It's official! I'm a mutant! XS helmet too big!

[Ms Piggy]

Rhymes with Pee!

Shut up you! 1 too many whiskey's tonight eh!

[F5 Dave]

I don't usually look at this thread but I couldn't go past the heading
"It's official! I'm a mutant!"

Sorry to hear Cathy hope you find something, maybe you just have to develop a serious Big Hair & hairspray 'Do.

[Number One]

Wow - XS is too big...funny I don't recall you looking like this guy...

[bungbung]

I skipped a couple of pages, Lisa has a XS shoei she has offered you to try if that helps.

[Ms Piggy]

I skipped a couple of pages, Lisa has a XS shoei she has offered you to try if that helps.

Yes please! Will pm ya. Thanks!

[Pixie]

Anyone else got a mega pin head?

In keeping with ISO.Pinheads should have the milli,micro,nano,etc. prefixes

[vifferman]

While my wife doesn't have a very small head, it is small, and square (Dutch genes?). She had a borrowed BMW flip-front (actually made by Schuberth), and it was too big. We went looking at flip-fronts as she wears spectaculars, and found that they were not as safe, as even in the right size for her, they moved around on her head too much. We ended up buying a Shoei Raid, which fit very well. And a VFR, but that's another story.
Mebbe the vifferbabe is related to you? She also has problems with footwear, because of her feet - they're tiny! But strangely, we had no problems with those - bought some Diadora race boots online, very cheap, and they fit almost perfectly!

It's all academic now - she hasn't ridden with me for a LOOOOOOOOONG time now. And I dunno why, although it's allegedly because even though she made me buy the VFR and it was our first bike, it's now no longer our bike, and is just mine, because I've ruined it by "fiddling with it" (i.e., fitting better suspension, indicators, gear change components, etc.) Personally, that sounds a bit suss and very weak to me.
But it's sad.
The nett result is I don't ride on weekends anymore, and if we go anywhere, it's always in the car.

[Ms Piggy]

The hunt continues! Went and tried on a friends sml Shoei last night and it felt very snug, so that means an xs Shoei would probably be too tight. *siiiiigh*

Blardy expensive business this motorbicycle riding lark!

[Owl]

If your measurement of 57cm is correct, then an XS will certainly be too small.
I know you're not looking to spend a fortune, but check out Arai, so you can at least determine the shape of your head. This guide may be of some help?

http://www.motorcyclegear.co.nz/images/Arai.pdf

[Trudes]

You're welcome to come round and try on my teeny tiny Arai if you like.

[Beemer]

My first Shoei RXR was a size XXS - 52cm from memory. It's still snug years later, but when I bought a new helmet a few years ago I got a Shoei Raid and it's a small. It's not as tight as the RXR but it is still a good snug fit. I tried a small in another Shoei style and it nearly killed me once I had it on!

So no, you're not the only one with a small head - and at least no one can pinch your helmet as it won't fit them!

Helmets vary greatly in the sizes - I think my Nolan was a small - so you really have to shop around and try them. I bought the RXR from Wellington Motorcycles and they got the XXS in for me after I tried the XS and found it still a little loose. That's where I got the Raid from too.

Forgot to mention, if you're ever up this way, you'd be more than welcome to try both helmets on for size.

[p.dath]

You, my friend, NEED to read this.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...iew/index.html

That is the article I refer to when talking about helmet "safety".

Motorcyclist Magazine lost all their advertising from Shoei and Arai over that. Helmets shouldn't be designed to pass tests OR meet standards. They should be designed to act as an exoskeletal impact mitigation device.

Thanks for that articles James. That article has given me a lot to think about.

At the moment I'm thinking the SNELL standard may not be so great to aim for when doing normal road riding, and a simple DOT certification may be better for the majority of road accidents.

I have re-read the SHARP testing system (especially since the article you supplied rocked my confidence in the testing standard bodies), and I do think they adequately cover the 75% of low speed impacts in their testing regime.

http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/about-sha...s/test-speeds/
"The COST 327, 2001 report recommended that impact velocity be raised from the current UN ECE Regulation 22.05 value of 7.5m/s to 8.4m/s, but to ensure that helmet performance was not compromised in the lower velocity impacts a 6.0m/s test was added."

I would love to know how SHARP ratings are affected by energy transfer to the head, but alas they just don't document very well how they come up with a final number.

I would have to say I am still a proponent of using the SHARP scale for comparing one helmet to another for safety. I much prefer a rating to a pass/fail system - but my view is more tempered after reading your article.

[vifferman]

Helmets vary greatly in the sizes

Not just the sizes - there are lotsa different shell shapes[/URL], sometimes even within a brand. You probably need to establish what shape your head is (by trying on different brands AND models, and asking what the shape is, for any that fit well). Here's some more useful info.

As a generalisation, Arai, Shoei and AGV are all different shell shapes, and their sizings are different. However (but!) there are exceptions. While in general, if you have a 'Shoei head' an Arai won't fit nicely (and vice-versa), the Arai Corsair sheel shape is apparently different to most Arais, and suitable for your average 'Shoei headed' biker.

I found AGVs don't fit me well, not because of the shell shape so much as because their size increments are wrong for me: my head is 58cm, but a medium is too tight, whereas a meidum-large is too big, as my head is on the boundary between the two. A ML Shoei XR1000 fits perfectly, as does an Arai Corsair (but no other Arais or HJCs). Apparently my head is a "long oval".

[davebullet]

http://www.hjchelmets.com/sizing_chart.htm

Take a measure of your noggin just to compare. I know there's more to fit than circumference, but if you measure your noggin, it might tell you if you are still one size smaller than an XXS or whether it is good to go.

Some motorcycle shops may request a deposit or some such if they bring in an unusual size... (we are in NZ after all).

[Beemer]

Not just the sizes - there are lotsa different shell shapes[/URL], sometimes even within a brand. ... While in general, if you have a 'Shoei head' an Arai won't fit nicely (and vice-versa), the Arai Corsair sheel shape is apparently different to most Arais, and suitable for your average 'Shoei headed' biker.

Very true - I find the Shoei fit me really well but the Arai don't - and the other half is the opposite. I just measured my head and it's 56cm which is a small by the HJC chart. Funny how the 52cm XXS Shoei RXR fits really well and so does the Raid - and I've just checked and found it's a small, not a medium, size 55-56cm. I like my helmets to be a snug fit which is probably why the XXS didn't bother me. One Shoei I tried was impossible to get on, despite also being a small. And the Nolan I had was horrible - made my jaw and behind my ears ache every time I wore it, and it certainly wasn't tight.