Ridden And Rated - Six Helmets
I clearly like black helmets. All of these helmets, however, are available in a wide range of colors. So if you feel a deep kinship to eggplant, turquoise, puce or chartreuse, rest assured, your color needs can be met with any of these lids.
Not so long ago, you were faced with two choices when considering a new helmet: either a full-bore, full-face storm trooper option or the kind of wispy, head thong you might expect to see in the peloton at Le Tour. There was a huge gap there in the middle, which was strange since most riders don’t pray exclusively at either the altar of DH or the temple of XC.
Fortunately, fuller-bodied helmets came along and offered a more sensible combination of deep coverage, light weight, and decent ventilation. That’s a good thing. Bikes have improved over the years, allowing us to tackle terrain at higher speeds… and with greater consequence. Most of us can use a bit more bucket covering our brains. Here are six helmets worth checking out.
A Quick Word About MIPS and Your Brain
If you want to dive straight into the helmet match up, scroll down. However, since MIPS and other slip-plane technologies crop up constantly in this review, I'm going to parse an entire article down into a couple of paragraphs. Do you need this stuff in your next helmet? Here goes...
Right now your brain is happy. It's just sitting there - a 3.5-pound lump of water, protein, fats and carbohydrates with the consistency of soft tofu - in a soup of blood and cerebrospinal fluid. It's at peace. It's content. What would be bad, right about now, is if your soft and squishy brain - laced as it is with a 100 billion neurons and a vast array of nerve fibers - suddenly slammed into the hard and unforgiving walls of your skull. Your helmet is designed to reduce the chance of that happening.
Helmets “cushion” the blow of an impact to your head by spreading the impact over a wide area of the helmet and reducing the energy that’s actually transferred to your head during the impact. Your helmet, to be less geeky about this, acts as a barrier that absorbs the energy of a sudden blow. How do they absorb energy? Most bike helmets feature a crushable foam (EPS) liner. It's basically a high-grade version of the stuff that disposable coolers are made from, and it's covered in a thin plastic shell. That plastic shell reduces friction in a crash, helps disperse impact energy and also helps keep the EPS liner together during an impact. But when it comes to absorbing energy it's mainly a foam thing. Or at least that's historically been the case. Helmet manufacturers wanted to stop skulls from breaking, so they created testing protocols that ensured that all certified helmets (that little EN or CPSC sticker in your helmet) reduce energy (measured in Gs) to a level deemed acceptable (generally, either 250 or 300 Gs depending on the standard in question).
These days, however, more attention is being placed on the question of how to reduce concussions. That's because more evidence has surfaced showing that concussions are a far greater problem than most of us once thought (think early dementia, etc.). You can get a concussion from a direct blow to the head. Growing evidence, however, suggests that rotational accelerations are very likely to cause concussions.
Rotational accelerations? Think of it this way. Linear accelerations (what we've been trying to slow down with our EPS foam liners) generally involve situations in which the head is moving in a straight line and comes to a sudden stop (or is struck by an object moving in a linear fashion). That's why the bulk of impact testing protocols involve dropping a helmet with a weighted head form in it directly onto an anvil at a specific height and speed.
During rotational accelerations the head is generally twisting or receives an angled impact that causes the head and its squishy contents to rotate, twist and, in some cases, shear. Bad news.
This is why more and more helmet manufacturers are adopting new technologies to reduce the rotational energy. At this point, MIPS (Multidirectional Impact Protection System) is the most popular. MIPS is a slip plane - a thin layer of plastic nestled against the foam liner that is said to reduce rotational accelerations by allowing the helmet’s liner to rotate independently around the slip plane during an angled impact. 6D has created its own concussion risk-reducing system called ODS (Omni-Directional Suspension), which features a series of plastic/rubber bumpers sandwiched between inner and outer EPS liners. When an angled impact occurs, the two layers compress and slide against one another, which (like MIPS) should reduce the amount of rotational forces transferred to the brain.
6D's rotation-damping system is called ODS.
Do you need MIPS or ODS? Here's where it gets murky. I can't tell you that one technology is better than the other because currently there are no agreed upon testing protocols or standards for testing and measuring the effectiveness of these technologies. The helmet industry and safety associations are working on it. In the meantime, the manufacturer's are testing in-house and claiming reductions in rotational acceleration. Again, we don't have an apples-to-apples comparison here or even, to be blunt, complete agreement on how the apple should taste.
