In need of a Charles Owen expert

[Momateur]

I even called Charles Owen directly on this question, and they didn’t seem 100% convinced of their answer…

CO helmets come with a removable, washable liner. The helmet I bought is slightly too small. I was told that it’s possible to use a 7 1/8 liner inside the shell of a size 7 helmet, and it’ll fit me better.

A. Why would a 7 1/8 liner fit inside a 7 shell? That doesn’t make logical sense to me.
B. Is that safe?

Does anyone have any experience with this? I’m going MAD trying to get a helmet that fits!

Yes, I could send the helmet back and just get a bigger size, but they’re going to charge me for shipping both ways, and they won’t refund my $$$$$$$ for four weeks. If the liner switcharoo is safe, I’d rather just do that.

[Suspiria]

They didn’t seem 100% sure of their answer because they can’t/won’t tell you to try to use a bigger liner. Probably exposes them to some liability if they counsel you to do something like that.

I’m no Charles Owen expert but I can tell you I tried the liner trick with my Samshield when I grew my hair out and it became slightly too small. No dice; the larger liner doesn’t fit into the helmet.

My advice would be to wear the CO as-is. My experience with Charles Owen is that the lining packs down and can become sloppy over time. YMMV, this assessment might depend on the model of helmet, but i’ve had it happen with a JR8 and a Hampton.

[Gibson_s_Finest]

Some brands have a range of shells - Samshield is one that comes to mind - where they have S/M/L/XL shells and then different liners for different size ranges plug into the shells. I’m making the actual numbers up, but for example, 6 7/8-7 1/8 might fit into one size shell and them 7 1/4-7 1/2 fit into the next shell up, etc.
Not sure if that’s a model that CO has adopted since I purchased my last helmet or not - I have AYR8’s and they don’t have removable liners.
I also agree with the above that the padding in mine has compacted significantly through use - they were all pretty snug (but not painful) when I first got them.