The Best Mountain Bike Helmets, Trail Tested

Call me emotional, but I believe in attaching sentimental value to your gear — especially the crucial items. When I’m sailing, I can’t wait to put on my life jacket. And I’m similarly stoked to strap on my helmet for a day of riding. If you don’t love your safety gear, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, and possibly injury.

When your full-face helmet feels claustrophobic and hot, you’re more likely to stick with a half shell and sacrifice cranial protection. You might think you look cooler, but your friends hauling your bike to the ER later won’t agree; I can promise you that. So I enlisted multiple testers to try out the best mountain bike helmets that you’ll actually want to wear, focusing on comfort and style.

How We Tested the Best Mountain Bike Helmets

Safety

Mountain Bike Helmet Certifications

The most important aspect of your helmet is safety. That’s why all of the best mountain bike helmets on this list are certified by the third party governing bodies that test these sorts of things. The American CPSC and European EN1078 certs are mandatory for all bike helmets sold in their prospective countries, but thanks to worldwide manufacturing and distribution, most helmets have both. 

ASTM F1952-15 is an American standard that involves more intense testing, and a lower test spot on the helmet, relevant to downhill biking. Helmets with this certification don’t have to have chin bars, but if they do the bar must also pass the test. There is also a new Dutch standard for e-bikes to accommodate for greater speeds: NTA8776. Find what certs each helmet has in the key features section. 

Mips

While all of those standards are tested using straightforward impacts, when you fall at an angle, the rotation of your head can cause injury to your brain. Mips, and other rotational impact protection technologies, allow part of your helmet to move with your head to mitigate the amount of force on your noggin. You can see the Mips technology in your helmet as a cage that moves slightly.

This tech is so important because if you crash the force required to sustain rotational injuries is much less than a direct impact. All of the helmets on this list incorporate Mips and I strongly suggest you seek out helmets with this kind of protection.

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Foam

Most helmets are only good for one significant crash because they are made of EPS foam. EPS can compact in a gnarly hit and no longer offers the same protection. That’s why some companies have crash replacement policies where you can provide proof of your crash and receive a discount on your next helmet, noted for each review. Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) foam has an elastic quality that can rebound and absorb multiple impacts, but even this material has its limits. 

Comfort

Paramount to you actually wearing your helmet is how comfortable it is. If you hate wearing your helmet, you’re more likely to forgo wearing it on a “super chill ride” or “just around town.” And that’s when accidents can happen. We pedaled up and rode downhill in all of these helmets to make sure they fit comfortably and ventilate well so you’re stoked to put it on every time.

Style

Let’s face it, if your helmet is dorky, you won’t want to wear it. So I factored style into each review, and included photos of every helmet on an actual person. If you ask me, wearing a helmet is sexy.

Best Mountain Bike Helmets: Reviews & Recommendations

Best for Beginners: Smith Payroll Mips Aleck Crash Sensor

Key Features

• Certifications: CPSC, CE EN 1078, AS/NZS 2063, NTA8776 (e-bike)
• Weight: 400 grams
• VaporFit dial adjustment
• Mips Brain Protection System
• Crash replacement discount

I’ve been wearing the Smith’s Payroll all season, and I love the fit. It’s comfortable and breathable with a sick topographical pattern on the lower half. That colorway is featured on all Smith helmets that incorporate an Aleck crash sensor. If you crash, the sensor will alert whoever you want it to: nearby Aleck app users, a personal contact, or emergency services (or all of the above).

The idea of having another item to charge makes my head spin, but it’s an intriguing idea. When you’re riding downhill, it might be a minute before your party realizes you aren’t with them anymore, and take even longer for them to work their way back to where you are. This gives your friends the fastest possible notification that something’s wrong. Aleck claims it takes very minimal cell service to send a message — less than it takes to send a Whatsapp message.

The sensor feature is nice for beginners, though your personal contacts will have to download the Aleck app to receive alerts. The Payroll is available without the sensor, and it’s a great helmet wether you use it or not. The top of my helmet has some minor scratching on it, a result of normal wear and tear biking past branches and tumbling a few times. I haven’t had a real crash in it, but I have bailed off a climb I wasn’t cleaning into a pile of tumbleweeds. No pokey branches slid through the vents, so I’d call that a win.

Best Trail: Giro Manifest Spherical Helmet

Key Features

• Certifications: CPSC, CE EN1078
• Weight: 340 grams
• Mips Spherical
• Adjustable visor

If you’re doing a lot of pedaling, but don’t want to skimp on protection, the Manifest is the answer. This mountain bike helmet is comfortable for the long haul, without compromising on safety features. The Manifest has a deep cut, dual density foam, and Mips Spherical technology in a comfortable and lightweight package. The Spherical Mips resides in the rotating outer lining instead of the typical inner cage. Testers love how comfortable and well-ventilated it is. 

This is the best helmet for trail riding with a solid amount of protection for any techy lines you encounter. It is expensive, but worth it if you’re wearing it for hundreds of miles. If you’re an occasional biker, the price per use might not net out.

