TECH CHECK
ENDURA MTB HELMET RANGE
BIKE HELMETS WITH KOROYD AND MIPS SAFETY TECHNOLOGY
SPONSORED CONTENT
Since 1993, Scottish brand Endura has been producing functional and durable riding apparel with a “disruptive innovation” mindset. With their expansion of products, Endura can literally cover mountain bikers from head to toe with protection and apparel, including a range of MTB helmets at various price points for different disciplines. Endura’s helmet offering has been growing the last couple years, working together with Koroyd and Mips to obtain the best protection for your head on a number of their models. The great news is they’ve just gone through the safety certification processes to allow their helmets to be sold to the North American market. From their HummVee entry-level trail lid to the MT500 with a full complement of Koroyd and MIPS to deliver the ultimate in head protection, let us talk you through the ins and outs of the Endura mountain bike helmet lineup.
Editor’s Note: Tech Check Features are made with the help of partnering brands to share the latest news and technology about products. These are not our official reviews as we don’t have enough time in the products to have thoroughly vetted them for recommendation. We look forward to putting a lot more miles in these products and will be reporting back with our honest and objective input in the near future.
Seeking out to offer safe mountain bike helmets, Endura employed the services of not one, but two protection partners to add technologies that should help increase the protection and safety of your head in a crash.
KOROYD
First up is Koroyd, a material that was engineered to significantly improve energy absorption and hence helmet safety. Rather than relying solely on the typical EPS foam that is featured on most mountain bike helmets, Koroyd instead uses welded tubes which crumple on impact in an instant and consistent manner, absorbing impact energy efficiently in the process. While a standard EPS foam will stiffen up excessively once it compresses around 60%, Koroyd keeps on absorbing energy effectively up to 78% compression. By replacing EPS with Koroyd, the overall weight can be reduced and the ventilation improved in addition to the safety benefits.
MIPS
By now, MIPS surely needs no introduction to the mountain bike world, at least in the premium space, having been featured increasingly in helmets over the last ten years. To sum it up briefly, MIPS is designed to reduce the rotational motion of the brain during a crash and achieves this by adding a slip plane liner between the head and the helmet that’s designed to allow 10 to 15mm of rotation. Given that it’s been developed to reduce the likelihood of a harmful brain injury, it’s a system we try to make sure we have in all our helmets, or at least a similar alternative.
MT500 MIPS
The MT500 helmet is the flagship offering in the Endura range, packing the combination of a full Koroyd core and the MIPS liner with an integrated fit system. The combination of these two technologies makes the MT500 helmet safer than ever, with the ventilation boosted by large vents that are made possible thanks to Koroyd.
As the flagship helmet in their range, the MT500 is appropriately feature-packed. The visor is adjustable with a wide range and goes up high enough to let you stow goggles underneath or use the sunglasses dock in the front vents. The micro adjust fit system is integrated into the rear of the MIPS system to give the most secure fit. In the back there’s a gripper for a goggle strap, and the top has a clip-on accessory mount for a camera or a light. Finally, the padding is fully removable, with fast wicking and quick drying properties.
MSRP: $239.99/ £179.99
SINGLETRACK MIPS
The Singletrack MIPS helmet is designed to offer most of the protection and features of the MT500, but at a more accessible price point. The Singletrack Mips still features Koroyd, but it’s only added to the high impact areas around the sides of the head, while the more cost-effective EPS is used for the rest of the helmet. As you may have guessed from the name, there’s still a MIPS system in there to give multi directional impact protection.
There’s a dial fit system separate to the MIPS liner to tune the fit, with an adjustable cradle to tailor it to the back of your head. Similar to the MT500, there is an adjustable visor; large vents including an air intake zone at the top; fast wicking removable padding, and a gripper at the back for a goggle strap.
MSRP: $169.99 / £114.99
HUMMVEE PLUS MIPS
The Hummvee Plus MIPS helmet is designed to be a wallet-friendly all-rounder, suitable for mountain biking but styled so it’s not out of place in the city. There’s no Koroyd option, but there’s a MIPS offering to help against angled impacts to the head. As with the MT500 and Singletrack helmets, the Hummvee plus has a removable adjustable visor; large vents to keep your head cool; a micro-adjust fit system that can be moved up and down between different anchor points; and the fast-wicking removable padding system.
MSRP: $119.99/ £84.99
LOOKING FOR MORE?
This has just been an overview of some of the tech inside a few of the key models in the Endura range, but there are many more helmets in their lineup from non-MIPS equipped mountain bike helmets and full face enduro lids, through to dirt jump and road models for life off the mountain. Endura has a helmet replacement program where if you have a crash and damage your Endura helmet, they will offer a replacement for half off the manufacturer price of a replacement.
Now that they’ve got CSPC certification you can expect to see a whole lot more Endura helmets popping up across North America, and from what we’ve experienced so far we think this is a good thing.
THE WOLF’S FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Robert spent good time in the MT500 helmet when it was first released last year and found it to be very comfortable and secure with some nice features in there. The rest of the crew found it to have a nice average fit that didn’t give any pressure points, with the thick padding giving some nice cushion. We’d prefer to see a Fidlock buckle on there at this price point, but the standard closure still does a fine job.
We’ve yet to spend extensive time in the other models to get some firm opinions, but having all tried them on it feels like the Singletrack MIPS carries most of that same comfort as the MT500, if not quite the same level of cushion on the head. The Hummvee Plus has a different fit, which resulted in Drew feeling some pressure hot spots on his temple and feedback that it felt a bit more ovalized in shape, than the MT500. Others on the team were okay, but as with all protective gear it’s important to try them on to ensure you get a good fit. Other than that, for the price point it seems like a nice quality helmet.
Stand by for some long-term reviews in the coming months, but for now we’d say they all seem like solid options in their price points, and it’s great to see Endura pushing safety with the inclusion of Koroyd and MIPS.
To learn more and see all the color and model offerings, visit endurasport.com
