There are many who look upon the wearing of a helmet on the road as a contentious thing. Something to be wary of – part of the culture of victim blaming, even. And it’s true, there are studies which suggest that other road users treat those of us who wear helmets differently to those who don’t. But off road? Well, that’s a different story.
There are a hardy few who remain exposed of bonce when hitting the trails, but they are few and far between. Frankly, any accident is likely to be your own fault – caused by over enthusiasm, over confidence or over egging of puddings. And so a helmet just seems to be a sensible way of ensuring the continued preservation of your marbles.
Especially as, the more we wear them perhaps, the more normal they seem, as well as the fact that designers are making things look better and better. The current ‘trend’ for helmets that wrap around the back of the head to afford more rearward protection lends helmets a little more panache, perhaps. It’s not a new idea that if a helmet looks good (and is comfy), you’ll wear it – there’s little point in a lid which protects the coatrack in your hall.
Here, we gather together a small assortment of MTB helmets which have come into the office recently, for your amusement. Testing has occasionally included actual, y’know, damage, but to be honest I tried to prevent that from happening wherever possible. And as with everything fitwise, the reviews come with the caveat that my head will inevitably be a different shape from yours – so if possible, try before you buy!
Without further ado, let’s take a look!
CRATONI ALLTRACK
The Cratoni Alltrack is a striking looking thing. There are 17 large vents scattered about, and in between is a matte blue helmet, with lime green detailing. It looks ace, to be honest with you. The fit is pretty adjustable, and although it’s not the comfiest on my head there are no hotspots, and it’s quite possible to wear it for extended periods easily. The peak pivots up loads which gets it out of the way for long climbs, or provides somewhere to keep your goggles, should you wear them. On this last, there’s also a little clip at the back to keep them from riding up.
On the top of the helmet there’s also a little plastic bit for GoPro camera attachment, which is seems pretty stable.
There’s a handy little ratchet thing for fitting, which is pretty neat, but arguably isn’t the most useful – I can’t say I found the need to minutely adjust the tightness very often. And if so, I’d just use the strap. There’s plenty of adjustment available, with a little ratchet at the back to keep things tight.
About the strap, actually – it seems rather slippery – so I’d actually find myself having to tighten it again after a couple of rides. Hardly a deal breaker, but relatively annoying.
Price: £119
From: Hotlines
IXS TRAIL RS
This is last year’s model IXS model, but the only major difference is that it doesn’t come in grey any more – you’ve got a choice of white, black, red, blue or green.
The helmet is the one in this test which fits my head the best – there’s an instant feeling of all-around coverage, and upon tightening the (easy to use with gloves on) ratcheting wheel there’s no slop. It just fits. The traps have little clips to adjust the fitment around the ears; it’s very easy to tweak.
There are a total of 22 vents, which keep the helmet pretty well aerated, and there’s great coverage at the back too. The peak will flip off in the event of a crash, although it’s not very adjustable – there’s no room for googles, for example. And there’s also no specific area to strap or bolt a helmet cam onto. But it’s a very comfy, excellently fitting helmet with few frills, at a good price.
Price: £84.99
From: Hotlines
KALI AVANA
On their website, the Avana’s graphics fall into Kali’s ‘Grunge’ category of Enduro helmets. The lid uses patented Composite Fusion Plus technology to ‘capture the best features of texalium and polycarbonate materials’. Texalium is, of course, a type of carbon fibre, and it’s woven into the helmet’s construction. The whole thing looks pretty good – it’s perhaps more subtle and ‘XC’ than the other helmets here; the peak is small, and there isn’t quite as much coverage towards the back as some others, but there’s more coverage than Kali’s dedicated XC lids.
Fit for me was ‘okay’ – nothing spectacular though, and although the (replaceable) ratchets at the back worked pretty well, the whole thing isn’t that adjustable. Still, it sat on my head with no hotspots, and proved comfy enough over long periods. There was a certain amount of side to side wobble though – but I do have a fairly long head (like the Alien).
The touted strength was thankfully something I didn’t test, although I did find the removable ‘bug netting’ somewhat useful, The holes are small enough for midges to get through, although they did keep out an errant wasp a couple of times. The same wasp. I know!
Price: £114.99
From: NRG4
SCOTT STEGO MIPS
Now this is a good looking helmet. Lots of black and orange vents. It makes you look like an extra from Tron. There aren’t all that many vents – mostly because the ones that are there are very large. It’s a pretty cool helmet – there’s loads of airflow. Even the top of the helmet, which doesn’t have any vents at all, feels mretty coole because it’s raised from the surface of your head, and there’s one large vent at the front and one exhaust one at the back.
It fits my head pretty well – there’s another rotational ratchet at the back, which is pretty much a fit and forget number. But the standout feature of this lid is, of course, MIPS.
For those who don’t know, MIPS is designed to reduce rotational forces of a crash being transferred to the brain – which can have all sorts of unpleasant consequences – imagine a huge bowl of blancmange in a glass bowl. Now rotate the bowl sharply. Look at the edges of the blancmange. See? Urgh.
MIPS translates into a yellow plastic liner which sits inside the helmet, and effectivelt ‘suspends’ it. But in use, it’s completely undetectable. You literally don’t know it’s there. It’s pretty impressive.
So overall, this is a great helmet. It’s comfy, it’s got MIPS, it’s got good airflow and it’s pretty. Likey.
Price: £119
From: Scott
SPECIALIZED AMBUSH
The Specialized is a vibrantly orange number, with loads of rear coverage, a peak with enough waggle to stow a pair of goggles underneath, and a few other cool features.
First up, it’s HUGE. I have an enormous head, and this one, the L, is easily big enough and then some. It’s secured with a rotary ratchet built into the helmet itself. It’s not the easiest to use with gloves on, though – and the securing adjustments within the helmet are sprung. In practice, this makes it very comfortable to actually wear, but you do need to loosen the ratchet before putting the helmet on, and tighten it up again, otherwise the pads rumple up at the front and become uncomfortable.
There’s plenty of air flow, and the helmet is pretty stable. The straps are quite outboard from your head though, due to the width of the helmet – although this caused no problems at all. Overall, a fine, goodlooking helmet – but it does size up large.
Price: £120
From: Specialized
https://vimeo.com/135676286
Overall
Well, there you have it. Five helmets – all but one are around £120 – and that one, the IXS at £85 I found one of the most comfy. You don’t get as many features as the others, true, but it’s up there in terms of quality. But the best thing to do with helmets is to try them on, as I said earlier. There are no real winners or losers here – they will all help save your bonce in the event of a crash, so pick one you like the look of and go try it on.
Review Info
| Brand: | Various |
| Product: | Various |
| From: | See review |
| Price: | From £85 |
| Tested: | by Barney for |
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“MIPS translates into a yellow plastic liner which sits inside the helmet, and effectivelt ‘suspends’ it. But in use, it’s completely undetectable. You literally don’t know it’s there. It’s pretty impressive.”
I hated the loose feel of the helmet.