The super secure Sweet Protection Fixer offers a clean and simple design, making for a rather pretty premium full facer.
- Brand: Sweet Protection
- Product: Fixer Composite 2Vi Mips helmet
- Price: £399.00
- From: Sweet Protection
- Tested by: Aran for 2 months
Pros
- Looks great
- Super stable
- Some riders will like the reduced ambient noise
Cons
- Extremely expensive
- Chinstrap anchor is fiddly
- Some riders will dislike the reduced ambient noise
Compared to Sweet Protection’s Strayer enduro full facer, it’s clear that the Fixer is much more of a downhill oriented helmet. Where the Strayer sports larger holes for airflo,w the Fixer has much more closed-off vents. The weight reflects this downhill focused design too, with the composite version of the Fixer coming in at over 1,200g (compared to the 720g Strayer).
The Fixer does come armed with a high level of protection technology. The helmet is designed around the brand’s 2Vi platform, featuring two-layer Mips to guard against rotational impacts. This Composite model has a hardshell glass fibre exterior with multi-density EPS ‘impact shields’ within for dissipating impacts as best as possible. The 11 rather modest sized vents on the helmet are designed to add further protection, this time from penetration into the helmet.
I have used this helmet for enduro racing and found it was as comfy as to be expected with any other full face. One thing I did notice is that it feels pretty tight to take and on and off. Even when using the provided smaller pads this tightness persists (it’s fine once it’s on). This is a relatively minor issue and the benefit of such a secure fit from a protection point of view far outweighs the slight discomfort in getting (un)dressed.
The fit really is secure and this brings me onto the main strength of this helmet for me. When testing helmets, the phrase “locked in” has never been more appropriate to a lid. There is next to no wobble or play – even without goggles. The helmet is so well insulated there is a good amount of sound deadening too. This sound deadening does make conversations a little more difficult – and requires a bit more care when listening to cars on the road – but for riders who like few distractions during a descent, this is a price worth paying.
The Fixer features a titanium Double-D chinstrap, which is becoming a standard for downhill helmets now. D-rings can be a fiddle, but are essential from a safety point of view and even mandatory by certain race organisers. Where most brands elect to use a popper to fasten the leftover bit of strap, Sweet have elected to use a small loop and a magnet. This seems a good idea, however in reality trying to find this loop and connecting to the magnet seems to make an already fiddly system even more fiddly.
What Sweet Protetions has very much got right is the peak. Breakaway peaks are becoming a bit of a bugbear of mine; either too loose and therefore falling off all the time, or too stiff and not doing the job they need to do. The Fixer’s peak is near enough perfect. It will break off if you face-plant but it clips firmly back into place. This peak is also adjustable, often a capability that is omitted on full face helmets. Bonus.
Aesthetically, I really like the look of the Fixer; The two-tone white and black with subtle orange stripes is blocky, simple and matches the stubby shape of the helmet. One thing that I did notice however was how relatively easy the paint is to chip. I found chipping of the paint on top of the chin guard and at the back after just a few rides.If it were my money, I’d probably think about adding some sort of wrap protection before riding.
Overall
The Sweet Protection Fixer is a great option… for those that can afford it. At basically £400 RRP it isn’t the cheapest of lids. And at 1,240g it isn’t the lightest. However, it fits super securey and it does look great (which doesn’t matter but does). The niggles I experienced are not killer blows (the fiddly magnetised fastening gets easier with practice and chipping paint can be prevented with some choice wrap protection.