What Goes Into A Handcrafted Helmet Shell

Getting helmet sizing right starts with a proper head measurement, taken with a soft tape around the largest part of the head, just above the eyebrows and ears. That figure points to a starting size, but it is only a starting point, since head shape varies as much as head size.

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Full face and open face helmets suit different kinds of riding, and the right choice usually comes down to where and how you ride rather than looks alone. A full face helmet covers the chin and jaw, giving more protection in a wider range of impacts, and tends to suit faster roads and longer distances.

A handcrafted helmet shell starts with a base material, commonly fibreglass or a composite blend, layered and shaped by hand rather than produced purely by mould and machine. Each layer adds strength, and the shaping stage is where a lot of the time in production actually goes.

ECE 22.06 is the current European standard that motorcycle helmets are tested against, and it replaced the older ECE 22.05 standard with a wider and more demanding set of tests. Helmets are checked for impact absorption at multiple points on the shell, not just the crown, and the standard also tests rotational forces, which earlier standards largely ignored.

None of this needs to be bought at once. Building a complete kit over time, prioritising the areas most exposed in a typical fall, is a realistic way to get there.