How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet for Your Comfort

Secrets of How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet for the Maximum Comfort

A motorcycle Helmet is not only a safety device for a biker. It’s also a statement of personality and fashion sense. However, a wrong-shaped one can ruin both and make you wonder how to stretch a motorcycle helmet.

So what can we do? Well, you can stretch the motorcycle helmet and make it comfortable again. I can guess the query in your mind, “Do motorcycle helmets stretch?” Yes, they do.

If you scroll down this article, the secret will be unveiled before you. Let’s not wait and get a kick start.

How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet

Secrets of How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet for the Maximum Comfort

A motorcycle Helmet is not only a safety device for a biker. It’s also a statement of personality and fashion sense. However, a wrong-shaped one can ruin both and make you wonder how to stretch a motorcycle helmet.

So what can we do? Well, you can stretch the motorcycle helmet and make it comfortable again. I can guess the query in your mind, “Do motorcycle helmets stretch?” Yes, they do.

If you scroll down this article, the secret will be unveiled before you. Let’s not wait and get a kick start.

How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet

Is the Helmet too Tight? And How to Make a Tight Motorcycle Helmet Fit Better?

If you feel a headache even after a 10-15 minutes motorcycle ride, it means the helmet is too tight for your head size. I know a few veteran bikers who literally put on the newly bought helmet for at least half an hour. They do it to check whether they feel any discomfort or not.

It may be too much and too funny to put on a helmet while brewing coffee. So my recommendation will be to go for short rides. If the problem persists, it is actually tight, and you need to move to the next step.

Is great Helmet Stretching Possible or Not?

Helmets are typically made with two layers. A rigid yet thin layer of fiberglass, Kevlar, or Polycarbonate plastic outer shell and a polypropylene or polystyrene foam liner.

The thin outer layer is tough but stretchable. Moreover, the foam can also be re-shaped to accommodate either bigger or smaller-sized heads.

So, yes, helmet stretching is possible, but you need to know the secret of being a helmet stretcher. 

How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet

How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet & Make It Fit?

Motorcycle owners and enthusiasts become too excited while getting a new helmet. As a result, sometimes they get a smaller sized helmet that only adds pain and no personality.  If you want to get rid of this problem, follow the tips.

Measure Your Head First

Every human head is unique. Both from inside and outside! Whether you measure them from full face to back or side to side, the numbers will be different for each other.

Head comes in many shapes too. Round oval shapes mean the distance from the face to back and ear to ear will be exactly the same. The long oval variety indicates a slightly longer face-to-back distance. However, the intermediate oval shape represents a significantly longer face to back distance.

It is essential to know your head shape and size beforehand.

Check the Sizing Chart of the Helmet

Now check whether the helmets go with your head shape or not. A helmet for the intermediate oval head will hardly fit on an oval head, no matter how much you try to stretch it.

The helmet size is different for each manufacturer. However, they typically range from X-Small to 5X-Large in size, covering head circumference from 20.87 to 27.5-inches.

The point, along with above the ear and forehead, is perfect for measuring the head circumference correctly. Get help from someone to take the measurement.

How to Stretch a Motorcycle Helmet

Put Something Expandable in the Helmet

Despite choosing the right size and shape, if the helmet doesn’t fit your head, it’s time to put some expendables.

A soccer coach cum pro-biker once told me that he put a deflated soccer ball inside the helmet and inflated it. He used to keep the helmet like this overnight and guess what, the next morning, the helmet fits snuggly and comfortably.

Check and Repeat Until Satisfied

Not all helmets will react the same way with an expandable method. A full face helmet will stretch less than an open face or half-shell helmet. So, you need to check several times until the helmet fits on your head without causing any headaches. 

Inner liner of helmet

Any Way to Stretch My Helmet Padding Out a Bit?

Helmet padding is made with polypropylene or polystyrene foam. Unlike any memory foam, they can reshape if pressure and force are applied. Do you get the point? It is possible to stretch the padding a bit.

The expandable method works perfectly to squeeze the padding to adjust with your head. However, you have to dampen the paddings with water sprays. This is a proven technique by veteran bikers to make polypropylene or polystyrene foam behave like memory foam.

In most of the forum communities dedicated to helmets, stretching recommends using a basketball for evenly squeezing the paddings. Like the soccer ball beforehand, you need to put it inside the helmet in a deflated stage and later inflate it according to your preferred shape. 

This method works best on the scalp and side pads but not on the cheek pads. So you may have to repeat the process with lower inflation.

How to Make Your Motorcycle Helmet Fit Great?

It may seem challenging, but it is possible to make your motorcycle helmet fit properly.  If you join the discussion board of any biker group, innovative ideas to stretch helmets will stun you.

However, placing an expandable ball inside the helmet and inflating it slowly is, until now, the most effective and safe way. It gives you all the control over the process and ensures the integrity of the helmet material.

It doesn’t matter which method you use if the helmet is wrong sized or shaped; none of the methods will work. Thus, it is crucial to pick the right sized and shaped helmet first.

Answering how to stretch a motorcycle helmet will be easier for you now. All the techniques and secrets are already unveiled. In fact, the only secret ever there is how accurately you can measure your head and pick the right sized helmet. The rest can be taken care of by any soccer or basketball.

Let’s hit the road as you don’t have to worry about any headache or discomfort from the helmet.

Writer & Editor at Helmets Advisor | + posts

Near Uddin Ahmad is a chief content writer and editor in Helmets Advisor. He is a dedicated writer with first-hand experience with helmets as he actually loves traveling and hiking to keep his footprint on the surface of the earth.

That’s why his testing and inspecting of helmets and accessories is trustworthy to present to potential users. Besides, he usually provides authentic and liable suggestions with value-added that help pick the best helmets on the go.

Avatar of Nesar Uddin Ahmad

By Nesar Uddin Ahmad

Near Uddin Ahmad is a chief content writer and editor in Helmets Advisor. He is a dedicated writer with first-hand experience with helmets as he actually loves traveling and hiking to keep his footprint on the surface of the earth. That’s why his testing and inspecting of helmets and accessories is trustworthy to present to potential users. Besides, he usually provides authentic and liable suggestions with value-added that help pick the best helmets on the go.