How to Choose a Bike Helmet

Video Transcript

KEVIN LIVINGSTON: Hi. I'm Kevin Livingston here at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop in Austin, Texas. Let's talk about choosing the proper cycling helmet. As you can see we've got a pretty big variety here. We've got kid's helmets. We've got road helmets. You'll see a lot of these helmets have--you can snap-on and off this visor. That's a typical [INDISCERNIBLE] for mountain biking or it's actually pretty helpful in the rain to keep the water out of your eyes. We do have some helmets, some aero-helmets up here that you might see used, in like, in triathlons or in time-trial competitions. Big--the most important thing in a helmet, one is always wearing a helmet. Next thing would be helmet fit. Because if the helmet isn't set on your head or fitting properly, you're not going to get maximum use out of it. And if you're going to wear a helmet, you might as well make sure that it fits properly and it's doing everything it can to keep you safe and protect you. So here I have chosen this helmet for me. This is about my right size, I'm a large. But the way you know if you've got the right fit is you set it on your head it should cover--it should come down just a little bit about a finger or so above between your eyebrow and the top of the helmet. The reason this is so key is that if you were to fall, this part sticks out just even past my nose that if I fell on my face the helmet would actually hit first. If I wear it on the back of my head, I expose my forehead if I were to crash. So again I want to seat the helmet, make sure it's large enough, not too big where it's going to move around on my head but that I can get it between my--about a finger or so here between my brow and the top of the helmet. A lot of these helmets have this system in the back now, this rear system that helps lock and secure the helmet on your head before you even use the straps. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my helmet on. I'm going to tighten the back-locking system. Now the helmet is very snug on my head. And then I'm going to work on adjusting my straps. The way I keep the helmet low on my forehead and seated properly is I keep the front straps generally pretty short and then the rear straps longer. In the beginning it's worth taking the time to tinker, it takes a little bit of tinkering here to get these straps right. But using these systems you can lengthen or shorten the straps on the helmet. Finally, once you've got that set properly, the side straps on the front and the back, would be that when you buckle you have a snug fit. So that would be tightening this side, my buckle side, tightening here, and making it try to snug fit here under my chin. You could always use a band or something to hide the excess straps or you could even cut those straps and slightly singe the ends so that they don't fray. But again, one of the big--most important thing in your cycling, you know, wardrobe or what you want to call it is the helmet. You've got to protect your head and be safe out there.