A Guide to Selecting Motorcycle Helmets

Your helmet is one supremely powerful piece of kit, and it holds your head and potentially your life in its hands. In Australia, all motorcycle riders must wear an approved helmet by law (Australian Road Rules Reg. 270). So a helmet is just a helmet, right? Wrong. A helmet is about comfort, proper fit, quality, and safety assurance. And then – at the end of the list – it’s about what suits you and your style of bike. If you need to get fitted with an expert opinion from someone who knows exactly what to ask and look for, book a helmet shopping trip with me.

Full Face Motorcycle Helmets

Open Face Motorcycle Helmets

Flip Face Motorcycle Helmets

Why Do I Need a Motorcycle Helmet?

I hope you always put safety first to prevent injury and minimise the chance of a crash. But like everything in life, some circumstances are simply out of our control.

In simple terms, if your helmet impacts the road in the event of a crash, an inner layer of specialised crushable foam controls the energy of the crash. As a result, it decelerates your brain so that it comes to a gentle stop against your skull. Now, here’s the thing. Your helmet will only work if you’ve had it correctly and snugly fitted for your head and if you do the chin strap up firmly. Even the smallest piece of gravel can do a great deal of damage on impact if it gets in under your helmet.

Why Do I Need a Motorcycle Helmet?

Well, its pretty obvious why we need to wear a good quality and well fitted Australian Standards approved helmet – it will save us from a serious head injury in the event of an accident – shame so many people don’t get their helmets fitted properly, or just pick up an old second hand one to save a few dollars.

Second hand helmets – please, don’t go there. They are probably not to the approved standards, could have been dropped and structurally flawed or just don’t fit properly and could do more damage to you in an accident.

Everyone has a different shaped head, some of us wear glasses, so consider your personal comfort as well as the fit. Don’t settle for anything less.

Double check the helmet's safety standards

In Australia, motorcycle helmets need to comply with its set standard AS/NZS 1698. If you find all the safety standards and marks a bit confusing, head over to the NSW Centre for Road Safety website. It has useful imagery of certification accreditations and a thorough list of domestic and global standards that a helmet sold in Australia must comply with. No compliance? No purchase. It’s that simple.

https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/motorcyclists/motorcyclehelmets.html

Full Face Motorcycle Helmets

A full face helmet covers the entire head, including the base of the skull and front of the chin. The opening band across the eyes and nose is fitted with a transparent plastic visor, and some brands offer a tinted visor to help cut out the glare. I chose a tinted visor, and I love it. It makes my riding so pleasurable, and it’s a fantastic feature, especially if your sunglasses are a tight fit. Handy little vents are great for airflow on hot days, but if you’re worried about helmet hair and heat – don’t! The beauty of this helmet lies in its protectiveness.

Open Face Motorcycle Helmets

With the introduction of the uber stylish café racer style motorbike, there seems to be a trend for these riders to wear an open face helmet. Let’s face it; it looks pretty cool but the less the helmet covers, the less protection for the rider.

The open face helmet covers the ears, back of the head and part the cheeks but lacks the lower chin bar of the full face helmets. Bugs, wind and dust can be a distraction to your riding, and while a snap on visor may reduce sunlight glare, it offers little protection for the face.

Flip Face Motorcycle Helmets

This hybrid of full face and open face helmets resembles a full face helmet when the flip closes. By pivoting the chin bar upwards, it gives you access to most of your face, as an open face helmet does. Flip face helmets are designed to be worn only in the closed position for riding. The flip feature is designed for convenience so that you can eat, drink or have a conversation without unfastening the chinstrap and removing the helmet. It’s important to note that not all chinstraps operate in the same way.

Crash Card

We want you to ride safely, however at some point in your riding life you may have an “unscheduled dismount” or be with a rider who does.

Simply fill out your card and place it in the lining of your motorbike helmet because thats were emergency services will look for it.

Hopefully no one will ever need to use the crash card, but just carrying it around could make riders think carefully about their safety.

For more information visit https://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/community/facilities-and-venues/traffic/road-safety/motorcycle-crash-card