As anyone who’s read my articles would guess, I have a pointy head. On top of the fact my skull falls somewhere between the “intermediate oval” and “long oval” designations used by helmet manufacturers to indicate relatively more oblong versus relatively more round varieties, I have a subtle peak in the front-middle near my hairline, where my horn would be if I were a unicorn. And, on top of this, I have a small titanium strap (one of several) right there beneath the skin from surgery some years ago, when they had to R&R my forehead. None of these oddities are obvious to the naked eye, but they combine to make helmet fit more of a challenge. I frequently experience an uncomfortable—and sometimes painful—pressure point where the helmet contacts my irregular protrusion. Even before the installation of my metallic accessories, this was an issue.

In the past, I’ve dealt with this discomfort by hunting helmets with a more oblong interior; on rare occasions, this has been enough to solve my problem. Manufacturers know there are a wide variety of head shapes among their potential customers, and different models are designed to cater to different cranial contours (which may or may not be publicized clearly in marketing materials). It can require considerable trial-and-error and wading through numerous conflicting reports online to come up with a good match, even when a rider is in possession of a “standard” head shape. Unfortunately, there’s more to this pairing process than taking a tape measure to our cranium and locating the resulting number on a sizing chart. A genuinely savvy gear salesman can be very helpful in steering folks to the best options, but some fit issues may only become apparent over time. A helmet that seems fine during a brief trial in the store may prove very uncomfortable after an hour on the bike or while riding in higher temperatures, when its materials expand slightly.

In all likelihood, even a helmet of the correct size with roughly the right shape may need some tweaking to achieve a truly tailored fit, as opposed to something merely tolerable or adequate, for which many people settle. Plenty of riders have never experienced a thoroughly well-fitting helmet, and don’t even realize such things exist; they have no reference points for judging how close a lid is to this ideal. If one avoids the extremes of painful pressure and floppy instability, they figure that’s as good as it gets.

Some riders have taken to modifying their helmets’ internals to better accommodate their skulls. This might involve altering the amount and/or location of soft padding in the liner. A small number of helmets have built-in adjustments to achieve this, and many offer alternative padding available at an additional cost, although such may be limited to cheek pads of different thicknesses that mainly serve to stabilize the helmet on the head without addressing pressure points elsewhere. Helmet manufacturers that offer custom fitting services may affix extra padding to a liner or subtract a bit of cushion in strategic locations to match a specific customer’s unique head shape. Hold that thought.

Beneath a helmet’s soft liner is its EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene—“Styrofoam” in common parlance, though a much more sophisticated version than the flimsy cooler you grab on the way to a picnic). EPS is what absorbs and distributes the force of an impact by collapsing between your head and the helmet’s shell. Its dimensions are engineered to be as thin as possible to keep overall helmet size to a minimum, while still being thick enough to provide a certain standard of protection. EPS thickness may also vary as a function of shell size and head size. Manufacturers typically produce only two or three shell sizes to serve as many as six or seven head sizes, meaning the EPS (and/or soft liner) thickness within any given shell size will differ to create a relatively larger or smaller interior space. The EPS is also largely responsible for the shape of that space, and it’s the firm surface that impinges upon a protruding cranial contour through the liner’s soft padding. Hence, some riders will sand or compress the offending area to relieve such pressure. While this might alleviate a “hot spot,” it also decreases the ability of the modified EPS to do its job, since there’s less material remaining in an uncompressed state. Proponents of this method assert a tiny change in EPS thickness can be all that’s needed, and such a miniscule subtraction is unlikely to make a significant difference in real-world consequences. Also, what good are the theoretical advantages of pristine EPS in a helmet that won’t be worn because it’s too uncomfortable?

I confess, I’ve been guilty of sanding or compressing the EPS in several of my helmets over the years to deal with pressure points around my forehead and top/front area. I’ve felt uneasy about compromising the most important aspect of those helmets’ functionality, and the results have been mixed. Sometimes, it was impossible to completely eliminate the problem, or relieving pressure in one spot seemed to create (or simply reveal) pressure in others. Rather than continuing to remove or compress more and more EPS, I just lived with several small problems instead of one larger one. When I made the unwelcome discovery my newest—and most expensive—helmet developed pressure points in my familiar problem areas, I really didn’t want to start molesting its EPS, or even its luxurious (and costly to replace) soft liner. On the other hand, even though this helmet felt good out of the box, it became a real torture device 50 miles into a ride. Something had to be done.

