Full Face Or Open Face: Choosing The Right Motorcycle Helmet

The liner deserves the same care. A removable, washable liner keeps the inside fresh, and following the maker's washing instructions protects both the padding and the stitching around it.

Full face and open face helmets suit different kinds of riding, and the right choice usually comes down to where and how you ride rather than looks alone. A full face helmet covers the chin and jaw, giving more protection in a wider range of impacts, and tends to suit faster roads and longer distances.

Visors are a wear item, not a lifetime part of the helmet, and most riders find a spare on hand is worth having, especially before a long trip.

This is slower than fully automated manufacturing, and that is the point. A handcrafted shell trades speed for a level of finish and individual attention that a purely machine made helmet does not offer.

To see the current range built this way, visit Hedon.

The trade off is scale. A workshop like this will never produce helmets as fast as a large factory, and that is treated as acceptable, since the aim is a considered, well finished helmet rather than the fastest one to market.