BEST OF BRITISH: DAVIDA

The idea of this series is to celebrate British companies involved in the world of motorcycling. And can there be a more British company than Davida? From humble beginnings in 1974 to the present day, the company’s production process has remained in-house at its headquarters in Birkenhead, Wirral.

On top of this, the helmets are still hand-made by the Davida team, most of whom have been with the company for over a decade and some more than 30 years, going back to its formation.

Davida (the name comes from a clever marketing strategy, making premium of the European Endurance biking scene prevalent at the time) started out manufacturing specialised components (their vacuum gauges were re-branded by Honda as their official kit and are still being made), but the life-changing move came in the early 1980s when founder David ‘Fid The Lid’ Fiddaman (‘Fiddy’ for short), decided he could make a better open-face helmet than what was available at the time. As a result, a design classic was born.

Since then, perhaps the greatest compliment is Davida helmets have gone from being retro-styled to being the one other people copy.

THE PROCESS

So how is it done? Every Davida helmet is literally hand-crafted, a highly labour intensive process requiring it to be passed through many hands all the way through its production. The starting point is the size and head profile. Years of practice and thorough research has led to the development of a range of shell profiles (Davida will work to halfsizes) designed to closely fit different head shapes. The initial model has been finely sculpted by hand using time honoured modelling techniques.

The Davida shell tooling is for Davida helmets only – no other brand uses their tooling. Overall helmet size is proportional to head size, with six helmet sizes created from three shell

sizes and three EPS liners – each size then created with different leather lining sizes. It is always best to visit Davida at a show or one of their registered stockists (see www. davida-helmets.com for a full list) to get an exact match.

The shell is made from fibreglass, which is pressed into a heavy steel mould and coated in resin, then a head-shaped bladder is inflated to create the head shape. Once cooled, The shell is hand-sanded using an orbital sander to create a smooth finish. Each helmet is then primed and given an inspection to ensure no imperfections; once past this quality control, each helmet gets it’s own unique barcode, Davida can trace the manufacture of every helmet that leaves the factory. The glassfibre shells and polystyrene liners are made in Europe to stringently monitored specifications, with the leather liners, painting, assembly and finish happening in Merseyside.

Painting is still done by hand (I know I’ve said this before, but the attention to detail and refusal to move to mass-production type machinery is a vital part of the Davida process). Single colours are straightforward, but multiple colours are masked by hand. Top coats of paint and lacquer are applied in a dust-free specialist paint room, then eye-checked in a lightbox to ensure not even the smallest speck of dust will be missed. Complex designs can see the shell being hand masked and sprayed up to five times. Once past this approval stage, the shell is baked to harden the paint before moving to the assembly room.

Now, the outer rubber trim is glued to the shell straps made from the same grade leather as the lining shortly to be added – attached by studs to the shell to ensure they won’t come away. Studs (for attaching peaks and/or visors) cannot be retro-fitted, so if you are approaching Davida for a bespoke helmet it is important to specify at this stage if they are required.

Next, the leather linings (natural leather is used as it softens and ages well, making the helmet even more comfortable as the years go by), are cut and sewn. More than 1 square metre of the finest grade aniline dyed leather is used to create the luxurious quilted leather lined interior, finished with a pure satin crown for a superb level of comfort. A goggle retainer is fitted to the rear of the helmet using the same quality leather.

The quilted liner fits inside an EPS multi-density shock absorbing layer pressed into shape within the shell. The leather linings can be replaced on Ninety 2 and Speedster V3, so you can order a different colour if you want to personalise your helmet further.

So you’ve got your helmet, you can now order visors, goggles (if, like me, you wear glasses, you can order goggles with prescription lenses fitted) to match. Davida also makes gloves, leather jackets and jeans (not made at the factory, but to Davida’s own designs), and face masks. The firm doesn’t sit still – its range is constantly being refined, and 2018 saw the launch of its first full-face helmet, the Koura. Fiddy popped one on my head: instantly comfortable, light, well balanced, utterly quiet (a welcome Davida trait). We hope to test one for a future issue, once initial orders are satisfied.