While searching for alternative solutions online, I found a lengthy series of posts on ADVRider.com that led to a far better solution. It also contained the most extensive discussion of head shapes (and how to determine yours) I’ve ever seen. What follows here is my successful application of the lessons contained therein. For the whole deep dive, see this thread on the ADVrider forum.

There’s no denying Schuberth makes an exquisitely crafted, extraordinarily plush helmet. My C4 Pro Carbon fit very, very snugly, even though I bought a size larger than my usual, as have many others who posted their experiences with this model online. I was initially pleased with how secure it felt, as I actually prefer a tighter fit—up to a point. During the first brief spins wearing my new lid, no specific pressure points were apparent, but on longer, multi-hour rides I developed the worst pain ever in my upper-middle forehead, with a corresponding bright red patch of skin—something I’d never had before; it was really BAD! I say this not to impugn Schuberth, but rather to emphasize how big a difference I required, and how effective the simple approach below proved in the face of my dire need. No doubt, many Schuberth customers find these helmets complement their skull shapes nicely without any modification, and my extreme problem is certainly a rarity. All of us have differing cranial contours, and helmet fit can take some time to sort out; even a severe issue like mine might not be apparent at the outset.

The basic principle elaborated upon in the above forum thread is this: rather than removing material from the EPS, the same effect can be achieved by adding padding to the soft liner in other areas. Despite all the technical intricacies laid out in the posts, this isn’t brain surgery. For example, building up the area surrounding a pressure point pushes the EPS off the skull where it’s creating a problem and distributes the pressure across a larger swath of cranial real estate, reducing its impingement at any single locale. In my case, a dramatic improvement was achieved by simply inserting a pair of additional thin pads (more details in a moment) on either side of the forehead hot spot. This relieved pressure in the middle without creating discomfort elsewhere. It turns out my Schuberth also sat a little low and forward on my head—something I learned after noting where my brow was in relation to the top of the eye port. By adding some padding to the top of the soft liner on either side of my unicorn horn area, I moved the helmet to a more neutral position overall and further alleviated pressure (helmet weight) on my problem areas. Another head in another helmet would require different interventions, but the basic concept remains the same: lift the helmet away from the head with more soft padding instead of trimming/compressing the EPS. Most skulls not only have areas that protrude, but also areas that recede. The trick is filling in the valleys to even out the peaks. If there really is no room to slip a little extra padding into place, then you probably have a size issue instead of (or in addition to) a fit issue.

Regarding what to use for padding augmentation, there are many varieties of open- and closed-cell foam available at hardware and craft stores or online retailers. Open-cell versions collapse more readily because the air inside is free to escape, making it softer but also less likely to provide much support; closed-cell foam is probably a better choice here. Before you spend money, though, check what you already have for something suitable, at least in the proof-of-concept stage. Scraps of rubber, weatherstripping, thick gasket material, or simple folded cloth might come in handy. Thanks to my hoarding tendencies, I happened to have a collection of unused Velcro-covered pads from previous comm systems; these would have gone behind the speakers in helmets with deep ear pockets to hold those speakers closer to my ears. Because these spacers clung to each other, my liner’s padding, and the Schubert’s felt-covered EPS (so posh!), they were absolutely ideal for this project. I could quickly and easily move them around between the top of my liner and EPS, and stack them to add lift, as I experimented with different configurations. They stayed in place well enough that I felt no need to replace them in their final arrangement with something more permanent. They were not suitable for the lateral areas just above the eye-port, however, where I needed something thinner and narrower that would compress less. An old piece of neoprene could be cut to fit and held in place with double-sided tape—voila! And to think a manufacturer might charge hundreds of dollars for custom fitting!

I just finished a three-day ride in my new Schuberth without the slightest trace of discomfort, even in much warmer temps than when I first wore it. My additional padding is arranged in ways that don’t block any of the internal ventilation, nor does it interfere with fastening the snaps that hold the soft liner in place. My mods are virtually invisible and they cost me nothing, yet they’ve made a world of difference in my enjoyment of this helmet. The specific details of my mods won’t translate into comfort for other heads in other helmets, but I hope the ideas presented here (and the discussions at the link above) inspire you to play with similarly inexpensive and easily reversible changes, potentially transforming your lid’s interior from something awful or merely mediocre into something that feels truly perfect—for little or no additional investment, and without any reduction in safety.