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What You Need To Know When Choosing A Dirt Bike Helmet.
OK, you're looking to buy a new dirt bike helmet. There's a few things you need to consider. Safety Standards Before you start looking for dirt bike helmets, you should be aware of different safety standards that apply in different parts of the world. In the United States, the applicable standard is the Department of Transportation (DOT), in Europe it's the ECE 22.05 which is the standard in over 50 countries, in Britain it's the British Standard (BS) and here in Australia helmets have to be Australian Standards certified. 
The Snell Memorial Foundation does helmet testing worldwide and is considered to be the leading standard in helmet safety so the Snell rating of a helmet should be the one to consider.Certified dirt bike helmets will have a sticker on the rear of the shell saying which standard they conform to. Features Consider what features you think are important when deciding what type of dirt bike helmet to buy. Different helmets will have different features such as venting, weight (particularly important if you're going to be wearing the helmet for long events ie; enduro or cross country events instead of shorter events like motocross), appearance and price. You should spend the most you can afford on your helmet, after all it's a pretty important piece of gear. Does the helmet have a removable liner? These are very convenient for washing, there's nothing worse than a manky smelling helmet! What is the construction of the helmet shell? There are all sorts of constructions on the market now, carbon fiber/kevlar, fibreglass shells and composite fibre shells. 
Just a little tip that I learnt the hard way, some helmets will come with either plastic or metal visor mounting screws. Use the plastic screws so that in the event of a get off, the screws shear off and don't destroy the visor. Probably not much of an issue for most of you out there unless it happens to be a custom painted helmet with a custom painted visor. I couldn't buy one of those off the shelf.... Different brand helmets have different size eyeports, Arnette and Scott goggles seem to have bigger frames than other brand goggles so make sure your goggles can comfortably fit in the eyeport of the helmet. Fit Your new dirt bike helmet should fit uniformly on your head and not feel tight in any one area. Bear in mind that the liner will compact a little after you first start wearing it so if it feels just a little too tight when you first try it, it will probably end up just right. Push the helmet back and forward on your head, it should wrinkle your brow when pushed forward and should not slide back on your head when pushed backwards. 
Different people have different shaped heads so some dirt bike helmets will fit better than others.Arai won't sell helmets online or through mail order, it's their company policy to only sell their helmets face to face so that a qualified salesperson can help with the fitting. You can make some great savings if you buy online but if possible go to a motorbike shop and try on some helmets and decide what suits you best. Need some goggles to go with your new dirt bike helmet? Check out our no-frills guide to buying motocross goggles. Check out some helmet prices in our RideGear catalogue here Please note that to protect our younger visitors to Motocross 101, SafeSearch is turned on in these search results.
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