Abus’ presence in the road helmet market has grown in recent years, with products such as the GameChanger doing much to raise the German brand’s profile, but an equally high-end mountain bike helmet has been conspicuous by its absence.
The Montrailer is Abus’ first proper entry into the high-end mountain bike helmet market. It has offered its Movenator helmet for some years now, but the Montrailer presents a serious jump in terms of coverage and quality compared to this.
Abus is, of course, better known for its enormous range of locks, but it has actually been producing helmets since 1992, growing to be the world's fourth-largest helmet manufacturer.
The shape of the Montrailer is fairly unique — as remarked by other journalists who joined me on the launch of the helmet, the white and black version of the Montrailer in particular has a silhouette that’s not totally dissimilar to a circa-1970 US motorcycle cop helmet (or the bad cop from The Lego Movie).
Interestingly, the shell of the helmet is made from five separate sections (the cheaper non-ACE version is made from three sections). Not only does this allow Abus to create all manner of funky contrasting patterns, but is also said to better dissipate and spread impact forces compared to a one-piece shell.
A plastic skeleton is moulded into the EPS foam. Despite making the design a touch heavier, this is said to improve strength and allow for far more secure attachment points for straps and cradles.
The helmet eschews a regular buckle in favour of a magnetic one. This is very easy to use one-handed, which is more useful than it sounds.
My size medium Montrailer ACE MIPS helmet — the top-end version — comes in at 434g, considerably more than the 370g quoted on the Abus size.
The fit of the helmet is fairly unique, it’s not bad, but (as with any helmet) I would highly recommend you try the helmet on before you buy.
The stiff, semi-transparent peak offers 30 degrees of indexed adjustment. This indexing feels very satisfying and solid in use. The peak is made from a translucent material in a bid to improve visibility in low-light conditions.
The helmet is sculpted into a concave shape at the back which has a rubber gripper embedded into it to hold goggles in place. This coupled with the hinged visor should make for easy goggle stowage.
- MonTrailer ACE MIPS: £149.99 / €199.95
- MonTrailer MIPS: £129.99 / €179.95
- MonTrailer: £109.99 / €149.95
Australian and US pricing TBC.
We’ve got the helmet in for a full review and you should expect to see this in the near future.
