Italian helmet brand Limar is well known for its airy lids. The range topping Ultralight claims to be the “worlds lightest helmet”, but without the premium cost that normally accompanies such weight weenie items.
The 778 Superlight sits just below the Ultralight in Limar's range. It's almost as airy as the Ultralight, and weighs a respectable 200g in a size medium.
Limar hasn't achieved this light weight by dropping its substantial retention system - instead it appears that the Italian helmet brand has done so by forgoing coverage. Even though the Italian stack-hat has passed Australian, US and EU safety standards, we felt as though 778 didn’t cover enough of the sides and back of our head. Having ridden in other Limar helmets, we know this is not unique to the 778.
The 24 vents and decent internal channeling takes care of sweat before it has the chance to drip onto your sunglasses, while decent size exhaust vents spit out hot air like yesterday's trash. Which is surprising, given the mesh bug shield, and the petite nature of the vents.
The internal channeling is responsible for the surprising amount of airflow
For one of our testers, the combination of small vents and the bug shield was a cause for dismay - he is plagued with a perpetually itchy head and there is little chance of squeezing a finger through those vents to chase an itch.
Limar’s Competition retention system is featured on the 778, and completely surround the wearer's head. The system in tightened by a large rubberised dial, which is easily adjustable on the go.
While Limar says the Competition fit system features height adjustment, we believe angle adjustment is a more accurate description. A hinge sits on either side of the ratchet, offering some adjustability, but once it was tightened down, the system ended up back in the middle. It seems that Limar has tried to reinvent the wheel here, even though traditional height adjustment systems work just fine.
The Competition + retention system seems more like angle adjustment rather than height adjustment
A common complaint among our testers was that the 778 has looks only a mother (or owner) could love, especially when compared against similar offerings from Specialized and Giro.
Despite all this, a 200g helmet with an equally light pricetag is a good buy. For the price, we can overlook the small vents, and lack of height adjustment; but we would like to see the helmet protect more of the wearer's head.