How To Care For A Leather Trimmed Motorcycle Helmet

A handcrafted helmet shell starts with a base material, commonly fibreglass or a composite blend, layered and shaped by hand rather than produced purely by mould and machine. Each layer adds strength, and the shaping stage is where a lot of the time in production actually goes.

A leather trimmed helmet needs a little more attention than a plain shell, but the upkeep is straightforward. Dust and Hedon light dirt can be wiped away with a soft, dry cloth, and any marks are best treated with a product made for leather rather than general household cleaners, which can dry the material out over time.

Getting helmet sizing right starts with a proper head measurement, taken with a soft tape around the largest part of the head, just above the eyebrows and ears. That figure points to a starting size, but it is only a starting point, since head shape varies as much as head size.

The result takes longer to arrive than an off the shelf helmet, and that is by design. A made to order piece is fitted, finished and checked individually before it ships.

This is slower than fully automated manufacturing, and that is the point. A handcrafted shell trades speed for a level of finish and individual attention that a purely machine made helmet does not offer.

Any impact, including a helmet dropped from a moderate height, can compress the inner liner in ways that are not visible from outside. A helmet is designed to absorb one significant impact by sacrificing that inner material, so a helmet involved in a crash should always be replaced, not inspected and reused.