Caberg Flip-up Helmet review

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Caberg Flip-up Helmet review

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So I've been using 2 helmets for a while. A Shoei full-face, and an old open-face. Fine for day trips from home, choose the one for the job - are we blasting down the motorway or playing off-road. But I really want a 'convertible'. Away from base, when I'm touring, I want a full-face for the Autobahn, and open-face for playtime.

Hey, I can't be the only one, surely every biker needs the same solution. Helmet manufacturers must have cottoned on to this. Won't be a problem.

Oh Yeah ! Maybe I am the only one. After a succession of "No, sir", "Sorry, sir", "yes, I see what you mean, but no, sir", I think I _am_ the only one.

So I looked at some flip-ups - I tried a Roof Boxer. Its a flip-up, but the 'flip' bit goes all the way round to the back of your head. Tried one - asked the man if it was removeable. No. Can't I just un-attach it? No. Apparently the flip mechanism attaches the visor, or something.

The question was academic anyway, because it didn't fit me. My chin pressed hard against the chinpiece when closed. I'd have bought it - the flip bit isn't too heavy, I could live with it rotated to the back when I want 'open', I could remove the flip and visor and use shades - but it just didn't fit my head. Bummer.


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The only thing I could find that fits my head and does what I want is a Caberg Justissimo. (Apparently the earlier model J1 has similar features).

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Its a flip-up. It fits my chin, just. It has a clever hidden extra visor that flips down like a fighter pilot. Salesman assures me the chinpiece comes off in a couple of minutes with a 10p piece. So £130 lighter (about USD200), I have one.

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Is it what I wanted ?

In a word, No. In another word, maybe.

The chinpiece / flip-up does come off, leaving quite a neat open-face with visor. But it takes 5 minutes, you need to practice, and there's lots of fiddly bits to lose. You wouldn't want to do it by the side of the road.

If you can plan your day's riding, and decide in the morning which configuration you like, it may be workeable. We'll try this on a trip to the Alps soon. But its not the easy quick-stop-in-a-layby job we were hoping for.



OK, but is it a nice helmet anyway ?

Yes. Its not an expensive helmet, and it doesn't have the high quality feel of a much more expensive helmet. But for what it costs, its good.

There's a couple of vents, it doesn't seem to mist up much. The visor 'clicks' up and closed cleanly. Visibility is good to the sides. Construction is good and tidy, foam and padding feels nice. It has the Gold sticker saying it has top safety spec. So yes, its a fair enough helmet.

It has a seat-belt type chinstrap. Maybe its me, but I don't like those buckle, seat-belt type fastenings. D-rings are fiddly, but you know where you are with them, and they won't break. If I had to pick one fault with this Caberg, its the buckle. It feels flimsy, and it doesn't open cleanly. Couple times now, I've been tugging and cursing and thinking its jammed. I've learned now how to jiggle it so it lets go when it snags - but I shouldn't need to do this on a brand new helmet!



The fighter-pilot flip-down visor.

Its one of the first things you notice when you pick up this helmet in the shop. There's a wee lever on the side, and a smoked visor that drops down from inside the helmet shell like a fighter pilot visor. Its inside, and additional to, the normal clear visor.

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I like the idea, and it does work well on sunny days as an addition to the clear visor. After a few tries, you can find the lever easily on the move with a gloved hand, and flip it down and up at will - going through tunnels, passing between showers and sunshine. Its a much more convenient solution than stopping to put on and take off sunglasses.

But. And its a big but. It depends on the shape of your head. This site Editor doesn't have a particularly odd-shaped head, and his eyes are configured one each side in the normal place. But the smoked visor's lower edge sits irritatingly 2/3rd of the way down the field of vision. Just in view enough to be irritating. It still blocks the sun - the sun being in the upper part of your field of vision, naturally, but it is quite distracting.

Maybe in time, you get used to it and stop noticing. In time, any helmet's padding will 'ease' and the helmet will sit lower.

And then the other problem may get worse, or better, I don't know. It hits your glasses. Only a problem if you wear specs, but many of us do. The lower edge catches the bottom edge of spectacles. (If you have a large nose, you may also have issues. Not with your nose, stupid, with the visor hitting it.)

That's with a fairly 'normal' pair of spectacles. And that, I think, is my whole point. This is not a bad helmet. In fact, its a nice helmet. But before you buy one:
  • try it with your glasses on
    try it outside in bright daylight and see where the fighter-pilot visor cuts your field of vision
If it passes those tests, it suits you, buy it, for the money its a nice helmet.



What have we learned ?

Any helmet has to fit your head. Duh, yeah. But that doesn't mean just the size, it means all its aspects.

For any helmet - try it on, try it on with your spectacles, shake your head to see if it cuts your lip, can you see sideways out of the aperture, does the buckle strap cut your throat, does the flip-up take your nose off.

Buying a helmet depends on the shape of your head, not just the size of your head.



And personally, what have I learned ?

I've learned that I like a flip-up more than I thought I would.

I've learned you want to put it on 'flipped-up'. Its much easier to get on, and it goes on over your glasses that way. Then you walk out to the shed, drag out the bike, get on, fire it up, ride off - then flip-down. That way you don't mist up the visor and you can see the shed doors better. And of course you can pay in petrol stations, buy your cigarettes in the shop, etc without having to take your helmet off and carry it under your arm (- and drop it on the floor, as I did in the bank the other day........)

And I'm still looking for an easy side-of-the-road-doable convertible helmet. Suggestions on an email please.


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6 months later - Its all very well a helmet being nice when its new, .....

Its done a good few thousand miles now, half of it via the Alps to the Med and back. The rest running about locally. Still liking this helmet. I have noticed it is quite big, bigger than my old pudding-basin anyway. Which is fine, I guess that means the padding is deep. I do find that I still grab my old open-face when I'm just nipping round the corner. Any further though, and its the Caberg.

I did a bit of a mod. The padding at the forehead didn't ease as much as I hoped, so I pulled back the lining and 'relieved' the foam a bit with the back of a big spoon. Only a couple millimetres, but it no longer digs in to my forehead, and sits much more snug. This has also effectively dropped the bottom edge of the flip-down smoked visor below my field of vision - which is good.

The visor isn't showing any scratches, the flip-up mechanism still works perfectly, the strap buckle is fine (though I still prefer D-rings).

The verdict 6 months down the road - For a reasonably-priced helmet, its a good buy.


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Postscript :: I got an email from someone saying they had washed theirs, and the clear visor had got stuck the the sealing strip at the top. Caberg had been un-helpful when they contacted them. I don't know what they used as a detergent, and I don't know if this is an indication of Caberg's usual response, but...Be careful what you wash it with, make sure you get all soap residue rinsed off, and dry it with the visor open
--
Mike
[url=http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/]motorcycle co uk[/url]

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