If you are a skeptic, you might dismiss all this as so much snake oil - just another means of selling a product. You might argue that your helmet already slips (to a certain degree) on your head during a crash - that your sweaty scalp is your own personal MIPS device. While we can't debate precisely how effective MIPS or ODS is at reducing the risk of concussion, the odds are good that these technologies help to some degree. Is it worth paying a bit more money? I'm not going to tell you what to believe. I, however, have been knocked unconscious several times and have a family tendency towards early dementia. I'll take every extra bit of protection I can get. That's my bias, if you will. Okay, on to the damn review already.
Bontrager Lithos MIPS
Bontrager’s Lithos MIPS sports the same core features as the rest of the trail-slash-enduro helmets in this review - extended rear coverage, a tilting visor (to accommodate goggles), and a well-designed fit system. It also sports a few noteworthy perks, including Blendr - the cleanest POV camera/headlight mount that I’ve seen on a helmet to date. You can snap a GoPro or Bontrager Ion light into the thing in nanoseconds flat. The helmet also sports a MIPS slip-plane. What’s not so awesome? At 450 grams this helmet is a bit porky. Also, unlike the other helmets in this review, the chinstraps are not routed through the EPS foam liner itself, which means that on hot days, you have more of the soggy, sweat-soaked straps snuggling up against the sides of your face. It’s not a deal breaker, but at this price, it’s a surprisingly unsophisticated touch. One big perk? If you crash and destroy the helmet within a year of purchasing it, Bontrager will replace it for free.
Bontrager Lithos MIPS Full Review
• ‘Blendr’ video camera/light mount is brilliant
• Pairs well with goggles--plenty of visor adjustment
• Crash replacement offers some peace of mind
• A bit heavy
• Chin strap routing could be improved
6D ATB-1T
One thing that’s immediately noticeable about the 6D helmet is that it’s big. The upside? This thing is the king of half-shell coverage. It sits low on your head. The ATB-1T is also big - as in thick. 6D’s unique design pairs two EPS layers, between which are sandwiched 27 rubber dampers that allow the foam layers to slide around during an angled impact. You can easily push the inner liner with your fingers and see that, yup, ODS truly allows the two shells to move independently of one another. Cool. As in neat. Because, no, this is not the coolest helmet in terms of ventilation. 6D claims otherwise, but ventilation is better on most of the other helmets in this review. The general fit is good- the helmet features a nice, large dial on its retention system and an effective four-position height adjustment. Kudos, as well, on the Fidlock magnetic buckle on the chinstraps, which snaps quickly and easily into place. This is a well thought out helmet. However, it is also noticeably heavy at 500 grams.
6D ATB-1T Full Review
• Innovative & unique slip-plane technology
• Magnetic buckle is very easy to operate with numb fingers
• Heavy
• The price tag
Giro Chronicle MIPS
The Chronicle MIPS is a new helmet from Giro. While it looks a whole lot like the Montaro, the fit is a bit different - the Chronicle sits a bit lower on your head than the Montaro. It also forgoes the Montaro’s integrated camera mount and goggle grippers. Why, then, did I include it here? Because it costs a hundred friggin’ bucks! Damn. And, yes, it also includes a MIPS layer. Double damn. Moreover, the fit is excellent and ventilation is very good. The Giro Feature used to be one of the go-to options for more affordable helmets, but the Chronicle is better on every front. While the harness adjustments are nice and indexed, my sole complaint with the Chronicle is that the adjuster dial on its Roc Loc 5 harness is tiny and consequently harder to adjust with cold, gloved fingers than the larger dials on the Troy Lee, 6D, Specialized, etc. Otherwise? Outstanding.
• Great balance of weight, features and price
• Smaller dial on fit system is harder to adjust while wearing gloves
Specialized Ambush
A bit of extra weight is generally what you have to accept if you are going to run one of these trail or “enduro” helmets. The Specialized Ambush essentially flips the bird at that notion. At 310 grams it is noticeably lighter than just about any helmet in this genre. The ventilation is also without equal. This is my absolute favorite helmet for warm weather riding. Specialized tucks the fit adjust dial into the back of the foam liner - it’s easy to operate and helps make their Mindset 360 retention system incredibly comfortable. There’s no dial digging into the back of your head with this lid (when you’re bald, you feel these things). Moreover, the fit is rock solid- no slipping about when the trail gets rowdy. If you’re a fan of running goggles, the Ambush is an excellent choice, as it offers the greatest range of visor adjustability (tilt) of any helmet here. The ambush is a lean, mean thing, which also means that there are no camera mounts and no slip plane-type devices. Whether or not that matters is up to you. Again, at this price, I’d prefer it if Specialized added some kind of extra concussion-reducing doohickey to this lid.
