How Do You Know if a Helmet Fits?

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

Hi All,

I always wear a helmet for cycling, because I'm
superstitious and it's part of my ritual.

I have a very cheap helmet, and have often wondered why it
s so cheap, and if it is missing something because of this.
A colleague tells me - and I have heard the same thing
elsewhere - that the fit of a helmet is essential to its
safety and a big consideration in the price. She had hers
specially fitted in the shop, and it cost about five times
as much as mine.

So how can I tell if my helmet fits? To put it on, I remove
my hair clasp but keep my hair twisted up in the back, bend
over forward and bucket my head into the helmet, inverted
with the straps spread out. I pull it tautly to the middle
of my forehead and click the straps before righting my
posture. I can feel it all around my head at a nearly
horizontal angle just over my ears, and the visor is quite
low over my vision. The chin strap is just tight enough
that I feel the need to undo it when I go round the
supermarket.

Haven't a clue if that's right or wrong. Your ideas?

I figure if you're going to wear a helmet, wear it
right....and you're wearing yours rightly, so far as I can
tell.

I'm forever scolding my little brothers to tighten their helmet-
straps and slide the helmets forward to protect the front of
their skulls.

Not that I think they need a helmet for the riding that they
do, necessarily. I made out all right without one--but would
*you* want to stand there, carrying your injured baby
brother in your arms, knowing that she'll hold you
personally responsible?

Thought not.

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

EFR Ile de France

Elisa Francesca Roselli <[email hidden]>
wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

So how can I tell if my helmet fits?

1. is the helmet comfortable on your head when you're
riding?

2. With the helmet on your head, pull up on the front of
the helmet. The straps should hold the helmet securely
on your head; no sliding backwards.

3. Same as step 2 with the back of the helmet.

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So how can I tell if my helmet fits?

In a crash you might land somewhere on the front rim.

If you put your hand on the front rim of your helmet, can
you push it up to expose your forehead? If it can be pushed
up that way, that will happen that type of crash, and the
helmet is useless.

I found that until they had helmets with the part that goes
under the base of the skull (the top of the back of the
neck) to hold the helmet in place, it was virtually
impossible to get a helmet to have a safe fit without it
being fairly uncomfortable. If you can get a good fit from
an inexpensive helmet, that's great. I can't.

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote

Quoted message said:

Hi All,

I always wear a helmet for cycling, because I'm
superstitious and it's part of my ritual.

I have a very cheap helmet, and have often wondered why it
s so cheap, and if it is missing something because of
this. A colleague tells me - and I have heard the same
thing elsewhere - that the fit of a helmet is essential to
its safety and a big consideration in the price. She had
hers specially fitted in the shop, and it cost about five
times as much as mine.

So how can I tell if my helmet fits? To put it on, I
remove my hair clasp but keep my hair twisted up in the
back, bend over forward and bucket my head into the
helmet, inverted with the straps spread out. I pull it
tautly to the middle of my forehead and click the straps
before righting my posture. I can feel it all around my
head at a nearly horizontal angle just over my ears, and
the visor is quite low over my vision. The chin strap is
just tight enough that I feel the need to undo it when I
go round the supermarket.

Haven't a clue if that's right or wrong. Your ideas?

EFR Ile de France

The helmet sounds like it fits snugly enough to protect you,
if it's comfortable than it's probably a good fit.

Expensive helmets offer better ventilation, which is
essential for hard riding in hot weather, and more elaborate
strap systems that may or may not offer more comfort and
better retention, but if your current helmet is a snug,
comfortable fit I wouldn't worry too much.
--
mark

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:29:48 +0200, Elisa Francesca Roselli
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I have a very cheap helmet, and have often wondered why it
s so cheap, and if it is missing something because of this.
A colleague tells me - and I have heard the same thing
elsewhere - that the fit of a helmet is essential to its
safety and a big consideration in the price.

Small consideration in the price, I reckon. If you genuinely
want a helmet to savce you more than the most trivial of
injuries, start by finding one certified to Snell B95
instead of the much lower standards most helmets are
certified to.

Then get one that fits before you've started faffing around
with foam pads; they are just to make fine adjustments, not
to make the thing fit. The helmet works by using plastic
deformation to reduce the delecrative forces on the head; if
your head is not in contact with the foam part of the helemt
then you will hit the foam part just as hard as you would
have hit the road.

