Met Parachute – Opinions please

Have currently got a Casco Viper, but managed to snap the piece on the chin guard that slots into the helmet.

Replacement chin guard is £50+, and will need to get from Germany.

Replacement helmet is £125+.

I like the concept of the Viper even if it is not best looking helmet, as the chin guard can be snapped in and out in a matter of seconds. Although this function hs led to its downfall.

Was therefore thinking of getting a Parachute instead.

Any opinions welcome.

Watch the sizing I fit a medium but the chin guard is designed for someone without ears.

Honestly, if you want/need a full facer get a full facer. If you want an open face helmet with good protection buy a potty. You’re not going to stop at the trail head and think…oooh I better put on my chin protector are you…..are you……?

The parachute provides nothing like the protection of a decent full facer, it’s over priced and you’ll look like a spacker. Unless you live in a japanese love hotel and you dont have the room for two helmets.

For similar money get a Bell potty and a Bellistic or similar.

At 58cm I’m most probably a large but only just so hopefully that’ll give some ear room!

Well actually yes!!

As the viper chinguard was so easy to snap in/out, I did exactly that.

Off for the climbs, on for the descents. Yes a bit of a faff, but not in comparsion to having years worth of dental reconstruction.

I must admit to not being overly enamoured with the Parachute, but there seems to be no other options, as I don’t want a full on full face, as call me picky, but I don’t particularly enjoy the sensation of feeling like I’m boiling my head in a tin can!

The met parachute isn’t sold as a replacement for a full face helmet, more a general use helmet with a bit of extra protection and in that respect is fine. Other half is missing six teeth from a bicycle accident, he’s got a proper full face for downhill stuff, and the met for more general xc riding. It serves its purpose

Had a fairly major face plant in the alps with a Met parachute that did the job fine, but given the choice again would go for a proper full face helmet. A up side to the parachute is that when your not using the chin guard the threaded inserts are an ideal for you homebrew leds

It obviously offers more protection than an open face helmet (i.e. the chin guard will take a percentage of the hit before it breaks) .I have one and do not find it particularly hot for climbing etc.
As for Quote’looking like a spacker’ IMO you will look less of one if the 99% of time you walk about in normal life you have all your own teeth an a normal looking jawline.

What you look like is irrelevant. To 99% of the poulation Mtbers look stupid anyway.

While I have never heard anything but anecdotal evidence about actual crashes in a Met Parachute helmet I would be very wary – the chin bar contains nothing to absorb / reduce inpact and looks to be designed to catch on things. Cycle chinbars are not tested in any way.

Dubious IMO

What you look like is irrelevant. To 99% of the poulation Mtbers look stupid anyway.

While I have never heard anything but anecdotal evidence about actual crashes in a Met Parachute helmet I would be very wary – the chin bar contains nothing to absorb / reduce impact and looks to be designed to catch on things. Cycle chinbars are not tested in any way.

Dubious IMO. Swapping the risk of a bust face for the risk of a bust neck?

IIRC the casco has a polystyrene chinbar that sits close to your chin – likely to be better at protecting you

TJ it depends what type riding you do I stick to mostly trail centres where there are virtually no branches that stick out .(nothing for the chin guard to catch on).And if I thought too much about breaking my neck on an MTB I would just chuck the sport/hobby in altogether

From a protection point of view, it is my opinion that the chin guard design of the Casco is stronger/better.

However on the downside being closer to your face, it makes breathing harder and the whole helmet/guard combo has less ventilation than the Parachute.

And the end of the day, by their very nature these helmets will always be a compromise.

Falkirk mark – I would be very dubious about stating it has more protection than a normal helmet. IMO the design is flawed.

I currently have a Met Parachute, it is OK, nothing like a proper full facer for protection but then I only use it for XC rides.
Having a lot of re-constructive dental work to protect (result of being a passenger in a car smash) I’m not keen on having no face protection at all so it seems to be the only choice.

It does seem to be the only option really, I had a Giro Switchblade but unfortunately I don’t think you can get them any more.

Well TJ you may be right but I feel better having something between my face and the deck (thats only my opinion but as a workmate said opinions are like ar$£holes everybody has one)

Oh and they do stop your face hitting the floor. Yeah a really hard hit and it won’t do a massive amount but it in my opinion is better than nothing.

Never been snagged up on a branch, has stopped them hitting me in the face though.

Friend of mine has a Met Parachute and uses it regularly at trail centres. He had quite a bad spill on his first time round Penmachno – over bars at speed, completely face planted and the Parachute took all the impact. Result – large scuffs to chin guard of helmet, but totally intact facial features. If he hadn’t had that helmet on his face would have been a complete mess.
He swears by it – seems like a good compromise to me. Not downhill burly, but sturdy enough for ‘making progress’ type descending and well vented so you don’t boil your head.
Plus you can take the chin guard off for occasions when you don’t require it.

I’ve got one. I ride/race XC so the way I look at it is the only injury I’m likely to suffer is rubbing my face down some gravel. I won’t be landing on my head after missing that gnarly triple. Dude. Having a bridge point to reduce the gravel rubbing its way into my face is a good thing.