Ambush Full Review
• Lightest of the bunch
• Pairs well with goggles - plenty of visor adjustment
• Best fit adjustment system out there
• Excellent ventilation
• At this price it should feature MIPS or some other slip-plane technology
Troy Lee Designs A1 Drone
Troy Lee’s A1 offers one of the most comfortable fits of any trail-riding helmet. It sounds silly to say it, but the padding on the helmet has a lot do to with it. It’s just the right type of dense and plush. It’s also removable, so you can wash and de-funk it. The fit system works well - again, there’s a nice big dial to snug things up here. Downsides? The visor doesn’t offer a huge range of adjustment, and while it's anchored by nicely finished aluminum knobs, those little buggers have a tendency to back out. Ventilation is not great despite a whole lot of big vents. I’ve run the original A1 and another A1 Drone for a couple of years now and sweat dripping down in my eyes is more of a problem with this helmet than with others in warm conditions. On the upside, the A1 is a great choice for cooler weather. Weight is reasonable on the A1 and the price is good for such a nicely finished helmet. If you want MIPS, TLD now offers the A1 Vertigo MIPS for $215.
TLD A1 full review
• Most comfortable padding of the bunch
• Good cool-weather helmet
• Despite plenty of vents, ventilation suffers. Not a great choice in summer heat
• Small range of visor adjustment
POC Tectal Helmet
I found the POC Tectal one of the more comfortable fits on the market - a step up from the game-changing Trabec, to be sure. Ventilation is good. There are some breezier lids out there, such as the Specialized Ambush, but the Tectal is upper tier here as well. I’d have absolutely no reservations running it on very hot days. The Tectal's retention system offers nice indexed tweaks via a dial at the back, which is easy to adjust - even when you’re wearing full-finger gloves.
POC reinforces the EPS foam liner at key points in the Tectal with aramid fibers (the stuff in folding tire beads). If you’re willing to spend a few more bucks, POC’s upper-tier Tectal Race gets the aramid reinforcement spread throughout the entire EPS liner. POC also embedded a Recco reflector in the helmet (something you generally find on snowsports helmets). The reflector can help search and rescue workers in a helicopter find you if you are unlucky enough to ever have search and rescue workers looking for you.
What is missing here? There’s no MIPS or alternative slip-plane device that might help reduce rotational accelerations and, therein, reduce the likelihood of concussions. Admittedly, you might not care, but at this price, it feels like an oversight.
Tectal Full Review
Tectal Details
• Weight: 360 grams
• MSRP: $190 USD
• Weight: 360 grams
• MSRP: $190 USD
• Recco reflector helps search and rescue operators (in helicopters) pinpoint your location, should you get lost in the wilds.
• Good ventilation
• Nice build quality
• At this price it should feature MIPS or other slip-plane technology
There’s no shortage of good helmets out there. Consequently, you may find yourself wondering, “Why didn’t you include the ________?” [go ahead and fill in the blank here]. Well, the log in the picture above is only so long - I couldn’t fit them all on top of it. Or, to be less facetious, you have to draw the line somewhere. The six lids in this review are ones that I’ve used and found deserving of more attention. Each has its own merits.
If you’re aiming for maximum protection, the 6D is a compelling option. At this point, it’s impossible to say that 6D’s ODS system is more effective than MIPS at reducing the risk of concussion (see that brain bit, in this story's lead), but their unique system shows promise. If I didn’t give a damn about MIPS or slip planes, I’d go with the Specialized Ambush, wish feels like an XC helmet, but offers much more coverage.
The Bontrager Lithos isn’t cheap, but offers both cool features and MIPS at a reasonable price. The POC has the best overall fit and finish, but is a bit pricey given the lack of a slip plane device. The TLD is a solid and attractive choice for the money, but I’d like to see better airflow through the center of the helmet.... All of which leaves me staring at the Giro Chronicle.
The Bontrager Lithos isn’t cheap, but offers both cool features and MIPS at a reasonable price. The POC has the best overall fit and finish, but is a bit pricey given the lack of a slip plane device. The TLD is a solid and attractive choice for the money, but I’d like to see better airflow through the center of the helmet.... All of which leaves me staring at the Giro Chronicle.
Giro's new Chronicle MIPS helmet - for my money, it's the lid that brings together the best balance of features, fit and value.
