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From what I can see they tend to offer a little more protection but less ventilation (as a sweeping generalisation).
The biggest selleing point seems to my cynical streak to be the statement of intent they show to other bikers... look at me I'm so gnar I need this extra protection.
So... is it all fashion or is there actually some function in there?
😉
I just bought a Poc Trabec Race (£110 on Amazon at the moment).
No idea on function but they do three shell sizes and a deeper fit which is unusual and very handy when you have an oversized head like mine.
i have a Giro Feature, which i suppose you could say is one of these type of helmets.
Why?
Because i liked the look of them, so i tried one on and i liked the fit of it.
Whether that's down to marketing/hype/whatever, or whether it actually has "some function" above and beyond your common or garden MTB helmet, i don't know or care. it works as a helmet for me and that's all that matters.
if you like them and they fit, get one. if not, then don't. it's that simple really.
Mine (Urge o matic) has saved my bonce where I've hit the back of my head on the ground at speed, I know my old XC Giro lid would not have protected me
Personal choice but i like the look too
Haven't got one and will stick with my Hex for a bit, but I can't help feeling it's the shape all mtb helmets should have been from the start.
If you need to stay cooler (feeling), exercising hard, with a plastic and polystyrene thing on your head, no matter how many or where the holes in it are, cut you hair off. Oh, I'm not doing that either.
Yours, sweatily... 😆
I'm not sure I agree. I had a pretty big stack last tuesday night, which resulted in me smacking my head off a massive rock, and a trip to A&E. The dent in the side of the helmet (a Fox Flux) was very low down, just at above the back of my ear.
The helmet's a write off, but I'm bloody glad it was there. I compared it against an XC/Road lid I have, and there's no coverage where the rock would have hit, had I been wearing it.
I've replaced the flux this week, for something similar, and I reckon I will always have this kind of helmet in the future.
Trabec here to, don't know if a lid could ever be "Fashionable" i think they all make me look like a bit of a pillock (long head + helmet = mushroom man). Surely more protection always = function?
I have a Giro Feature...it is the best fitting helmet I have EVER had!
I can hold my head upside down with the chinstrap undone and it stays on!
It also only cost £35...
I can hold my head upside down with the chinstrap undone and it stays on!
That's how I've always tested to see if a helmet fits anyway.
Decathlon are doing these now too, I'm a fan of decathlon stuff but these look very cheap
When I wrote off my old Flux, it was because I fell off a wee precipice and the bike followed me down slightly after and landed right on the back of my head. My older Hex just didn't have any helmet there so it'd have been bike on skull instead of bike smashing in helmet. Considering how badly whacked out I was, I'm pretty glad I was wearing a helmet with so much coverage...
Ventilation doesn't have to be that impaired either, it's a reasonable assumption but a good wide-cover helmet can still be well vented.
I have an Urge Endur-o-matic
I love it, but it is really hot at low speeds - it vetilates really well at 20+ mph though!
look at me I'm so crap I need this extra protection.
FIFY well thats why i use them anyway.
My Endur-o-matic saved me from getting anything worse than mild concussion on Sunday. A more ventilated XC helmet (or even my giro xen) could well have had a stick poke through one of its many holes into my skull.
fox flux, good price and covers a lot of head, same as the spec something or other I got when I was helmetless....
Another vote for the giro feature. Fits like a dream and it comes with stickers, yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa................
Fit and comfort more than anything with my Feature I like it a lot
I'd like something with a chin guard. Problem is, for a chin guard to work, it needs to pad right up to your cheeks. It isn't going to work if it just levers off the rest of the helmet.
I do still have my old switchblade in the garage though.
There is absolutely extra protection.
My team mate had a pretty savage crash at the One Industries mini Enduro - stacked it at high speed on the rock garden, and used his head, neck and shoulder as a brake. His helmet was smashed right in, especially on the lower part of the back, in other words, the bit that provides the critical additional protection for the bit of the skull behind the ears.
So yeah - definitely functional.
Fox Flux for me, not because I'm hardcore, simply because I like the idea of having a bit more of my head protected. All MTB helmets look ridiculous if you ask me anyway. I've not seen one design I really like to be fair. I applaud Urge for doing something different, but I still don't like them much. BMX helmets look okay though.
80% fashion, 15% fit, 5% riders kidding themselves that their older lid wouldn't have saved them from that recent stack, when in all probability it actually would.
% riders kidding themselves that their older lid wouldn't have saved them from that recent stack, when in all probability it actually would.
But if that helmet makes them feel safer and more confident, and in turn that makes them ride faster, that's a good thing 🙂