Smith

Mainline Mips Full-Face Helmet

Good helmet

I got this helmet a season ago and it’s still great. Very comfortable and cool colors. It’s nice that you can take out some of the padding for the uphills.

GREAT PRODUCTS…BUT!

I ordered the Mainline MIPS after weeks of researching the right helmet, and decided on SMITH, due to its reputation and quality craftsmanship. And that’s apparently clear after receiving the product. However, it arrived with a torn box and small, but noticeable rub on the face guard. And it truly appears as if the item was resold after receiving it back as a return, which is disappointing, given that it’s my first SMITH experience, now dampened by this incident. It’s more a trust thing, than anything else: why sell an open box product as “new?” As well, why, knowing that I’m a first time buyer, would a company not want that experience to be the absolute best? Great MTB Helmet though! Extremely WELL MADE!!! Quality! Ruggedness, light on the head! Outstanding aeration…just can’t give it 5 stars due to what SMITH allowed for my first time dealing with them.

Meh

I might get some backlash here, but I may be the only one that hates this helmet. Pros: -Lightweight -Breathable -assorted cheek pad sizes Cons: -No rear tension for a snugger fit -Chin strap is impossible with gloves on *prefer a quicker release like the Bell Quick Air chin strap -sizing is off, the med didnt feel secure on my dome and a small was too snug -i cant pull up my goggles for a quick breather, they flop right back into your face I wore this helmet once on a longer ride and was so ticked the whole time. I fumbled with my gloves every time i wanted to take it on and off for a breather. And i know its not just me because my friend has this helmet and its annoying with the chin strap and gloves. I didnt like how lose it felt, i had to have the chin strap basically choking me and even then i just didnt like the fit. If Smith adds a rear tension adjustor and an easier way chin strap i would love it. Just not for me. Lame.

A great replacement for my old full face

I use this helmet for work and it’s making wearing a full face in this heat bearable. Love the Matte Black look and the vents to keeps cool. The MIPS is great, but can sounds a little creaky when coming down rough stuff. Not very distracting though. Would still recommend it to anyone looking for a lightweight downhill helmet.

Wrecked it - shipped to ER with head trauma. I'm buying another one the next day.

I don't think I'd be sitting here easily ordering a new one today if I was wearing a different helmet yesterday. Absolutely solid piece of equipment, head injury could have been much worse if I was wearing something that sucked. Well done.

Great Helmet for a small head.....

Familiarity:

I returned this product before using it

this helmet is really nice looking, it has solid build quality, but....I ordered a large and it is way too small. I am shocked. I have many other helmets, and this one not fitting is really annoying, since I love the helmet. It is the biggest version they have - so I am disappointed.....

Love it

Familiarity:

I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions

Super lightweight and the fit is spot on. Not sure I?ll ever go back to a heavy full face that doesn?t breathe. Your neck will thank you.

Almost perfect - with a couple of gripes

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

So, thought I would give this a few months of use before giving my review: Pros: Fit is way better than the previous IXS full face I tried- my 59cm head fits nicely with the large This absolutely one of the highest quality helmets I have ever put on my head. I feel very, very safe with it on. My son who is 15 actually said his bell super DH felt like a toy after checking this one out. The helmet feels very light even though on paper is might be heavier than some. The ventilation is very good. And last but not least, the chin bar sits slightly low so you don?t have a ton of blowback when you are breathing hard and you can get your mouth to a water bottle pretty easily. I have worn this on several multi hour rides with thousands of feet of climbing without noticing much of a difference between this and my half shell. Cons: As other have said, it is squeaky, but has improved with use-they do not include any cloth barrier between the MIPS liner and the helmet like the Bell super DH, for example. I solved this issue by placing a very small piece of rolled up gorilla tape at the top of the helmet Between the MIPS layers, this decreases the ease of up and down movement ever so slightly without changing the rotation side to side within the MIPS system- i still feel like the MIPS is working without moving too easily up and down and making a bunch or racket. I am also disappointed that the visor does not adjust high enough to completely get my smith goggles out of my peripheral vision when I put them up there- this is completely beyond me how Smith missed this! I actually bought the matching smith goggles with the helmet partially for this reason. And finally- the buckle on this helmet is very nice but seems like overkill. All in all I am glad I bought the helmet and love it.

