I'm going to start looking around for a new full-face helmet, and was wondering if anyone else has run into this:
I wear earplugs when I ride just about all the time. That's not a problem normally, but on long days I get some pretty severe pain in my ear canal after a few hours. Short breaks help at first, but on really long days the pain is still there even after I remove the ear plugs. Just wearing my helmet for a long time doesn't cause it, and just wearing earplugs for a long time also doesn't bother my ears. I'm pretty sure it's the padding inside my helmet pressing against the end of the ear plug that's causing the pain. (I usually use the purple Flents foam plugs, but have also tried some other types of plugs with similar results. Even tried the wax, but couldn't get the seal to stay with these. Helmet's a HJC CS-12 that's about four+ years old).
Before I start shopping around, I was wondering if there are helmets out there without tight padding right against your ears. I don't listen to music with ear buds when I ride, but it seems like people who do this would need some extra room where the end of the ear bud and the wire stick out of your ear. Maybe I need to look at helmets that are built for communication systems? I'm just wondering if any of you have suggestions for full-face helmets that are built like this.
Thanks,
Will