Here’s the thing - every lightweight, half-shell bike helmet on the market is a one-time use product. In other words, you smack your helmet once and you toss it in the trash. Remember, the EPS liner is meant to crush - it doesn’t spring back into working shape again. It does not feature a resilient multi-impact liner (what you'd find, for instance, in a football helmet and some snowsports lids). Kali's upcoming MacDuff dirt-jump/street helmet is a multi-impact model, but as it stands, we mountain bikers live in a largely one-crash-and-it's-in-the-trash helmet reality. Well, I have a hard time paying more than a hundred bucks for any helmet that has to be binned after one wreck. The Chronicle is the right choice for me given my budget, but it also kicks ass in terms of fit, ventilation, and overall comfort. Oh, and it has MIPS. Given all that, the Chronicle is nigh unbeatable.
MENTIONS: @Specialized / @GiroSportDesign / @troyleedesigns
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edit: It's especially ironic that it's the featured ad at the moment as well.
PB has listened to their critics & started doing these "showdown" style reviews, even though it costs them a lot more time & resources(& they only get one article out of it, rather than 6 if they reviewed each helmet separately.)
The only reason I even spoke up is because it's a bit of an elephant in the room situation: the Bell might very well be one of the most successful helmets our sport has ever seen, & I spent a lot of the review wondering one specific question: how do these compare to the model I've been happily riding with for 3 years? Especially because I take Vernon's point about helmets being disposable to heart, & usually look for last years model on clearance rather than buy anything along the lines of the new hotness.
My serious take is pretty much that I'm not entirely sure MIPS does what it's claimed, so I'm waiting for some serious independent testing to see how it's claims stack up vs the marketing hype around it.
What does HELP to reduce injuries is good inner shell design. Hotspots provoke damadge. I have tested all the helmets in this review except for the most expensive one. They are all poorly designed, except for the tld a1 and the specialized. All the other helmets provide poor protection because the massive hotspots. Poor inner shell design. The bell stroker has a better fit than all these helmets.
Just try on some italian helemts like KASK REX if you need something that fits good and it is well built. Most of the helmets on this review, except the TLD, have weak rear adjustments that will not hold in a crash.
POC: bad shell design, weak rear adjustment, it only fits glasses with flat arms (like their own)
GIRO: very poor fit. Poor rear adjustment. Push the helment on your head. See hot spot. Try an italian helmet. Repeat. No hot spots.
BELL: same as giro but slightly better. The cheaper model, the STROKER is a better helmet. Does not fit sunglasses well.
SPECIALIZED: really dislike this company, but they know where to copy the good stuff. Otherwise is cheaply made.
TLD: the best in the group but way too hot.
BONTRAGER: poor strap placement, better fit than average.
RECAP: Hotspots greatly increase injury. An helmet with poor inner shell design will have hotspots. Most of these helmets have
huge hotspots. Get yourself a Kask Rex, it is another cathergory compare to all the helmets in this review.
Maybe you should have refrained from posting this article? It comes across as incomplete or biased, whether it was intentional or not. I think that many readers would have appreciated a review and comparison to these very popular helmets, Bell Super and 2R. Your logic on this matter seems odd either way.
Also the XPS is a great lid for those of us blessed with giant comedy heads like me. None of the enduro style lids fit me.
Appreciate the insights. Us regular folk never get to take that many styles of helmet onto trails.
The old 142 ring trees don't cut it anymore for helmet review photos. You gotta step up to 148 ring Boostrees.
What I think is far more important is the additional protection that ODS provides in low speed impacts that are at the concussion or sub-concussive level. Most EPS-foam only helmets need to be sufficiently firm to guard against skull fractures in higher speed impacts, but doing so reduces their ability to absorb lower force levels that can cause concussion or sub-concussive impacts. The ODS design has hourglass- shaped rubber dampers suspending two foam layers to reduce force transmission in low speed impacts while maintaining the ability to reduce the force of high speed impacts.
Here is a review of MIPS from the non-profit Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute which is 100% funded by consumers: www.bhsi.org/mips.htm
Of pretty much all the crashes I've had, from the lost front tooth to the fractured collarbone and snapped wrist, rotational forces have been taken care of by my hair (probably) and the chinstrap (definitely) My latest, spearing tree, resulted in mild concussion and a sore neck.
If there had been some kind of impact suppression system (e.g. Sorbothane or D3O) I think my brain would have lost a few less cells
None of these helmets really address low speed crashes that you might experience on the trail. These helmet will save your life and keep your skull from fracturing but won't be very soft at all in a typical low speed fail. 6D addresses low and high speed impacts via decoupling the shell AWAY from your skull. Definitely worth the money for the amount of engineering and thought put into it. Regarding the review, mine doesn't really feel that heavy and the ventilation has never been an issue even in the middle of summer here in NC. Love this helmet.
