As a casual recreation lover, you have spent amazing moments cruising the town. Or perhaps off-road adventures are what make your adrenaline rush. No matter what case, one piece of accessory you better not skip is a proper bike helmet. The One That Fits Your Head Right Way!
Can we just take a moment to emphasize the importance? Just having to adjust the headwear mid-ride or not feeling comfortable is clearly something you, me, nobody would enjoy. So, it’s high time, you get yourself the right sized headwear. And for that, first step would be learning how to measure head for bike helmet as that’s the important key here.
It could be a fancy bicycle helmet with lights, mirrors, and many other features. But not the right size to fit your head, will clearly take away the pleasure of every other benefit. Let’s not do that!
What We Will Cover
The Almost Fool-proof Method to Measure Your Head for A Bike Helmet.
Anyone who has ever thought how do I know my helmet size will think of grabbing a tape measure next, and that’s what I did as well. The only thing I would suggest here is that, don’t go for tape measures that snap back once you are done measuring.
Probably you’ve seen them being used for construction sites to measure the flooring and similar other things. The problem with these is that you’ll find them quite hard to wrap comfortably around your head. Not to mention it just keeps on snapping back inside the shell they come with.
I feel the measurements tapes used for fabrics are much better than those. So, if you have one lying around your home (In most cases it is) then just go grab those and start from this point.
Using The Fabric Tape to Measure Head for Bike Helmet.
A volunteer? A Mirror? Anything that you can refer to while making the measurement, have it. Now you want to nicely wrap the tape around your head. And the spots shall be just above your ears as well as your eyebrows. Around one inch above should be fine.
You should target the largest area on your head back to make sure the tape goes around there.
Now in case, you don’t have a fabric measure tape, a piece of string can work as well. Wrap the thing the exact same way I just explained in the last para. And then you can use a ruler to get the length.
Convert The Result into Helmet Size Friendly Unit Centimeter.
As far as I know, most helmet size charts would use centimeters for referring to the measurement. If you don’t have a tape measure with cm side, the conversion ratio shall help. Every 1 inch is equal to 2.54 cm. Multiply and get the measurement in cm.
Try These Tips After Taking Measurements
Now that you know how to measure for bike helmet, there’s another thing to find out. You can find your preferable helmet from a wide-ranging design and style, the one that comes with daytime cycling lights or even models that include mirrors.
Right after choosing the helmet design and picking one of your head measurements, make sure you can test them out. If you are shopping online, it might be wise to have the option of returning or changing after trial. So, wherever you are getting it from, do ensure this flexibility is there.
Because sometimes, even with doing everything right, the bike helmet measurement feels poorly fit. And the only way to sidestep that from causing trouble is having the option of trial.
In local stores, that’s quite a valid option however usually that route don’t have many options to choose from. Something you can easily get when shopping online.
Also, while trial make sure to:
- Check if the helmet is covering your forehead enough.
- Have your forefinger and middle finger places above the eyebrow. If it touches the helmet, it’s a good fit.
Only Measuring Your Head Won’t Be Enough – Have Adjustment Benefits Too.
Imagine loving the sight of the best bicycle helmet mirror you recently bought, until you realize that it shakes a lot. But as you decided to check what’s wrong, you find out that the helmet itself is wobbly and that’s what causing the shakiness.
Yap, that happens even with properly fit helmets that one gets after considering their head measurement. And that’s where having adjustments built into helps a lot!
Expensive helmets are often great here. The pricier, better the adjustment scheme. It’s how usually is! Proper adjustment shall let you have no more than one finger space between your chin and strap.
In short, you measure your bike helmet not only by head measurement but also by how adjustable it is.
To Confirm the Measurement is Right, Wobble.
Bike helmet size measurement is not the only way to determine if the headwear would fit you right, you know it now quite well.
One tip that really helps, is wearing the helmet and shaking your head in every direction possible. The bike helmet size is perfectly yours if it withstands and does not drop. It should not move more than one inch in any of the directions.
Helmet Size Measurement Parameters.
The bike helmets for men,women, or kids would have different shapes and sizes. Here are parameters to use according to the head measurement for bike helmet.
- The ones with an adjustable fit systems are known as one size fits all.
- More than 63 cm is called extra-large.
- Then 59-63 cm is called large helmet size.
- Medium refers to size between 55 to 59 cm.
- Small ones refer to 51 to 55 cm.
- Extra small is anything beneath 51cm.
Your Head Measurement into Bicycle Helmet Size.
The size of head for bike helmet that you measured in cm, can be used to determine the helmet size. You can use this helmets size chart and I will put down the corresponding hat size for your ease of finding. I’ve tried to organize bike helmet sizes by agefactor too, you’re welcome!
| Head Measurement (cm) | Hat Size Reference | Helmet Size. |
| 46 cm | XXXXS | Smallest |
| 47-52.9 cm | XXS, 6 to 6 ½ | Toddler |
| 53 cm | 6 5/8 | Small |
| 54-56.8 cm | 6 ¾ to 7 1/8 | Medium |
| 57.8-60.6 cm | 7 ¼ to 7 5/8 | Large |
| 61.6-66.3 cm | 7 ¾ to 8 3/8 | Largest |
Keep In Mind:
- If you don’t know much about how to fit a bike helmet for a child,buy specifically made ones. Those targets children size and kids bike helmet fitting requirements.
- The sizing numbers can vary from one brand to another. So always check the brand provided sizing chart before confirming a purchase.
- If you fall in the middle of two sizes, you can use a cap or beanie to wear the larger helmet and it would fit nicely.
How to measure for a bike helmet
Wrapping Up
And that ends this piece covering how to measure head for bike helmets and other necessary information that hopefully helps you grab that right one. Of course, there are more than these discussed matters. But even with this much, you get the idea of what to do and not while measuring your head and picking a helmet size.
I will see you soon on another similar topic, take care till then!