If your head's too wide for most bike helmets...
I spent 30 hours searching for a bike helmet for a practice triathlon. With a 63cm head circumference, In total I tried over 20 large helmets, including:
- Giro Syntax MIPS XL (65cm)
- Bontrager Starvos WaveCel (66cm)
- Giro Chronicle XL (65cm)
None of which fit. After calling 12 bike shops, visiting 3, and ordering 3 helmets from Amazon, I finally found one that fit by rotating it 10 degrees on my oddly shaped head.
God bless the LAZER Sphere MIPS XL.
Helpful tips:
- Check out https://helmets.org/bighead.htm
- Consider "rounder-fit" or "Asian-fit" helmets if the helmet is digging into the side of your head. These may work better than larger-circumference options.
- For last-minute needs, consider renting a ski helmet. They often come in larger sizes than bike helmets.
- If you live in SF, Valencia Cyclery has the best helmet selection out of the ones I've seen. (Unfortunately their largest one, the Giro Fixture, is still too small for me. But it came close!)
Things that didn't work:
- Calling helmet dealers to ask about unlisted sizes. I called 5 dealers and all told me their websites listed all the sizes they had available.
- Over-indexing on Amazon review / Reddit / what people say online. The problem is, you don't know what their head shape is.