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after 4 years of fairly hard use, the retaining system on my met parachute helmet gave up the ghost. you can get them replaced, but as the helmet has had one too many crashes on it so I thought I'd buy a new one.
bought the same size (medium) but form some reason its just a little too tight and uncomfortable. have swapped for a large however I am right at the bottom of the size range (just shy of 59cm round the head when a large is 59-62cm). now given the retaining system on the helmet I can get it to fit well and securely (no chance of it sliding / rolling off), however there is a fair bit of space between various points of my head an the helmet (eg can slide my hand down to the middle knuckle in the unpadded gap between cheek bone and helmet and there about a fingers width between the retaining system and the brow of the helmet on my forehead).
give that i genuinely don't think the helmet would come loose in a crash, is there a down side to this extra "space". eg can it be too big, whilst still fitting securely - hope that makes sense
Get a haircut and go back to the medium. By the time your hair's grown back it'll have settled and you'll feel comfortable again.
The other one sounds too big, but i'm no specialist to explain why it might be dangerous - I wouldn't have a helmet that I have to tighten as far as it goes when new. If the medium really is too small, then change brands until you get a make/model/size combination that works with your head.
No doubt you are aware of this but it's the EPS that protects you not the cradle. Ideally you want as much of the EPS in contact with your skull as possible.
I have a similar problem with my wildly oval-shaped head which is generally at the lower end of the Large size range. Many helmets can be made to 'fit' by adjusting the cradle but like you there are finger gaps all round.
Only solution is to keep trying helmets until you find one that actually fits and then use the cradle to fine-tune it. Good luck
My experience is motorbike helmets - its important that the inner of the helmet is in contact with your head at all points if possible. If you can get fingers in then even though you might think its fine there is a good chance the helmet will come off in a crash given the potential forces involved, Its acceptable to locally very slightly compress the polystyrene inner to get a better fit if its too tight - get a helmet tech to do it if you are not confident.
Good points, we’ll made. Very frustrating having a head that doesn’t fit many helmets, even more so that a design that fitted fine no longer does when it’s not been altered! Unfortunately little bit limited for options on the lightweight full fax - the fox proframes and bell super 2r’s are far too easy to roll of my head!
I'm limited in choice because I have a large oval head. Giro works for me, TLD does too, Bell don't. I know my way round most helmets and there's a lot of difference, and I also know the shapes well enough to take a punt on mail order for some makes (and well enough not to for others).
The Proframe was great but too small though the "size" label said the same size range as the Giro Switchblade that I now use for FF duties...
I was on the line in the MET 18 months ago and it just didn't work for me. tried a few others and ended up with the switchblade, in the middle of the range on that one which feels much better - where I'd prefer to be
if you can get a finger between your head and the shell it is too large. TRL research found this reduced their effectiveness as you get much more rapid decelerations of the head as you get the helmet hitting something then your head hitting the inside of the helmet. Similar to wearing a slack seatbelt. Its also much more likely to come off on impact
The design of helmets to include a broad range of sizes was also concluded to be detrimental to helmet safety, in terms of both reduced linear and rotational impact performance
https://trl.co.uk/reports/PPR213