The Louis Garneau Edge mountain bike helmet is a true XC-style brain bucket that is comfortable, functional, and stylish – well, at least as stylish as a vented helmet can be. Time to upgrade your lid? Read on to see if this is the helmet for you.
Comfort
Pretty much every mountain bike helmet I’ve owned features a nylon chin strap similar to the straps you’d find on a kid’s school backpack. The straps are typically stiff with sharp edges and have a bit of a rough texture to them which isn’t a good choice against your face. Fortunately the Edge helmet features soft, pliable straps that you really have to feel to appreciate. During five-hour rides the straps never irritated my neck even with dry, salty sweat deposits on my face.
The interior padding is equally comfortable and appears to have a similar soft, micro-fiber surface as well. The pads are strategically placed inside the helmet to eliminate pressure points and are velcro-ed in place so you can easily adjust or remove them for cleaning. Unlike some lower priced helmets, the Edge padding isn’t overly thick which a) fits the helmet closer to your head and b) doesn’t absorb gallons of sweat.
Top: soft chin straps and padding. Bottom: Spider Lock.
Adjusting the fit of the helmet is a cinch (no pun intended). Louis Garneau uses a system called Spider Lock in the back of the helmet for a snug and comfortable fit using a “rack and pinion” mechanism. To put it simply, the Spider Lock is a dial you can turn to tighten or loosen the helmet around your head and it works great. On long rides the Spider Lock held tight and kept the helmet stable. Getting a proper fit really starts with selecting the right helmet size and the Edge is available in small, medium, and large. My head size was right between medium and large so I selected a medium which ended up fitting me well.
The Edge is also a fairly lightweight helmet – mine tips the scale at 11.0 ounces, almost a full ounce lighter than my last helmet. Louis Garneau talks about a lot of the technology that went into making this helmet strong yet lightweight so I won’t bore you with the details. The bottom line: large vents cut down on weight while keeping you cool on hot rides.
Protection
All helmets sold in the US must meet certain safety standards and obviously the Edge is designed to protect your head in an accident. And while I’m not willing to be a crash test dummy for the purposes of this review, I do appreciate the slightly elongated shell at the back of this helmet compared to my previous lid. Any additional coverage is a plus in my book, especially when it doesn’t come at the expense of comfort or weight.
One of the things that makes mountain bike helmets different from plain old road helmets is the addition of a visor and the Edge has a nifty system for securing the visor to the helmet. I usually don’t bother removing my visor when I hop onto the road bike but on a recent ride I realized why roadies don’t like visors: they block your vision. So from now on, I’ll be popping my visor off before hitting the road. My one gripe about this particular helmet / visor combo is the visor partially blocks some of the front vents so if you’re heading out for a hot ride you may want to ditch the visor and put on some sunglasses instead.
Stylin’ and Profilin’
First things first: everyone looks ridiculous wearing a bike helmet. However, some helmets look better than others and in general, the low-profile helmets that fit snugly on your head tend to be the most flattering (not to mention the added safety of a closer fit). I found the Edge to fit slightly lower than most helmets thanks to a scooped design and slim padding. I think you’ll agree I look AMAZING wearing mine. 🙂
The Edge is offered in 3 neutral color choices: white, gray, and red/black (red is pretty much a safe/neutral color when it comes to bikes these days). Like I said, everyone looks ridiculous wearing a helmet so don’t call attention to yours by painting it orange.
No one likes shopping for a new mountain bike helmet and if you’re like me you’ve probably been putting this off for a while. So make it easy on yourself and try the Edge from Louis Garneau – you’ll find it’s a pretty solid, no-fuss helmet that’s comfortable enough to wear all day long.
Thanks to Louis Garneau for providing the Edge helmet for review.
7 Comments
Feb 24, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgOUgrOHuFc
Feb 25, 2012
Feb 24, 2012
This looks like a nice helmet - and I'm glad some manufacturers are getting their good stuff down to a more reasonable price.
Cheers
Barry
Feb 24, 2012
Feb 24, 2012
Switchbacks are a whole different issue and they are my nemesis. One of the other bloggers can enlighten me on how to do them!
Feb 24, 2012
How much does this helmet cost?
I've used the Giro Xen forever, and they have saved my noggin twice, but I am itching for something new. I've been looking at the Giant Realm, but this looks pretty interesting too, especially the soft straps and low volume internal padding.
Feb 24, 2012