First Look at the Bell Helmets Super Air R MIPS
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- A while back, we caught up with the guys at Bell Helmets and took an exclusive look at their all-new Mountain Bike Helmet. The Super Air R MIPS is Bell Helmets latest offering of protection to the Biking world, with the innovative Flex spherical liner and removable chin bar, it's no question that the Super Air R is the latest and greatest in helmet technology. We had Bell Helmets Tim Piver take us through the technology in the new helmet and talk some details of the Super Air R Mips.
Cool. Ordered mine today. Getting it this Friday in matte black
Take note! There's only one helmet certified for downhill : Super DH helmet.
OK, early adopter here, and this is what I found.
I'm going from a 2016 Super 2R size large.
Weight: 2R 794gr, Air R 758gr. Weight savings of 36gr. This is without the camera mount on either helmet.
Headlock system, or whatever it's called these days. 2R you can adjust it up and down. I've got a big cranium so pulling it down before dialing it tight is necessary. Air R no up/down adjustment.
Chinbar: This is where things really suck. 2R had a nice rubber coating of every surface of the chin bar that was not covered by the cheek pads. Air R has a thin foam (you can see the little foam pellet pattern) on some of it, and raw sharp edge plastic on other parts, especially right in front of your mouth. A decent face plant and that sharp edge pattern will be cookie cuttered into your mouth/chin. And the foam is not soft at all. It basically feels like hard plastic, so compared to the pliant rubber of the 2R it's worrisome to say the least. Also, cheek pads. 2R they are larger back to front, so more of your cheek is covered towards the front. Also a bit more snug. Air R they're basically half the "length" from back to front, which is weird because if it were the same size as the 2R is would still not cover the next vent forward.
General construction of the Air R seems super flimsy cheap plastic without any attention to finish on the inside edges, certainly when compared to the 2R.
Fit: Air R fits fine, except the Headlock being fixed a bit high for me. Feels more airy mainly due to the smaller cheek pads. Overall a bit looser than 2R, and not because of the designed rotation of the inner/outer.
Now I do understand that the Air R has a totally different design with the rotational stuff and different padding for different level of hits. But it seems like a relatively minor hit has more potential to cut your face with the harsh chin bar issues over the 2R.
Chinbar removal, whatever. Still have to take it off to install, unless you have a mirror or are super duper coordinated. Sure, can take it off a bit more easily, but again, whatever. I actually ride basically all the time with the bar installed. Kind wouldn't mind an all mountain full face that's one piece, saving weight and adding more protection due to more robust bar.
This might get the Amazon return, unless someone can convince me otherwise?
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Yeah, I just received a Super Air R and the minimal cheek padding has me a bit reluctant to keep it. I have a wide face and on most every helmet (size M), the cheek pads are snug. On the Super Air R, however, I barely feel them on my cheeks and they don't extend far enough towards the front of your face. As a result, the helmet moves around my head way too much. With nothing to prevent or pad its movement, I feel like a hard face-first crash would result in the inside of the chin bar slamming straight into my jaw.
It's quite a shame, as I really like the aesthetics of this helmet, but the inadequate cheek padding makes me question how useful the chin bar would be in preventing injury to the face.
PS - I'm still not sold on this MIPS stuff either. I've read that rather than have your helmet freely rotating on impact, it's better for it to stay firmly planted to your head and have the impact slide/skip off.
I got the large according to website had to send it back as was way to loose due to the fact the cheek pads didn't touch my face. Got the medium and it fits perfect except the chin guard is right on my chin about 1cm away. Lightly face-palm the chin guard and that guard hits my chin and can feel it wanting to cut into it. I don't have an unusual head or anything but I'm super disappointed so sending this one back as well. Probably look at Met Parachute MCR PR maybe get a solid full face like TLD Stage . Not sure why the chin Guard is so tight on the chin or they don't supply a range of extra pads to customise the fit.
I ended up getting a Stage and I love it. Looks a bit big from the outside, but I’ll take the Bobblehead look over poor fit and potential jaw chopping.
@@Chuckolicious yeah it's either the TLD Stage Fox Proframe or maybe the Met Parachute MCR whichooks really good
@@Galvoflysoz I've had the Proframe for park riding for a few years. Love that too, but a bit too heavy for XC, IMHO. The blow-up love doll look of the front bar vent is a source of never ending jokes too. :-D
Can you recommend for 80-85 km/h speed impacts?
No, seriously don't use it for that. The chin bar is cheap, light plastic and will break after a fall. Use this helmet only if you want *slightly* more protection than an open face helmet.
These Bell helmets are CrackerJack quality compared with the 6D ATB 1T EVO Trail Mtn bike helmet which is the “Gold Standard” of mitigating concussive Type forces to the brain, in my humble opinion.
My little 7 yo baby girl isn’t allowed to even ride around the driveway on her bicycle without her 6D ATB 1T bicycle helmet.
Way more people ride bell helmets than 6d and they are far from “crackerjack” quality. Your just biased to 6d
I want a bell moto 2 helmet, anyone got one for sale?