Eimor Customs is a Hyderabad-based motorcycle custom house that has recently also forayed into the world of custom-painted helmets. When they reached out to me to ask if I’d like to have one of my helmets custom painted, the answer was an immediate yes, even though I had absolutely no idea what I wanted. And that’s a great place to begin this story.
After a familiarisation phone call, a WhatsApp group was made where we began the ideation process. At the start, all I could put forth was that I wanted bright and vibrant colours and a dynamic look for the helmet. Something cheerful and even aggressive was great, but not evil – no flaming skulls for me, thank you. At the same time, I also didn’t want just another graphic scheme, and the folks at Eimor pointed out that since this was going to be a custom-painted helmet, it should mean something special to me.
To get an idea of what direction we should go in, Joy at Eimor, who would be handling this project, asked me what interests I had in life, and that’s where the theme of marine life came up. I’ve always been fascinated by underwater life and all the weird and wonderful things that reside there. So it was decided, let’s make this a marine life-themed helmet!
The next stage was to decide on the main standout characters, and after some thought, I thought a deep-sea Anglerfish would be perfect. This is a fascinating species that attracts its prey with a bioluminescent lure that it dangles ahead of an oversized mouth filled with almost comi-cally large and sharp teeth. I wanted to replace the lure with a glowing rev counter at 15,000rpm, because I like to imagine that there’s a similarly silly toothy grin on my face on a bike that can rev that high.
The other creatures, like the moray eel, and the striking orange graphics fell into place after long chats in the WhatsApp group, where Joy kept sending updated render sketches of the helmet with what we were discussing. It was very impressive how he took my ideas and brought them to life, not just in terms of the design elements but also the colour. For example, I told him that I liked the particular shade of one of my previous helmets, and he figured out that it was a colour called Vermillion, which is something I’d have never been able to tell.
Some superb ideas that came from Joy included having a hammerhead shark spray-painting the Eimor logo instead of just placing the logo at the back of the helmet. I also loved how he creatively added my name and blood group on the helmet in the form of a diver; this was cleverly incorporated into the layout.
With the design locked in, we went into the painting phase. This is a proper custom hand-painted helmet, and it went through five stages of painting, starting with a black base coat, after which the various design elements were painstakingly masked out and painted in – either by airbrush or the more detailed work being done with thin hand brushes.
I have to admit that I was quite nervous about how the design would translate onto the helmet because I had only seen two-dimensional images so far. Moreover, the KYT KX-1 Race GP helmet I sent them is a particularly angular thing with a massive spoiler that had to be accounted for in the design. But full credit to the Eimor team, the design transferred incredibly well to the shape of the helmet, and the proportions were spot on!
The attention to detail in the main design elements is also excellent, and the standout characters of the helmet have all been captured superbly. To know that this has been painstakingly done by hand against all off-the-shelf helmets (including top lids like AGVs and Arais) that use water-transfer decals, makes the helmet feel extra special.
What are the downsides, then? Well, what makes this work so special is also its one drawback, and that’s the fact that the finish levels don’t match those on a manufactured lid. This is largely because the various vents and spoilers could not be removed from the shell without removing the inner EPS liner. This was something I did not want to do, as it would compromise the helmet’s safety. So, the paint job had to be done with these parts installed in the shell, and when you peer carefully at the gaps between them and the shell, you will see imperfections in the paint finish. Still, it’s something that can be improved.
On the topic of safety, Eimor uses Automotive paints, and the process followed is as per FIA guidelines for helmet painting.
Then there’s the cost factor – a job like this will set you back by about Rs 25,000-30,000. This may come as a shock for some, but others will appreciate that this is the price to pay for bespoke craftsmanship and the special feeling of having a design that is exclusive to you. If you belong to the latter group, reach out to Eimor to see what the possibilities are.