Review Smith Mainline Full Face Helmet

[Zimmerframe]

Product Image:

Product name: Smith Mainline Full Face Helmet
Price paid: 300 euros
Score (out of 10): 10

Review: Not much or a review as it's just arrived ...

Hope to give it a test ride later and update .. but, initial thoughts .. !

For a more heavily built helmet than the other "super light enduro" crowd, it's still light. Mine weighed in at 750g for the small.

That's 180g more than the Endura MT500 Full Face, but it actually feels like a helmet which will protect your head, rather than a piece of packing which has been re-purposed.

It's obviously more expensive than the Endura, but the build quality and finish aren't even comparable.

This helmet looks like it's had every mm thought over repeatedly until it's correct.

Fit & Comfort :

Unlike the Endura, it slides easily on over your head with no pain. The straps are fully padded and end in a nice secure easy to adjust d-ring with a clip to attach the hanging strap.

The cheek/neck pads click in with plastic fasteners, so they don't move around as you take the helmet on and off.

The helmet has three sets of cheek pads, two neck pads and two main inner liner pads, so you should be able to adjust it to fit most scenarios.

For me, straight out of the box, it fits like a glove. Even without the strap done it stays perfectly in place. At the same time, it doesn't feel "tight" - it just feels like an extension of your scalp, there's no pressure points - it's just incredibly comfortable.

The Endura felt like a £20 rental helmet which was possibly disposable, the Mainline feels and looks in fit,comfort, finish and attention to detail to my Arai RX7-RR .

So far, really really impressed ! and I'm a miserable b4stard who doesn't get impressed very often.

Still got it on now, and it's just nice ..

 

[simonk]

5 Euros says you eat le dîner in it

 

[Hobo Mikey]

I like the look of your helmet. ? ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

Didn't get chance to go for a ride, just had a quick play with it and took some pictures. It's a work of art.

One side of the chin guard. The inside of the chinguard is lined/finished in a "soft plastic" .. Feels really nice. The cheek pad clip in and out.

Looking in through the "face".

Looking up through the neck.

The underside.

Adjustable visor with a spinner to lock it in place. The visor is flexible nylon or similar, so no broken neck from visor leverage.

A really crap picture of the front ...

 

[R120]

Some great turns of phrase there Zimmer - that is one nice looking helmet, you sure got hold of it quick given they where only announced last week.

 

[118]

Some great turns of phrase there Zimmer - that is one nice looking helmet, you sure got hold of it quick given they where only announced last week.

Faster than a Praxis chainring, I'd say...

 

[Dirtnvert]

Really nice looking lid. Great to hear of the quality and details. I have tried on their ski helmets and they are comfy. A couple quality issues on them gave me pause. They were good with warrantee i heard. This looks like a new level of detail though. I think their ski helmets have come a long way too. Id consider one of these smith ff's for sure. Good padding and shell coverage by the looks of it and they went D ring so thats telling

 

[aarfeldt]

Score is 10/10 without riding it ?

This is just like MTB magazines....baaaah

 

[wepn]

Score is 10/10 without riding it ?

This is just like MTB magazines....baaaah

That’s obviously 10/10 for protection. Zim is injured daily - either by horse or bike. No injury today.

I haven't injured my ankles by bike pedal since wearing Armalith jeans. 10/10

 

[Zimmerframe]

Score is 10/10 without riding it ?

Yup ! for build quality, attention to details, design, safety, fit, comfort... It's in a league of it's own.

So for now .. it's 10/10 .. I've not seen anything even remotely as good on any of those points. Nothing else offers mips and a crumple zone, effective at all force levels, to reduce concussion. It's the only helmet designed with safety as the priority, rather than just adhering to a 45 year old standard which is only designed to reduce skull fractures.

If it's crap when I ride it ... then the points will drop off ..

It's only just become available, so I thought it might be of interest to anyone looking.

It will no doubt be crash tested pretty soon too .....

 

[aarfeldt]

Yup ! for build quality, attention to details, design, safety, fit, comfort... It's in a league of it's own.

Then you have to split the score in to:
- packaging
- wrapping in the box
- paint quality
- plastic quality
- how is it to put on the head
- does it look like a mushroom
- does your hair look like Trump when you take it off
.....all the stuff that really matters on a protection device

 

[Zimmerframe]

does your hair look like Trump when you take it off

I'd hope not .. I don't have much and if it looks like Trumps when I take it off that would suggest they've used only the finest orange cow pubes as a helmet liner, but not very good adhesive !

