The safety standard in Europe.
ECE 22.06 is the newest safety standard for motorcycle helmets in Europe. The label means that the helmet was tested and passed these tests. The tests include drop tests, wear resistance tests and even tests at different temperatures. In almost all EU countries it is illegal to ride a motorcycle without a ECE rated helmet.
Do I NEED the newest 22.06 rating?
No! Riding around wearing a helmet with rating 22.05 or even 22.04 is completely legal. It is however always recommended to replace your helmet after 5 years when wearing regularly or when the liner is visibly worn. When the shell shows signs of cracking, you should replace it as well but that goes without saying.
"But those new helmets make my head look big!"
While it is true that most modern helmets are generally larger in size than their old versions from 10 - 20 years ago, the general statement: "modern helmets are big and bulky" is just untrue. Yes, extra EPS foam is added between the shell and the liner to increase protection from impacts, but there's a big difference between brands and helmet models.
Quality = lower profile.
Here's where our brands are different from other more generic and cheaper helmets. To minimise the overall size of the helmets, different outer shell dimensions are used for different sizes. Where a cheap helmet might use one outer shell for the whole size range XS - XXL, ours use at least 3 different sizes, some even 4. In practice, you'd be wearing a size XXL helmets, stuffed with extra foam is you'd buy a size M, making you look more like an alien instead of a regular human being.
Extra outer shell sizes reduces the extra padding needed, resulting in slimmer fitting helmets.
"But I found ECE rated slim fit helmets online from China!"
Here's where things get a little fishy. We've also seen low profile helmets being advertised aggressively on social media platforms. Most of the times they are boasting with a supposed ECE 22.06 rating and in pictures you'd hardly see any padding between the head and shell. Like old school helmets!
Some are technically rated but it always comes down to the same thing: the safety certification is NOT for the helmet but only a small PART of it. Sometimes the strap or closure. Sometimes they just put a fake label on it.
Bottom line, if it seems too good to be true, it always is. If you want to take the risk, go ahead! But if you want to be confident while riding, always look for an ECE rated helmet.
Our open face helmets from Roeg and 13 1/2 are some of the most slim fitting helmets available at the moment. They're also our best selling helmets!
If you still have any questions about ECE or helmets in general, shoot us an email! We're always happy to help out.
