I hated the road Kask I had. Took an inordinate of time to get on my head every damn time. I’ve blocked out my experience with it.
For trail helmet I’m intrigued by Kali’s offerings… and they have an amazing crash replacement program (you get a new helmet for free).
I have a couple Kalis but they don’t fit me quite right, despite being next to free. The kask feels very right on my noggin.
Ah so you’re familiar. I had not really noticed them until this week. I’d say go for what fits well but also keep in mind the new tech and best practices out there.
Two big things I noticed while researching helmets all week is spherical MIPS (or even better, the Leatt or Kali or 100% version of it) and super light/breathable helmets with a chin bar. If I were buying a trail helmet right now I’d be getting something with a chin bar.
I dunno about removable chin bars, If I’m going to the gravity park or dirt jumps I’ll get a full face.
Not removable. There are a few helmets, tld stage, ixs trigger ff, new kali (though this one doesn’t have a DH rating like the other two) which are about 600 grams and have a permanent bar.
But that isn’t what you asked at all! Sorry just need to unload this helmet research somewhere.
Information is good. I like that there’s good full face trail helmets out there and thank you for finding them.
Today I compared the new Lazer G1 model against one of its predecessors the Helium model and discovered they dropped a bunch of weight in interesting places.
Notably:
Non adjustable webbing intersection below the earlobe.
Rear head hair catch basket is slimmed
No hard shell plastic on the bottom (exposed foam)
New rollsys mechanism.
Less surface area?
Made plastic area on front more continuous whereas old one had points that peeled back and required clear RTV application
Red thing is a rice cooker nice try though
red thing appears to be a star wars helmet
I often feel like a Star Wars Scout Trooper while wearing my eBike helmet more-so than the red one
Also helps that the planetary hub motor in my cargo bike sounds like a speeder bike.
Very much appreciate the real world verification of these weights. I’m a weight weenie anyway but found that hamlet weight became a significant issue on longer brevets as my neck muscles will give out before my legs so then you are playing the glance up / ride blind game and start thinking about installing tiny mirrors on your bars or one of those toy periscopes so you can see where you’re going without lifting your head.
Why does that helmet weigh 700g?
Probably all the comfort bits combined with being designed to pass more certification tests than a run of the mill bike helmet.
There is also a light with a rechargable lithium ion battery inside which is diffused across large enclosed area.
Pretty much every bell and whistle they could shove in it:
Feels really heavy on the head but I love wearing it on normal commute bike during the cold/dark winter rainstorms.
speaking of helmet mounted whistles:
That’s like my dream commuter helmet if it weighed 400g less. My Kali visor helmet weighs like 420g and it kills my neck after a while. Also, kali helmets don’t really fit my head well and Giro helmets always fit me great.
What’s good for an oval head?
Just got a new Bontrager and it’s just too damn round, way too much side-side play. Bummer.
My older Scott hamlet fits pretty good, but I wish it were 1/2 size bigger so I could wear it more comfy with cycling caps.
Edit: Also, the Bonty’s rear adjustment system and skull grabber pieces sit too low down the back of my head. When leaned forward like on a road bike and looking up normally, it hits the flesh on the back of my neck and forces it up off my head a bit and/or down lower over my brow. Obvs much worse with any winter thick collated sweater too.
I have an oval head and I buy Mavic helmets on super sale from competitive cyclist
FWIW these are adjustable on a lot of their helmets and they don’t do a good job of showing it. I thought my newest helmet fit very poorly until I moved the skull grabber on accident.
Doesn’t help the head shape issue though
