Motorcycle Helmets for Round Heads

If you have a rounded head it can be difficult to find a helmet that fits comfortably and is safe. We have put together six of what we think are the best motorcycle helmets for round heads.

The crown is adjustable too, which is an extremely rare level of customization.

Arai bread-and-butter is wealthy motorcyclists with weird heads, so I guess it’s just their commercial interest to make the most adjustable helmets around.

Price

Touching quickly on that wealthy bit, the Quantum-X is $800 and boring colors and $1,000 in graphics. Because $200 is pocket change to Arai buyers, because paint costs more money in Japan, because Araya has no shame, choose whichever excuse you like.

Shell Compound

The shell is PBS SCLC for peripherally belted super complex laminate construction, any name that includes the word super complex is designed to impress, not described.

Let’s keep it real Arai and say this is a fiberglass shell with an extra-strong belt wrapped around the top of the I-port.

And that allows me to have less EPS foam allowing for a thinner shell, allowing for a higher field of vision in that full tuck position.

Ventilation

Ventilation is good and bad at the same time. The good is that the vents closed with flaps on top of the helmet that maintain aerodynamics, and therefore how quite the helmet is.

Another good thing about this Arai helmet is the visor ducts which run cool air back to your temples’ blood flow.

The bad is that you have no hope of finding the vent controls with your gloves on.

Speaking of bad, the chin curtain makes the helmet way too stuffy, so rip it out and put it someplace where you’re never going to find it. Again because you’ll much prefer being able to see the emergency pad release tabs.

Plus, you still have the retractable curtain if you want to yank it out for a chilly ride. Arai, the chin curtain thing was pointless.

Face Shield

In a similar vein, the new shield latch is also unnecessary. Push it down, push it up, either way, you need to get in there with your finger to unlock the visor accurately.

It is designed so poorly that I’m not even sure how it was supposed to work, but still, the Quantum-X is special.

It’s crazy comfortable for round heads, it’s crazy safe with five EPS, and it’s crazy light at 1615 grams. You’d still be crazy not to choose the cheaper Shoei RF-1200 instead, but for the roundest noggins, that isn’t an option.

Shoei Qwest

What is an option is the Shoei Qwest, because this is Shoei’s properly round bucket? This could be the best buy of the year. It’s a remarkable helmet selling for only $350 ish since Shoei announced its replacement, the RSFSR.

Long story short, I’m not sure the Shoei RFSR can be much better. This is already one of the safest helmets.

Shoei uses organic fibers to make the fiberglass more elastic, meaning it stretches and crackles the impact across a larger surface area of the shell, on a physical level.

On a statistical level, it means it scored a perfect 5 out of 5 safety rating from Sharp.

the Quest also made my quietest helmets review, which is no mean feat, especially considering it has a somewhat open-ended neck role.

Until there’s another helmet out there that ventilates this well and achieves such a low decibel rating. However, I’m waiting for the RSFSR to prove me wrong.

The Quest is Snell rated, it weighs 1650 grams, it has no Sun Visor so immediately you would think super sport helmet, and immediately you would be wrong.

This helmet is much happier in an upright riding position, and it isn’t that aerodynamic, you certainly wouldn’t want to be head-butting this much wind at 200 miles per hour at the track.

HJC CL-17 Rebel

The HJC CL-17 is a more track worthy choice, and it also digs out a new price bracket way down below the $200 mark. One reason I plonk the CL-17 on the track is that it’s loud as shit, but I mean sporting racers all use earplugs anyway, so why not.

It also has a racer cut, meaning that the neckline is drawn upwards. That reduces weight to 1605 grams for this size medium, which is officially witchcraft for a polycarbonate bucket.

The racer’s neckline also poses less risk of breaking your clavicle, makes it easier to go into a full touch position, and easier to shoulder check on the losers behind you.

Of course, the CL-17 is a round head shape; I haven’t forgotten the theme of our article yet. It has an eyebrow vent, which is rare, it has a visor lock, which is less rare, and a pin lock shield included, which isn’t rare at all but always handy.