Loud. Incredibly, annoyingly loud.

(TLDR at the bottom) First of all, let me start by saying the fit, look and weight of the Mainline helmet are great. I also prefer like the D-ring chin strap over some of the quick-release style chin straps. However, that's where the good stuff stops. I bought the helmet about 2 weeks ago and have about 6 rides in it, and I'm ready to ditch it already. This helmet is crazy loud. I've been mountain biking on the 'shore since the early 90's, and I've gone through a pile of full-face and half-shell bike helmets over the years. I've also owned - and still own - multiple helmets for other sports including my current Smith ski helmet which is awesome. I've had some that have been totally silent, and some that make an occasional noise. This Mainline helmet never stops making noise. The noise comes from the MIPS liner rubbing against the main body of the helmet. Putting it on is loud. Looking up, down or turning to the left or right is loud. Adjusting it is loud. Pressing anywhere on the helmet with a single finger is loud enough for my family to clearly hear from across the room. Talking is loud, because my jaw moves, causing the helmet to move. Riding in it is deafening, makes it so I can't hear what's going on with my bike or anything around me, and is slowly driving me insane. It makes this noise when it's on my head, and still makes it when it's off my head. By this I mean I can take the helmet off, and move the MIPS/padded liners around with my fingers, and it makes the exact same noise. There's reviews online (which I wish I'd seen before I bought) saying the helmet can be loud if you have the wrong head shape. Wrong. The helmet I have would be loud for any head shape. If it's loud when I'm gently moving the liner around with my fingers, it will be loud on any head. After searching around the web, I found people saying to put tape between the MIPS liner and the body wherever the MIPS rubs on the main body of the helmet. There's two problems with this (oops, there's more than 2 problems). First the liner touches tons of places on the main body. Second, tape will not stick to the hexagonal venting/protection material which the MIPS also touches. Third, taking the MIPS liner out is easy, putting it back in is fiddly time-consuming and frustrating. Fourth, why the heck should I need to do anything to make the helmet quiet? Fifth, I don't think that tape will stay in place. Sixth, adding tape didn't seem to do anything for me. The main padded liner is attached to the MIPS liner with a bunch of stick-on Velcro tabs. Pulling the padded liner off the MIPS (like you would if you're going to wash or replace the liner) pulls some of the Velcro tabs off the MIPS liner. Keep in mind this helmet is practically brand new. I can imagine that after a few months of wet winter riding or sweaty summer riding those Velcro will all fall off the MIPS. There's 3 plastic bolts holding the visor onto the helmet. Last weekend a buddy lost one of the side-bolts (not a Mainline helmet) off his visor. After seeing that happen, I snugged the bolts on my Mainline. Yesterday I thought something was horribly wrong with my bike, but after searching for the problem, I found that a side-bolt on my visor had fallen off, and the visor was banging against the side of the helmet. Because of the hexagon venting/protection material filling the vent holes, you can't use the old Ziptie-through-a-vent-hole trick to temporarily attach the visor. Luckily I had a crazy-long Ziptie with me, and I was able to make it work by running the Ziptie through the face hole and center vent and around the visor. When I got home, I replaced the bolt, putting Loctite on it (why wasn't this done at the factory?), and snugged it up. Obviously I snugged too hard, because that bolt snapped in half, and needed to be replaced again. I've lost side bolts before, but never within 2 weeks, and never days after snugging up the bolt. TLDR: Fit, look, weight all good, but... Constantly noisy. Deafening actually. Velcro doesn't stick to MIPS well. Visor bolts fall out and snap easy.