the start of 2024. At GBP 250 you have a very large field of 22.06 helmets, so there's no reason to compromise on that.
Own three, regret two. Both regrets were bought online because they were the same size as my old one. Sizes are not consistent across brands and they're barely consistent within a brand between models.
Buy the GBP 250 helmet and GBP 40 of decent gloves rather than a GBP 190 helmet and nothing. Hands hit the ground first, every single time.
@exdiv_eli · last mo. · 3 replies
Fit, first and last. A GBP 600 helmet in the wrong shell shape is worse than a GBP 120 one that fits you, and fits means it does not move when you push the chin bar side to side and it feels uncomfortably snug on day one. Everything above that is comfort, and comfort is what decides whether you wear it properly for the next five years.
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@soloseat_sana · last mo.
Nobody in the shops framed it as snug-on-day-one being correct. I've been picking the comfortable ones.
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@duckweed_dev · last mo.
Liners pack down noticeably in the first few weeks. If it's comfy in the shop it will be loose in a month.
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