Bike Helmets for Unusual Head Shapes
Summary: Here are some ideas for making a standard helmet fit your unusual head shape. There are also at least two expensive custom 3D printed helmets available.
Riders with unusual head shapes often find it difficult to find a bike helmet that fits.
As far as we know, nobody makes a custom conventional bicycle helmet with EPS foam and a shell. It would be prohibitively expensive to design one, make the molds, produce enough samples and have it certified by a test lab to the legally-required CPSC standard for sale in the US. With administrative and other overhead costs a manufacturer would have to budget $25,000 or more to produce the one helmet. But the new frontier of additive manufacturing allows a manufacturer to use a 3D printer to make a one-off custom helmet that might fit your unusual head shape. We have a page up on 3d printed helmets. Unfortunately the helmets are expensive, so this page all about fitting reasonably-priced helmets to unusual heads.
The best quick advice we can offer is to get a larger helmet and add fitting pads where needed. You would need enough padding to be sure that the helmet is stable on your head so that it is in place when you crash. We have a page up on larger helmets.
You may have better luck with one of the one-size-fits-all helmets, with what we call ring fit. They are sized with a band around the head rather than fitting pads. That might work out better for your head shape, but since the helmet will probably be larger than you would normally require, you may need to glue in pads to be sure it will be stable on your head. Remember that the ring itself is just a stabilizer and most of them will pop open in a crash, so you have to ensure the fit with pads and careful strap adjustment.
Denting or shaving down the inside of the stiff foam liner to make the helmet fit you would reduce your protection, so that would not be an optimal choice.
You might want to start with one of the helmets that has extra rear coverage, since those are inherently more stable on your head. We identify some of those in our annual review of helmets.
Depending on your head shape, it might help to start with a rounder helmet that fits Asian heads. That might give you more room where you need it, depending on your head shape. If so, take a look at our page for rounder heads.
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