Endura's New MT500 Full Face Trail Helmet and MT500 Knee Pads - Garda Trentino 2019
A few months back, we had a brief look at Endura's new full-face helmet with Ross Bell's factory tour but we didn't have any details at that time. This weekend, at the Riva Bike Festival, Endura launched that helmet along with some new pads. Several athletes including the Athertons and their new bicycles were in attendance. Check out the details below.
MT500 Full Face Helmet
The new MT500 full face helmet is Endura's full coverage but lightweight helmet, weighing in at a claimed 640 grams with padding on the M/L size. It features Koroyd's energy absorption technology to help dissipate impact forces and is designed around the needs of enduro, dh, and bike park riders. It is fully DH certified and meets ASTM F1952 and CE Standard EN1078:2012 + 1 A1:2012.
The Koroyd system uses many copolymer extruded tubes that are thermally welded into an engineered core. On impact, Koroyd claims the tubes are designed to crumple instantly and consistently to absorb more force with greater predictability than other helmet technologies, thus reducing injuries.
The full face helmet has quite a bit of ventilation with huge vents in the face guard and is designed to breathe well enough that riders don't feel the need to remove it on climbs. Why no removable face guard? Endura claims that in their research, riders preferred either having it or not, most of the time and that when they had to transition to using it or not using it, they ended up leaving it off, riding without face protection, more often than not after the first few transitions.
The helmet also has antibacterial padding that is designed to wick moisture away and a fully adjustable retention system that can be dialed in with a micro-adjust fit system.
The chin bar is built around an internal skeleton and is designed to provide strength without producing too much extra weight. It's available in three sizes and comes in forest green and black colors. The MT500 full face will sell for 229.99 EUR.
MT500 Hard Shell Knee Pads
The MT500 Hard Shell knee pad is designed to deliver more protection in more demanding situations. They have a custom molded hard-shell front designed to ward off harder hits from pointy rocks. Under that, there is a D3O insert to give protection and shock absorption. On the sides, there is a PU foam padding for lateral protection.
The pad is secured via a loop strap system and is available in two sizes, Small-Medium and Large-Extra Large. It's certified to meet CE EN 1621/1 standards. The pad will sell for 89.99 EUR.
MT500 Lite Knee Pad
The MT500 Lite knee pads, or LP1, are Endura's lightweight and more ventilated pad. Endura claims that the flexible D3O pad increases the insert's breathability by 45%. It is made to be minimalist enough to ride in all day while still providing ample protection and it is ENTH1612-1:2012 level 1 certified. The pad is held in place with a Jacquard loop system. The MT500 Lite will sell for 79.99 EUR.
I had the chance to very briefly check out the MT500 full face helmet and hard shell kneepads at Riva. The helmet is indeed extremely lightweight and appears to be very well constructed. The pads are also well constructed and seem as if they would offer a large amount of comfort along with protection. Stay tuned for more impressions once we have time on the trail with this gear.
More info at www.endurasport.com
Photos courtesy of Endura
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Engineered for Danger.
Not that bad but actually makes more sense in this version.
Say what? It’s either internal or external. It can’t be both.
enduro-mtb.com/en/atherton-bikes-trail-bike-first-look
Nope, we've seen it and will provide some more updates whenever there is actual information on it. It's all mostly speculation at this point still.
I didn't get fancy photos because on the same day the Athertons were around, I was off checking out something else new and exciting that I'll share the full details on soon. And, I haven't figured out how to clone myself yet.
Koroyd in neat.
Also, don't they wear BELL helmets, not endura?