Then make sure it doesn't slip around, which means rejecting
90% or so of helmts due to the impossibility of adjusting
the chin straps properly.

Alternatively, accept that it will only save you from
trivial injuries, buy whetever is comportable, and ride
as if you were wearing a glass hat with razor blades
embedded in it.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:50:59 +0100,
<[email hidden]>,

Just zis Guy said:

Alternatively, accept that it will only save you from
trivial injuries, buy whetever is comportable, and ride
as if you were wearing a glass hat with razor blades
embedded in it.

It saves me a trivial $100 ticket in the law-enforcement
lottery. It makes a good rain hat and place for lots of
reflective tape. White ones are most visible. . . unless you
can get fluorescent pink!
--
zk

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:50:05 -0700, Zoot Katz <[email hidden]>

wrote in message : said:

It saves me a trivial $100 ticket in the law-
enforcement lottery.

Pity they deter cycling and don't reduce the risk of injury,
really, or there would be no downside ;-)

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

So how can I tell if my helmet fits?

Thanks to all who replied on this, especially David and Guy
who caused me to realize that in fact my helmet is not
nearly snug enough. It slips around freely, both in front
and in back.

But on the inside it has a velcro-lined strap with a
tightening mechanism that goes under the back of my skull. I
never understood how to use this until now. I put the helmet
on, then pull in this strap as far as it will go to circle
my skull. The chin-straps are also about an inch tighter
now. They will irritate me in the heat and probably give me
a rash, but that is true of anything tight and sweaty.

The helmet still slips, but much less so. I'll see about
contact with foam later - from the feel I cannot really tell
if I am contacting foam or just my own chignon, but I don't
suppose that makes too much difference.

EFR Ile de France

Thu, 22 Apr 2004 22:10:32 +0100,
<[email hidden]>,

Just zis Guy said:

Quoted message said:

It saves me a trivial $100 ticket in the law-enforcement
lottery.

Pity they deter cycling and don't reduce the risk of
injury, really, or there would be no downside ;-)

Everyone over thirty should be dead from growing up without
child-proof potion bottles.
--
zk

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

So how can I tell if my helmet fits?

Thanks to all who replied on this, especially David and
Guy who caused me to realize that in fact my helmet is not
nearly snug enough. It slips around freely, both in front
and in back.

But on the inside it has a velcro-lined strap with a
tightening mechanism that goes under the back of my skull.
I never understood how to use this until now. I put the
helmet on, then pull in this strap as far as it will go to
circle my skull. The chin-straps are also about an inch
tighter now. They will irritate me in the heat and
probably give me a rash, but that is true of anything
tight and sweaty.

The helmet still slips, but much less so. I'll see about
contact with foam later - from the feel I cannot really
tell if I am contacting foam or just my own chignon, but I
don't suppose that makes too much difference.

EFR Ile de France

My understanding is that when the helmet is fitted correctly
it should fit all round snugly without pads and not be able
to be pushed forward or back more than a couple of
centimetres or so. My experience is that fitting a helmet
like this makes it almost impossible for me to swallow and
starts interfering with my breathing\, as well as being
impossibly uncomfortable. Hence the statistics that 96% of
helmets are worn incorrectly, and that incorrectly-worn
helmets may offer less protection than no helmet at all. No
wonder there has been a decrease in bicycling associated
with the promotion of helmets! One solution would be to fit
the helmet correctly, and then when bicycling to tow a
portable heart-lung machine behind the bicycle to take care
of the body's respiration needs. Peter

--
This transmission is certified free of viruses as no
Microsoft products were used in its preparation or
propagation.

Luigi de Guzman said:

I'm forever scolding my little brothers to tighten their
helmet-straps and slide the helmets forward to protect the
front of their skulls.

Not that I think they need a helmet for the riding that
they do, necessarily. I made out all right without one--but
would *you* want to stand there, carrying your injured baby
brother in your arms, knowing that she'll hold you
personally responsible?

um, that sentence should read

"..would *you* want to stand there in front of your MOTHER,
carrying your injured baby brother in your arms, knowing
that she'll hold you personally responsible?"

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

Thought not.

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

EFR Ile de France