O’Neal’s carbon Spark carbon downhill helmet weighs in at just 850g, which makes it one of the lightest carbon full-face lids on the market.
The visor is held securely by two small (3mm) Allen key bolts and a large cross-head height adjustment fixing screw that sits slap bang in the middle of the helmet. We found that unless the visor was shunted up to its maximum height it cut into our eyeline when we were stooped over the front of the bike on steep descents.
Although the fit is pretty comfy, the cheek pads on our medium sample made for a pretty tight fit, but it was something we got used to in time. The low weight helps detract from the helmet’s warm interior, which can get pretty sweaty. That said, the Coolmax pads are removable so you can easy chuck them in the wash post-ride. Getting them back in is a bit of a fiddle, though.
The Fidlock closure system is simple to use and easy to operate even with gloves on, but you will need two hands to open and close it. The Spark’s opening up front isn’t massive and we struggled to fit larger framed goggles in comfortably. On top of that, the large ledge at the rear reduces movement when wearing a neck brace, which is not what we’d expect at this price.
This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.