ECE 22.06 Explained: What Helmet Certification Actually Means

ECE 22.06 is the current European standard that motorcycle helmets are tested against, and it replaced the older ECE 22.05 standard with a wider and more demanding set of tests. Helmets are checked for impact absorption at multiple points on the shell, not just the crown, and the standard also tests rotational forces, which earlier standards largely ignored.

To compare our full face and open face ranges side by side, see Hedon Helmets.

Neither format is a universal answer. Weather, speed, journey length and personal comfort all play a part, and many riders end up owning one of each for different trips.

A handcrafted helmet shell starts with a base material, commonly fibreglass or a composite blend, layered and shaped by hand rather than produced purely by mould and machine. Each layer adds strength, and the shaping stage is where a lot of the time in production actually goes.

Trying a helmet on in person, and wearing it for a few minutes rather than a few seconds, catches problems a size chart alone cannot. Padding also settles slightly with use, so a helmet that feels snug when new is usually the right call.

Certification is not a formality. It is the baseline that separates a genuine protective helmet from something that only looks the part. Any helmet worth wearing on the road should carry a current, verifiable certification.