Erin Trail

Initial Impressions

The Smith Mainline MIPS Helmet is lightweight and comfortable. Easy to take off and put on.  Secure fit without squishing my head too much.

Smith Mainline MIPS Helmet Detailed Review

This is the 2^nd full face MTB helmet that I’ve worn.  My first one (a different, undisclosed brand) was ok… but just ok.  It was really uncomfortable to take on and off, and after a half day of riding, my ear and upper jaw just felt squished and uncomfortable.  I know that Smith helmets fit me well and I was wanting to see if the Mainline was a better and more comfortable helmet for me.

About me:  I have a small face and head circumference.  I have spent six days this summer at MTB parks, riding technical downhill trails.  I prefer full face helmets for bike park (and when I’m riding other very technical trails) because I like to protect my teeth and face. I also have a number of ear piercings (helix and cartilage), which doesn’t make donning and doffing a tight helmet feel great.  Some of the challenges with wearing full face helmets is that they can be hot, they can be hard/uncomfortable to put on and to take off, and eating/drinking with the jaw guard can be awkward. 

This gear test consisted of 2 days of downhill park riding at Snowmass, approximately 6 hours/day of riding. Temperatures were in the mid-70s and it was full sun. I rode a combination of flowy berm trails and technical downhill trails during this test.

Helmet Fit

I got a small size helmet to review.  Upon unboxing, I noticed that there wasn’t a dial adjuster at the back of the helmet for fit adjustments.  Instead of a dial for fit adjustment, Smith includes different thickness of helmet pads.  For my first day, I used the stock pads, which fit ok, but I felt like my cheeks were a bit chimpmunky (aka squished) and I used the thinner set of cheekpads for my second day. 

The pads pop out and then pop back in.  The pads are *not* easy to pop back in.  I had to get my husband to do it, and even then, we could only get one of the two pads fully secured. One pad just had one contact point that refused to pop back into the helmet – it was fine for riding that day, but I need to probably use some tools to get it to fully pop back into place.  Other helmets use Velcro to secure the pads.  I understand the why behind Smith’s pad system, but it shouldn’t take 2 people 5 minutes of struggle to swap and secure the pads. I did like the fit with the thinner pads better, so in the end, the struggle was worth it.

Donning the helmet was a non-issue.  With my other helmet + my earrings, I kinda have to hold my breath, grit my teeth and cram the helmet onto my head. It doesn’t feel good, which means I don’t take my helmet off on the lift to cool off or eat (I just suffer with my helmet on all day, only taking it off to eat lunch).  The Smith helmet was a non-issue.  The inside of the helmet was soft/squishy enough for me to take on and off without needing to grit my teeth, but it also held my head VERY securely with zero movement.  If my ear got folded wonky, I was able to reach a finger or two up inside the helmet and adjust my ear placement with ease. 

The chin strap is a D-ring fastener, which is pretty standard for most full face helmets. It works, but it’s also a bit tricky to fasten blind until you get a few tries and some muscle memory built up.  An improvement would be moving to a magnetic chin clasp that other helmet manufacturers offer.

Once on, I didn’t notice the helmet.  It felt secure, light, and didn’t move while riding. Taking the helmet off was very easy, and I found that I was able to take the helmet off while riding the gondola/lift and put the helmet back on easily when I got to the top.

I wore the helmet for long sessions and didn’t have any pain or discomfort towards the end of the day.  The fit was secure and safe, but not so tight that I developed pain points. In other words: this helmet fit me VERY well.

Helmet Functionality

Downhill MTB riding has unique safety considerations, in that you are riding at high speed on technical terrain.  This style of riding can have high consequences. I prefer using helmets with additional impact safety measures and I want a full face helmet to protect my teeth/jaw/nose. But this additional protection usually comes with a cost in comfort, ventilation, and for eating/drinking logistics. 

The Mainline helmet features:

• KOROYD® coverage for lightweight, energy-absorbing and ventilated impact protection, 
• Mips® Brain Protection System to reduce rotational forces caused by angled impacts to the head, and 
• Complies with U.S. CPSC Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets for Persons Age 5 and Older as well as CE EN 1078, NTA8776 E-Bike and ASTM F1952 Downhill

In other words: a lot of proven and certified technology to keep your noggin’ safe.  There are also a whopping TWENTY-ONE vents in this helmet, to help keep you feeling cool while looking cool. 

The fit of the helmet was secure, meaning that it didn’t move when I put my hands on the top/side and tried to move it around.  And despite it being a full-coverage helmet, I didn’t feel hot or claustrophobic. 

Logistics for eating and drinking were pretty easy.  The jaw guard for this helmet has enough space so you can easily feed a hydration tube up through the bottom or through the hole in the center.  Eating chews was pretty simple, as there was ample room between the jaw guard and my face to go under the face guard and put the chew into my mouth.  Anything more complicated (gel, bar, drinking from a water bottle) would require taking your helmet off (which is pretty typical of any full face helmet).

The Mainline helmet has a channel that wraps around the helmet that guides goggle straps and holds them in place. This channel was secure enough to hold them without needing an additional strap or loop (like some ski helmets have). There was also no guesswork on guiding the goggle strap into place, the strap just naturally went into the channel. And once the goggles were on, they stayed put until I took them off.

Overall Impression

Being a woman with a smaller head, I sometimes find getting well fitting technical MTB gear a challenge. Smith has delivered a well thought out full face helmet that eliminates my pain points that I’ve experienced with other full face helmets. The fit was easy to get just right and the helmet was secure while also being comfortable.  The helmet was easy to get on and off, both in effort/hassle and accounting for ear piercings.

Eating and drinking were a breeze due to the amount of room between the jaw guard and my face.  The Mainline helmet allows the rider to forget about the fact that their head is encased in tight-fitting foam and lets them focus on the RIDING.  Knowing Smith’s design was incredibly safe – and comfortable – gave me the confidence to challenge my technical skills and enjoy two beautiful days at the bike park. The only area for improvement would be utilize a magnetic chin clasp instead of using the D-Ring fastner.

Erin Trail