I can’t see any downsides compared to a normal XC helmet, so the parachute is ideal for me.

The downsides are potentially two things – one the chinbar catches on something ( rock / branch etc) and puts a twist in your neck – the othere is your face hitting the inside of the chinbar causing injury. As the chinbar is fairly rigid it will not absorb much of a blow by crushing – hence that force has to go somewhere.

Stumpy – you simply cannot say that – in an open face his face might not have hit the ground – You can say “this happened” you cannot say “without the helmet this would have happened” – too many variables. The outcome may have been the same, better of worse – there is no way of telling.

If you want face protection, what about a Spesh Deviant? as at least that will protect your face and has enough vents to only soft boil your head.

Tandemjeremy – WRONG……he went over the bars and put his hands out but due to the speed he was going couldn’t stop himself from faceplanting into the ground. The chinguard of his Parachute hit the ground – hard and there are now large scrapes in it. If he hadn’t had the chinguard there, his chin/lower jaw WOULD have hit the ground. There is no question of that. What else would have happened? His face was going at a certain speed towards the floor and only avoided it because of the chin guard. The space between the chin gaurd and his chin is perhaps 2″ at the VERY most – the time difference between his chin guard hitting the ground and his chin hitting the ground (had the chinguard not been there) is so small as to be negligible and in that timeframe what could have happened to avoid an impact?

I doubt those little Tic Tac chaps would have been on hand to offer up a pillow for him to land on.

The only way you can argue that things could have been different is by perhaps arguing that the ‘full face’ helmet made him feel safer and he approached an obstacle faster than he otherwise would have had he been wearing a normal lid – in which case the incident might have been completely avoided.

Joking aside, it sounds like some people need to learn to bail.

Heard froma medic that there was some anecdotal evidence that chinbar type helmets could put twist strains on the neck.

Stumpy – its a general / philosophical point. You cannot state with certainty what would have happened if circumstances were different. Many other things could have happened. He could have been twisting or rolling and the couple of extra inches clearance in an open face could have meant he hit the ground at a different angle. Just one possibility.

More than likely tho it sounds as if it stopped some gravel rash.

I have heard anecdotal evidence of those chinbars splintering and driving bits of plastic into the riders face. Only anecdotal tho so give it the credence deserved.

My point tho simply is with this sort of helmet there has been no independent testing of the chinbar and no real research into chinbars on cycle helmets. I believe there is a basic flaw in that helmet chinbar ( no impact absorbent stuff / sharp edges) but that is only an opinion. All you can do is look at as much information as possible and make up your mind.

To me the viper looks a far batter bet for a compromise helmet as it has a chinbar containing polystyrene that is smoother on the outside and closer to your chin.

YOu pays yer money and takes yer choice

I know what you are saying TJeremy and to some extent I agree. But, in a lot of cases you KNOW what is going to happen, even if it doesn’t.

Yes, that Viper does look like a good alternative.

I’ve used one and crashed hard in it (bailing off a 10 foot drop) and I don’t think there’s anything about the design that makes it more dangerous than a normal lid. It definitely protects you against glancing injuries from the side and contrary to TJ’s dire warning of broken necks I’ve never even pulled a muscle as a result of wearing it. However none of these designs are a substitute for a proper full face helmet. Full facers have proper padding on the cheekbones too which will cushion an impact to the chin guard far better than air or polystyrene.

The Met does offer a ‘little’ extra protection.

I find mine very uncomfortable, there is hardly any padding.

And I think they do look a bit odd (on some people – inc. me)So don’t tend to use it.

I use normal helmet for XC and got a Giro Switchblade for more agressive rides.

And a propper fullface (Specialized Deviant) for the Alps

And I think they do look a bit odd (on some people – inc. me)So don’t tend to use it.

Interesting. I think they look less odd than normal cycle helmets. But I come from motocross where full-face is the norm.

Stumpy – just curious, but I presume your mate who had this big crash replaced the helmet immediately afterwards?

I has a Casco for a good while, bought because I was trying to have one bike/set of kit for everything. The Met is much better vented but lighter built, you could use it as an XC lid where the Casco is just too much for that.

It was great because I was learning and had a fair few unexpected falls. These things will save your face from low speed accidents or make a big difference in a massive fall.

I think that the Casco looks ok and certainly looks better than a Met parachute. If I were in the position of the OP, I’d shell out for the replacement chin piece. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of the chin piece of the Met shattering on impact and causing additional lacerations to the face.

I should mention that my Casco met its end when a big fall pushed the chinpiece into the main shell – couldn’t get it off again and it eventually snapped. You should check you aren’t going to have similar problems.

They are a decent lid but at £120 they’re very expensive cosidering they’ll break so easily compared to a proper full face.

Shandy – what price safety tho? My opinion is that the casco probably the most protective helmet without going to a motorcycle type one.

Me testing helmets today:

Actually my head did not even touch the ground – but for that sort of riding I prefer a pisspot helmet as I think it offers better protection

Shandy – what price safety tho?

A Hummer H2 is safe for trail use. What are they £40K?

Or maybe, safety is always balanced with practicality and fun?