Kids Dirt Bike Helmets

This is our page for youth dirt bike helmets. As with any type of motorcycle gear, it’s important to go with quality, especially when it comes to our kids. With dirt bikes, it also goes to a completely new level, as it’s very often about riding on uneven surfaces and unknown terrain at high speed and let’s face it, the head is the most important part of the body.

Buying Guidelines

So, what to think about when buying a dirt bike helmet for a kid? It’s a bit different from buying the ride (which you can check out here), but we will go through what key features to look for, how you pick the right size, what budget you should aim for and tips and trix to make the buying process a little easier.

So first off, there is a jungle of brands out there, some are cheap, others expensive, some are famouse and some are quite unknown. Most bigger brands are actually totally okay when it comes to quality, but some of them tend to stand out.

Troy Lee Designs

This guy started out painting motorcycle helmets in his garage, starting out with not just helmets, but toy airplanes and mailboxes as well. After having painted several of Jeremy McGrath‘s helmets, his career really took off and it’s now a full company offering a wide range of motorcycle equipment for any type of rider.

Fox

To put up a fight against the Japanese factory teams, Geoff Fox founded Moto-X Fox and managed to rise to the top of the AMA 125 National Championship series as one of the best non-factory riders ever. Needless to say, Geoff knows a great deal when it comes to motocross gear in general.

Bell

The visionary Roy Richter managed to forsee hunger for high-pace sports and what dangers this brought, long before most people. As one of the earlier racecar-builders, he realized the need for safety and came up with one of the first protective gears of its kind; the Bell helmet.

Of course, there are a lot more reliable brands out there, but in our experience, these are the top of the best.

Dirt Bike Helmet Size

For obvious reasons, the size of the helmet matters a lot. Let’s imagine we put an egg in a metal box four times the size of the egg and then shake it – of course the egg is gonna break. Now imagine we fit the size of the box to the egg and do the same thing. Chances are the egg is going to be just fine. Okay, perhaps not the best analogy, but I think you get the idea.

There are several ways of describing the size of a dirt bike helmet: S, M, L, Youth S, Youth M, 2XS and so on, and this can be quite confusing, especially if you’re buying the helmet online and don’t have a chance to try it out before paying for it. Therefor, I’ve created the chart below:

Helmet SizeHat SizeHead Size (circumference)
Child S/M6 1/4 - 6 1/8″19 3/4 - 20 1/8″
Child L/XL6 1/2 - 6 3/8″21 1/4″
XXXS6 1/8 - 6 1/4″19 1/4 - 19 3/4″
XXS6 3/8 - 6 1/2″20- 20 1/2″
XS6 5/8 - 6 3/4″20 7/8 - 21 1/4″
S6 7/8 - 7″21 3/8 - 22″
M7 1/8 - 7 1/4″22 1/2 - 22 7/8″
L7 3/8 - 7 1/2″23 1/4 - 23 5/8″
XL7 5/8 - 7 3/4″24 - 24 1/2″
XXL7 7/8 - 8″24 3/4 - 25 1/4″
XXXL8 1/8 - 8 1/4″25 5/8 - 26″

Helmet Shell

This is the outmost layer of the dirt bike helmet and what will be the first contact with the ground in a possible crash. Obviously this is one of the most important features. A good shell is made of carbon fiber or another light but hard material.

Weight

Compared to a proper motorcycle helmet, dirt bike helmets are quite light. This is mostly because the riding styles differ quite a lot between the two vehicles. You want to be able to adjust to more sudden changes in the road when riding a dirt or pit bike, something you don’t have to do so often when riding a Harley or Ducati for instance. In fact, you really should avoid using a normal motorcycle helmet when riding a dirt bike, as this could actually be dangerous.

Absorbption of Impact

A good helmet should come with a certain system that absorbs most of the impact force when hitting something. Omni-Directional Suspension, or ODS, offers such quality, so make sure your helmet is equipped with this or something corresponding.

Good Ventilation

As any experienced rider will tell you, dirt biking is hard work. You will sweat and sweat a lot. Not only don’t you want to sweat to drip into your eyes or moist to fog up your goggles while riding, you also want to avoid your head to overheat. This is most important to let you focus on your task.

To summerize the key features:

  • Weight (they should be light)
  • Special safety system (MIPS)
  • Special liner system (EPS)
  • Material: carbon fiber or poly-carbon composite
  • Ventilation

Lastly, something that is quite easy to forget; try to include your child when you’re buying this helmet. They are the one that’s going to wear it and to avoid arguments, you might want to get them a helmet that actually looks cool. They will be happier while riding and you can remain calm, because you know your kid will want to wear the helmet.

Kids Dirt Bike Helmet FAQ

How much does a dirt bike helmet cost?

Now depending on what quality you’re looking for, it may vary, but I wouldn’t spend less than $200. At this price range you should get the most vital parts right.

What size of youth dirt bike helmet should I get?

This is oftentimes most easy to check in the store, but if this isn’t possible, you can meassure the head of youd youngster and check out our chart above.

What is important to think about when buying a kid dirt bike helmet?

Quality and fit are the most important features when considering to buy a motocross helmet for your young ones. You can get a fairly good helmet for a decent price these days. Just check out our dirt bike helmet buying guide above.

All in all, I hope you know a bit more about what to think about now and as always, ride safe out there!