My point was more that marketing is slowly trying to push people into thinking that unless they shell out for MIPS or ODS they are increasing the risk of a concussion, the media has a responsibility to take this claim with a pinch of salt and look at it objectively, because the next thing you see will be MIPS becoming a requirement at races etc. BTW i know you covered this at the start and i still think its a really good article, wasnt a shot at you, more a shot at how the whole thing seems to be unfolding industry wide
"It ain't @vernonfelton's fault that there's no evidence either way on whether MIPS helps outside the lab on the trail"
But it IS his fault that at least twice he states that slip plane tech should be included given the price of the helmet - a clear if tacit acceptance of the hype around it...
Giro should hire some good helmet designers are their fit is among the worst.
Mostly
Is
Poor
Speculation
Pinkbike or greenbike?
Also, when did $200+ helmets become acceptable? Aren't you still supposed to replace these every three years because the foam hardens? Personally, I like my helmets to be $100s. That way I don't feed bad replacing the regularly.
No disrespect to all the websites and mags out there but most just say obviously we never crashed it but it fit well and looks cool. I've seen some tests on European web mags which do this but the manufacturer should supply this.
First company that does it with good results should sell a load more helmets, everyone thinks POC are the safest, prove it POC of beat there score any other manufacturer.
Result = We get safer helmets which we all want
A repost from my comments from the Leatt 6.0 helmet a few days back Again, 6 helmets tested but no data to say they are any safer even though they have MIPS tech in them. They look sweet! New Tech!!!!! Any safer??????????? Show us the numbers!!!!!! @vernonfelton
A standard is very difficult to get going in an industry with this many competitors. They will all want to pick the one test that they excel in.
I had to run skull caps or hand-bands to make it even get close to fitting, and even then it wasn't ideal. I later tried out the size down, and that was (of course) just too small for my head, so I moved on to an iXS Trail, which has been great.
Accelerometers are dirt-cheap (in terms of testing equipment, not in terms of pocket change), and rather thin and light these days. It would be relatively easy to construct a skullcap/beanie with a dozen or so accelerometers, hooked up to a recording device. Produce a few hundred of them, hand them out to riders to wear under their helmets, have them chronicle what kind of riding they do and what happened in each and every crash they had while they had the sensor beanie on their noggin. Do this for a few months, rotate through different demographics (downhillers at bike parks, all mountain riders, free riders, cross country riders, commuters). Then crunch numbers and find out what forces actually apply to their heads - straight on, rotational, oblique, what have you. Crunch the data, analyze what sorts of risks we're actually protecting against, then turn that into modern test standards.
The industry has every incentive to fund this stuff - it would make riding safer (so even non-helmet manufacturers would benefit), it would make helmets comparable (thus allowing for clearer marketing), and it would probably drive home the point to riders that they are at risk (thus driving sales of the new helmet types). Everybody wins - most of all us riders, who'll get to have fun on bikes at lower risk of brain injury.
Compared to what manufacturers spend on sometimes rather stupid and ineffective marketing, endless videos, trade show booths, and so forth - well, it seems like this could be a slam dunk. Just in case anyone in the industry asks your opinion on where they should prioritize their R&D money...
The Smith Forefront doesn't have as much coverage as the A1 but it breathes better and it's lighter plus the adjusting mechanism has finer adjustments but it would definitely lose in this comparison due to price; glad I picked one of the left over ones on sale!
Having previously worn the Fox Flux and the Poc Trabec I have personally found the M2 to be superior. Good colour range for the coordinating conscious and only £59.99 from Chain Reaction.
Sincerely,
A thirty-something DH racer and trail rider stealing KOM's from the groms
the one that fits - however, helmets are just too freaking expensive these days.
Not here in the civilised world...
It's FREE AT THE POINT OF USE though - that's the point.
I guess (and please take that guess as a real one) that a well made helmet is more protection without MIPS that one with that funky yellow liner to state it is having a MIPS
...just my two cents
Huge fan of your work.
Let's face it we are all 80% tarts and want to see if it looks cool
i´ve heard if you crash on you´re head you´ll die, or became a little wacko...
i know because i´ve already crash on my head!!
Using bushwacker mips and the fit is about 80% good
Thanks for the grown up intro and practical reviews on what is perhaps the most important subject you can cover
helmet and a MTB helmet?