I’ll take a final jab at the shield mechanism, which opens and closes with the nails’ smoothness on the chalkboard. Also, if you have an enormous round noggin bear in mind that the CL-17 is Snell rated in every size except 3 XL, 4 XL, and 5 XL.

Bell Revolver EVO Jackal Helmet

Now enough standard helmet, let’s close with options for the modular, the open, and the adventurous. The modular is the only choice I’m not happy with. It is a Bell revolver, Evo, and I kind of hate it because it’s leaky.

The panel gaps remind me of a childhood trip to the Grand Canyon, and then, the visor doesn’t close; it just sort of vaguely stops moving somewhere near the gasket.

All this amounts the best ventilated modular helmet that I know of, but it’s also the loudest and the wettest should you be foolish enough to use it in the rain.

The Revolver is one of the heaviest modular helmets around as well, at 1870 grams.

I didn’t know my scale could go that high, least of all with a polycarbonate helmet on it. Bell isn’t stupid, though; they started trying chin curtains into the boxes, which does help with the draft.

They also designed this to be one of the few modular helmets that jobs in a full tuck position, plus they’re offering it in graphic options at circa $270, which is the mere ten bucks over the base price.

If you remember correctly, Arie, I was charging $200 for graphic options, and they didn’t look any nicer than the Bell.

Bell threw in little treats to, like a magnetic chin strap and a Sun Visor. The latter drops and retracts with all the split visor that the main shield lacks.

Of course, the Revolver EVO is a genuinely round head shape, which is the main reason I had to pick it.

There are lots of better modular helmets out there that are sort of slightly around, but I mean, hey, if you could fit in those you wouldn’t be reading this article.

Fitment

This helmet uses a double XL shell size for everything medium and up, so don’t be surprised when the Revolver looks more bobblehead ish than you do.

Biltwell Bonanza LE Tracker

The Biltwell Bonanza looks bobblehead ish in the photos online, which is why I was surprised when mine arrives quite slim and trim.

It’s almost as thin and almost as lightweight as the fancier fiberglass Bell Custom 500.

I’ve had my Bonanza for a year now, and I love wearing it. I also love the $140 price tag, so much that I bought one of these round helmets, even though my head is decidedly neutral.

Ventilation

Biltwell mentality is no vents, no worries, but mine is more no vents, I’m worried. Specifically, I’m worried about the liner rotting away in sweat. Fortunately, this brush lycra is removable and washable.

Interior

It’s also hand-stitched into a diamond pattern, which does sound pretty cool. I’m not stoked on the idea that someone in Taiwan had to stitch my liner by hand.

Sizing

I should mention that Biltwell makes atrociously inaccurate size charts. In the case of the Bonanza, you’ll need a size smaller than suggested. I should also mention there other round and retro 3/4 lids out there.

Most notably, the Scorpion Belfast, which costs twice as much, but in my experience, the Bonanza is rounder.

Arai XD-4

The last helmet I chose was the Arai XD-4 as a round adventure helmet. Which is ironic, because it’s not round, it’s neutral tending slightly to the round side.

Remember those 5 millimeters of peel away from foam? Well, the XD-4 does have them too, and that can make it one of the rounder adventure helmets out there. For whatever reason aren’t a lot of alternatives in this category.

The Arai also jumped to mind because of its ear room. The interior padding falls away on each side, which results in no pressure points on the side of your face, even if you have quite a round head.

This is a brilliant 50/50 adventure lid, with breezy visor vents and four-way vent on the top of the helmet it’s quite an airy helmet to float around the trails.

It also has better soundproofing the most ATD lids, and foolproof aerodynamics with the smoosh down Sun peak. My medium-sized lid weighs 1650 grams, which is respectable.

All the cowls and plastic parts are designed to snap off in a crash, allowing more of the shell to be safely spherical.

The XD-4 also passes Snell ratings and has emergency quick-release cheek pads, a couple of safety features that you’ll rarely find on an AVV lid.

Arai does have an XD-5 in the works; my two biggest requests would be for a larger I-port and their VAS shield system.

The former would let me use large friend goggles when I’m riding around the trails, and the latter sits there visor hinge lower, for an even more spherical even safer shell.

Those are the best helmets for earth shaped heads.