Cratoni had a rather large stand with a bewildering array of helmets in many, many colours, along with very helpful staff. Here are some of the things they showed us.
An almost lime green bright yellow featured quite heavily at the Cratoni stand.The Allset…… and Allride are for those with a smaller budget than required for the Alltrack (below), and have fewer features.
Below is the Cratoni Alltrack, their signature enduro helmet with goggle features and a sturdy camera/light insert. Barney reviewed it recently, here.
The camera/light platform clicks very solidly into place.The tab makes it easy to quickly remove though.Goggle retention.The visor lifts nice and high to accommodate goggles. It has a few pleasingly tactile stops on the way, which I can only describe as “soft-clicky”LOTS of colours, four for each model.This is the C-Maniac.As full faces go, it’s pretty light.That’s partly because the chin guard is detachable.Might be difficult to see, but there’s a sliding catch either side of the jaw.Click both forward, and the chin guard pulls off.The chin guard is polycarbonate with soft padding on the inside. Polycarbonate is an incredibly durable, tough, and flexible plastic that never shatters.
You know the portable screens they use on Mythbusters to protect themselves from explosions? Thick polycarbonate. Here’s a video of someone firing a shotgun through some (ahh, only in America). It’s a material I would definitely entrust my face to.
Voila!Converted to an everyday lid.Their recent helmets also have a new ratcheting buckle.Click down to desired tightness.Pull the orange loop to release it quickly.All their helmet construction is done in-mold, meaning there’s no bonding of the different layers later on. Everything is injected into the same mould.They all have pretty nice dial fitting systems.Also, anti-bacterial liners.The Allset visor does have some articulationThough not quite as much as the Alltrack if you want to stow goggles.Did you know it was International Dress Like A Four Year Old Day yesterday? Our photographer did.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
