Finding Your Fit: How to Choose the Right Mountain Bike Helmet
The one element intrinsically linked to the MTB practice, your helmet, could save your life in a bad fall. If it's well suited for your morphology and it's well-attached, it'll deform in the event of a fall to protect your skull and your face. Some Brands offers the full range of MTB helmets as Troy Lee Design, Bell or MET.
General principles
Depending on one's practice of the sport, different types of helmets are proposed to MTB bikers, from a "classic" MTB Helmets to a Dirt Jump helmet, as well as the Full Face Helmet for thrill-seekers. We also take note of the new hybrid helmets' arrival, whose design is close to an integral helmet but with a removable chin strap, which turns them into all-mountain helmets.
The helmets are primarily made of polystyrene and PVC, rigid but brittle materials allowing the helmet to be deformed during a fall in order to limit the risks of sequelae on your head.
The price range goes from €15 to €500 for the most demanding pilots.
Norms help to define a helmet's quality: CE EN 1078, CPSC et AS. The norm CE EN 1078 is obligatory in Europe and all of our helmets are certified.
A poorly-chosen helmet can prove less efficient, therefore, we're giving you a few pointers to make a great purchase.
MTB helmets adapted to different practices
Riders' expectations toward their helmets vary depending on their practice. Different types of helmets do not meet the same demands. They are more or less light, ventilated or rigid.
Classic Helmets
"Classic" MTB helmets are highly sought after for their incredible lightness and ventilation. They offer an efficient protection for the entire skull but they don't or hardly protect the face.
This type of helmet is particularly suited for entry-level practitioners as wells as cross-country amateurs.
All-Mountain Helmets
All-mountain helmets, which use the same base as "classic" helmets, are notoriously longer on the back of the head, therefore, they offer better protection for the neck.
They are slightly heavier while maintaining the same degree of ventilation. Therefore, they are often used on mountain roads.
Dirt Jump Helmets
Dirt Jump helmets are heavier and often less ventilated than classic MTB helmets.
More suited for street or skate-park use, bowl helmets guarantee greater security on the back of the skull without compromising its style, born from urban fashion. This type of helmet is greatly appreciated by all BMX-freestyle amateurs.
Full Face Helmets
Full Face Helmets boast the widest price range amongst all helmets. This is due to the difficulty to lower the weight of this type of very complete helmet; for instance, the Fox Proframe helmet.
Indeed, integral helmets are those who cover the most corporal surface on the pilot. They do more than protecting the cranial cavity: they also protect the entire face thanks to their special shape.The most expensive ones are also the lightest, made of more sophisticated materials derived from several years of research and from more costly materials, like carbon.
Hybrid helmets
Last innovation on the market, these helmets can change form on the single pression of a button. They go from an all-mountain helmet for flat-rolling terrains or climbing, to an integral helmet with the addition of a chin strap better suited for more aggressive downhills.
Hybrid helmets offer a perfect compromise for MTB enthusiasts in the mountains. Amongst riders' most popular references, there are the Giro Switchblade or the Bell Super 3R helmet.
MTB helmets at your size
The second most important element in choosing a helmet is size! It should neither be too large nor too tight. To that end, you'll have to measure your head size with a measuring tape about 2 cm above your eyebrows for the forehead, up to the bulging part on the back of the skull.
Do not hesitate to check out the guides on the most frequent sizes available on every helmet's file, so as to buy the one most suited for your morphology. Don't forget: if, when receiving the helmet, the latter doesn't entirely meet your expectations, you dispose of 14 days to return it to us.
"MIPS" technology
The MIPS system, which stands for "Multi-directional Impact Protection System", appeared lately in our MBT helmets. This technology, as the direct result of many years of study from the "Royal Institute of Technologie" and from the "Karolinska Institute" of Stockholm, will accompany the pilot's head movement during a shock, all the while storing the delivered energy.
The skull is better protected, and this technology is a breakthrough that fabricants will gradually adopt in the next few years.
