Cheek Pads / Helmet Sizing

[newbiker]

Hi guys,

I did the search on cheek pads, and only "for sale" show up. Nothing that speaks of changing them...

My question is - If I want to make my helmet tighter. My helmet seems to fit too comfortably, and doesn't have that real tight fit. Granted I've worn it for about 10 months or so, but I barely ride...so not much wear. I was looking to change the interior and wanted to know if I should go one size up....or any other suggestions?

Thanks!!!

 

[sanjuro]

Well, you should contact the helmet manufacturer. They will tell your pad options.

This might be a revealing call about the quality of your helmet. Not every helmet maker has a wide range of fitting pads. The best do.

 

[KazMan]

It depends on the manufacturer and some are more easily done as to others. In some of the Japanese helmets, the different size pads are mentioned but difficult to obtain. I have over the last 3 years worn Suomy helmets and the pads are listed and sold by Van Leeuwen Enterprises in SoCal.

Which has resulted in me having a very personalized fit for my racing applications so my helmet will not move of lift. So after all the experimentation, I use the thickest cheek pads they have, and dependent on model, use a different thickness crown liner. So now I just order my helmets in my configuration.

For this reason alone, I don't hesitate to recommend a Suomy. I was a previous Arai user.

 

[stangmx13]

ive purchased thicker cheek pads for my Arai's. u can ever get thicker padding for the top of your head too. however, some helmets in certain sizes come w/ the thickest pad offerings, meaning you are SOL. my HJC could be a little tighter in the cheeks (fits great on top of my head), but it already has the thickest pad that they make. looking through the catalogs, it seems that larger sizes come w/ thinner cheekpads. kinda makes sense, if uve got a big head u might have big/fat cheeks too.

unfortunately, if your helmet is too loose after only 10mon of wear... it either never fit well to begin with or was really cheap. i find that the EPS foam liner in cheap helmets compresses more quickly over time. spend 100$ on a helmet and u might only get 1yr out of it. get an Arai/Shoei/Suomy/AGV and itll prob feel great past 5yrs.

 

[Maygoddess]

"I was looking to change the interior and wanted to know if I should go one size up....or any other suggestions?"

I am confused by this. You said helmet was fitting snug, so why go up in size?

Brands vary and yes, more expensive helmets have various cheek pads/liners etc to adjust.

My recent experience..I have an Arai RXQ I used for street and track. I didn't really think that after over a year of use, the cheek pads would be compressed (doh!) and when wearing on street or track the helmet was pushing against my nose. Was thinking it was just wind or my head position while on track. I bought new cheekpads but sligtly thicker and VOILA..the pressing against my nose stopped because the pads were now thick enough to keep the helmet in place.

Last year I won a Suomy 1/2 off gift certificate at a track day, so decided to try a new helmet for track that was more "race" profile. I worked with Van Leeuwen Enterprises sales rep (this was my option cuz the helmet was won directly from them, otherwise, you go to retail shop) and Frank talked me through their sizing options. He wound up selling me a small helmet and sending cheek pads in XS and M along so I could test. Wound up keeping the XS pads in my S helmet and works perfectly.


So..yeah...get a good quality helmet where you can make adjustments as well as change pads/liners as needed..rather than keep replacing cheap helmets that do not offer the fitment adjustments!!

 

[TrackCage]

Many helmets have a shell size that captures more than one helmet size.

e.g. My bell star: Med and Large both use the same shell. The difference is the padding is thicker in the medium (50mm) than the large (40mm) to accomodate the difference in size.

If this is the case for your helmet, you could obtain the pads for the smaller of the two sizes (equals larger padding) for a tighter fit.

 

[monkeythumpa]

MotoGear has a variety of cheek pad replacements. It is surprizing how much they compress (and get stinky) over time: http://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/helmets_and_eyewear/replacement_cheek_pads_liners_crown_pads/

 

[newbiker]

"I was looking to change the interior and wanted to know if I should go one size up....or any other suggestions?"

I am confused by this. You said helmet was fitting snug, so why go up in size?

Brands vary and yes, more expensive helmets have various cheek pads/liners etc to adjust.

My recent experience..I have an Arai RXQ I used for street and track. I didn't really think that after over a year of use, the cheek pads would be compressed (doh!) and when wearing on street or track the helmet was pushing against my nose. Was thinking it was just wind or my head position while on track. I bought new cheekpads but sligtly thicker and VOILA..the pressing against my nose stopped because the pads were now thick enough to keep the helmet in place.

Last year I won a Suomy 1/2 off gift certificate at a track day, so decided to try a new helmet for track that was more "race" profile. I worked with Van Leeuwen Enterprises sales rep (this was my option cuz the helmet was won directly from them, otherwise, you go to retail shop) and Frank talked me through their sizing options. He wound up selling me a small helmet and sending cheek pads in XS and M along so I could test. Wound up keeping the XS pads in my S helmet and works perfectly.

So..yeah...get a good quality helmet where you can make adjustments as well as change pads/liners as needed..rather than keep replacing cheap helmets that do not offer the fitment adjustments!!

I didn't mean to say I wanted to go a size up in the helmet; I meant go a size up in the padding. I guess I should've mentioned my helmet is HJC RPS-10 (which is their race helmet), in size small. I love the fitting of this helmet. I just feel the padding on top of the head could be a little thicker, and the cheek pads could also be a little thicker...that's all. It's the most comfortable, light weight helmet I've ever tried - I tend to forget I'm wearing a helmet.

ive purchased thicker cheek pads for my Arai's. u can ever get thicker padding for the top of your head too. however, some helmets in certain sizes come w/ the thickest pad offerings, meaning you are SOL. my HJC could be a little tighter in the cheeks (fits great on top of my head), but it already has the thickest pad that they make. looking through the catalogs, it seems that larger sizes come w/ thinner cheekpads. kinda makes sense, if uve got a big head u might have big/fat cheeks too.

unfortunately, if your helmet is too loose after only 10mon of wear... it either never fit well to begin with or was really cheap. i find that the EPS foam liner in cheap helmets compresses more quickly over time. spend 100$ on a helmet and u might only get 1yr out of it. get an Arai/Shoei/Suomy/AGV and itll prob feel great past 5yrs.

It's not an Arai or Shoei, but it's the HJC's flagship helmet. And like I mentioned it's very comfortable. However I want the padding on top to be a little thicker, and in the cheeks also. I wear a cycle gear's heat out beenie underneath the helmet, maybe that's the reason it's stretched the pads a little more...

 

[fraz]

I have worn AGV for a lot of years and my last helmet purchase I has to do the cheek pad dance. My pads were WAY too tight on my Large helmet (made me have the fish lips). Contacted AGV and from my description they said I needed cheekpads from a Small helmet. It didn't make sense to me at first but they were right. Seems they make the default sizes for skinny, waify Italians and not fat, chubby-cheeked Americans

The advice to contact mfg seems sound. They made me send in old ones first with RMA# and the down time kinda sucked but they made it right and both my helmets fit killer.