Best Full-Face: Giro Coalition Spherical Helmet

Key Features

• Certifications: CPSC, CE EN1078, AS/NZS, NTA (e-bike), ASTM-1952 (downhill), ASTM-2032 (BMX)
• Weight: 800 grams
• Mips Spherical
• Includes 25mm and 30mm cheek and neck pads
• Crash replacement discount

If you hate caging your head in an obstructive full face, you’re going to love the Giro Coalition. When I first put it on I thought, “I could wear this every ride.” It’s so comfortable with padding on the back of the neck, cheeks, and chin strap. The cheek pads were annoying to install with divots you slide small pegs into instead of the quick and easy snaps on the Proframe, but I forgot all about it once I fit it snugly on my head.

The visor is adjustable, but even on its lowest setting it didn’t obstruct my field of vision. The entire helmet is extremely lightweight for comfortable climbs. The chinbar utilizes a patent pending Halo System, a specially engineered material for flex and rigidity, and rubber-like bushings integrated into EPS foam to absorb and disperse shock. I’ve heard horror stories of chinbars breaking off in dramatic crashes, and I’d like mine to stay intact, thanks.

Giro is also using a ball-in-socket Mips design called Spherical. It allows your entire inner lining to rotate in the event of a crash. Overall, I don’t think anyone could go wrong with this safety-rich, ultra comfortable, and incredibly stylish full face.

Read Next: Best Mountain Bike Shoes

Sexiest Half-Shell: Poc Kortal Race Mips

Key Features

• Certifications: CPSC, CE-EN1078, AS/NZ2063, NTA 8776 (e-bike)
• Weight: 407 grams
• Recco
• Boa adjustability

Some say iconic, same say pretentious, but Poc helmets are distinguishable on trail as top of the line melon protectors. The Kortal Race Mips is a full-coverage half shell with generous ventilation and Boa adjustability. The breakaway visor is designed to pop off should you take a real crash so it doesn’t add force to a rotational impact. Speaking of falling at an angle, this helmet incorporates Mips technology, but some Poc helmets come in Mips and no Mips options, so be sure yours has it before ordering.

Some sweet perks of this helmet are an additional e-bike safety certification and Recco. Search and rescue operations have Recco detectors that can pick up on the reflector in your gear in case of an emergency. You can also upload your medical information to better assist first responders with the twICEme NFC Medical ID chip in this helmet. Using their smartphone someone can access your information even if you can’t communicate. All these bells and whistles, plus the iconic design make the Kortal Race Mips the most expensive half-shell on this list, but not by much. 

Read Next: Best Fat Tire E-Bikes

Sexiest Full-Face: Fox Proframe RS Helmet

Key Features

• Certifications: CPSC, EN 1078, AS/NZ 2063, ASTM F1952 (downhill), ASTM F2032 (BMX)
• Weight: 820 grams 
• Boa adjustability
• Mips Integra Split low friction layer
• Includes 20/30mm and 30/40mm cheek pads

Talk about helmet porn: the ProFrame has long been a full-face favorite and I can see why. The sleek black moto design pops with a blaze of hot pink on the woman’s small model we tested. It’s downhill and BMX certified. The BMX testing covers a larger portion of the head. There’s a Boa adjustable cradle inside to get the perfect fit, and two sizes of cheek pads.

This helmet fit my tester with a slimmer face shape best. While my head fit inside just fine, even the skinniest cheek pads gave me a fish face, and I didn’t like how much of the visor and chinbar obstructed my view. The simple snaps at least make the cheek pads easy to switch out. One cool feature is the ability to mount a GoPro underneath your visor for the best POV footage.

Read Next: Best Action Cameras 

How to Choose the Best Mountain Bike Helmet

Ventilation 

The holes in the best mountain bike helmets are designed to ventilate your head when you’re working up a sweat. But different brands of helmets can fog up your glasses or goggles if they’re not compatible. While using the same brand of eyewear as your helmet solves this problem, you can still mix and match brands, but it’s worth trying on your favorite glasses or googles with your new helmet, before committing.

Rotational Impact Protection

While I already covered Mips technology in the How We Tested section, it’s worth noting again how important rotational impact protection is. It’s my recommendation to always choose a mountain bike helmet with Mips incorporated. All of the helmets on this list have it.

Weight

You want to be both comfortable and protected in your helmet, so weight matters. And it typically correlates with the type of biking you’re doing. A downhill specific helmet will obviously weigh more because it’s providing more protection lower on the head and with the chin bar, plus there isn’t much pedaling in downhill biking. Enduro full-face helmets will have comparable coverage, but weigh less. While there aren’t any open-face helmets on this list, this one from Giro is a tester favorite that offers the extended coverage of a full-face, without the chinbar.  

Read Next: Best Mountain Bikes

FAQs

Final Thoughts on the Best Mountain Bike Helmets

Mountain bike helmets come pre-tested for safety, but finding one you’re excited to wear relies on factors like ventilation, padding, and fit. After collaborating with multiple testers to pedal and ride in these helmets, I hope you find your new favorite head protection on this list: 

 

The Best Deals on Outdoor Gear Gifts

After field-testing the best gear all year long, we know exactly what should be on your shopping list. Check out the top performing outdoors products and the best deals available.