Quote:
Originally Posted by pruettfan
I know this is an old thread but I thought I would share my experiences. A year ago I bought the Bell M.8 Carbon in the size the chart showed, it was comfortable and seemed to fit snug enough. My only issue was the shape of the eye port wasn't the best for my claustrophobia (many days in a gas mask in the Gulf War) so I bought a cheap open face helmet for autocross and set the Bell aside. As I approach my first HPDE day and knowing I will want to do a lot of tracking after doing a couple of M schools (2 day and advanced M) I started doing research on other full face options that might be better. I came across a video on youtube from Northstar Motorsports where they showed how to know if a helmet fits properly. What they show is that when you first get a helmet is should take some effort to get on and off and should be very snug, much more snug than my Bell is. Their point is that as you wear the helmet is breaks in a bit so the comfortable helmet can become too big where the snug helmet will become perfect. Realizing I know had two issues I took their advice and called them for advice on models that fit my size and shape. Bell helmets are great for round heads, in my case I have a egg head so I decided to go with a Stilo ST5. My head size is 61.5 cm so they suggested I go with the 61 but were willing to send me two helmets to compare and send one back which is probably the best way to go if your on the fence. Anyway I got the helmet on Saturday, it took some effort to get on and I could immediately feel that snugness they talked about, the bonus was the shape of the eye port helmet is perfect for my psych issue as it is taller and being more oval the front portion in front of the mouth is much further away so you don't feel like your breathing through the helmet at all.
Sorry for the length but I thought I would share and hope this helps someone in the future.
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Strange about the eye port. The M8 is suppose to have the largest eye port of the Bells not sure about Stilo.
When I tried on my first helmet years ago at OG Racing the guy said it should be snug like you said. In fact it felt a bit uncomfortably snug.
Just want to add that when testing the fit put the helmet on and leave it on for ~ 15 minutes to make sure that it isn't too snug...and yeah it was a bit weird sitting in the shop w/a helmet on for that long.