 

[Zimmerframe]

Only had half an hour, so only did a quick ride test.

Incredibly comfortable, don't know you've got it on. Peripheral vision is excellent, noting to the sides, tip of visor at the top and you just see the tip of the chin guard below.

Very stable. Only did two DH runs and not maxed out because I'm knackered and didn't want to fall off and scratch my shiny new helmet

One's really rocky and the other had lots of drops. No movement from the helmet at all and again, you don't even know it's there ! Amazing !

With not much time to spare, for a quick heat test I just went as hard as possible for the ride to get upto "operating temperature"...

11km's , 27 minutes, 300m, Average 24.5 km/h. 5% on the road, the rest trails. So not much of a test, but I was working hard for the whole ride and I'd say it didn't feel any warmer than my Forefront 2. Though, there's more of it and it's all round your head, so it must be warmer !

Put it on and took it off with gloves on, no problems with the straps/d-rings or the strap retainer clip.

Nice ! If I didn't already have one .. I'd buy one !

 

[aarfeldt]

Sunglass compability ?

 

[Nicho]

only the finest orange cow pubes

Aberdeen Angus?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Like that a lot. In the market for a light full face and that might be just what I get.

 

[aarfeldt]

This is probably a fine helmet....but I really must recommend Bell Super Air R MIPS helmet.

Features - Super Air R MIPS®

• Removable chin bar
• FLEX Spherical + MIPS® comprehensive energy management
• Integrated Breakaway Camera Mount
• XT-2® Padding
• Overbrow Ventilation™
• Goggleguide™ Adjustable Visor System
• Vents: 18 helmet, 4 brow ports
• Certification: CE EN1078, CPSC Bicycle
• Construction: Fusion In-Mold Polycarbonate Shell
• Fit System: Float Fit™
• Weight: 640 g

252€ (might be cheaper on sale)

 

[118]

just the tips ?

 

[Kinger]

Just tried the Mainline on at my LBS.
Sold!

You know when you go in ready to buy something (in this case an all day, lighter weight ff helmet).
Research is all done, tried a few options across the spectrum, then all of a sudden, “Hey, we have another product in the back”...
Out comes the new Smith Mainline.
... I put it on and it’s literally a perfect fit and feels fantastic.
I mean, this helmet was just “the one”.

I’ll get some riding time and some pictures during the week, coming up.
I’ll try it with my Smith Squad gggles and 100% Armega & Accuri goggles - to see how they all fit.

I’ll get back to you soon.

cheers
-Kinger

 

[Kinger]

Update:
I got a couple good rides in with the Mainline.

[I don’t use Boost mode all that much, I crank in Trail mode mainly].

Ride 1) I rode 3 km up a climb trail. (Warm & Dry) I pushed the pace pretty good but had absolutely no heat issues. I was able to set my goggles in place without needing to cool down. (Really surprised me). The helmet is light, like a half shell weight. Crazy. I was so happy with it.

Ride 2) I rode up a fire road for 4.5 km but really put the effort in to get up there quickly. (Early morning & Dry)
I was pretty warm with a bit of sweat dripping. Took the helmet off for a few minutes to cool down. I noticed that the helmet wicked a lot of the sweat away.
It’s great to not feel a damp lid all day.
Again, I’m really happy with this helmet.

Descending, I felt very confident. It was nice to not have head bob, like I get when charging wearing my Troy Lee Fiberlite

Goggles:
100% Armega fit awesome. Very very good fit.
100% Accuri fit pretty well - not as nice as the Armega, due to the outriggers
Smith Squad MTB fit about the same as the Accuri. (These goggles are a few seasons old, new models might be seamless)

loving it!

Cheers,
-

 

[Zimmerframe]

About 150k's with mine so far. Not as far as I'd like but have a tendon injury so it's reducing bike time.

Update so far. Incredibly comfortable, don't really know you have it on. Cool - for a helmet - good air flow. Had several insects inside this morning and they all blew out.

Tried a few goggles I had sitting around here and none sit perfectly for me. It's a small, which probably doesn't help. Riding glasses slide in perfectly and are comfortable with no pressure points from the helmet.

Haven't crashed with my head yet, but did have an excellent test this morning. Went along to accompany an inexperienced young horse on a familiarisation ride. Car coming the other way did the "Immortal in my tin box" technique and accelerated past us despite the frantic arm waving. Horse panicked jumped up and turned, I was behind. Flattened me and the bike and proceeded to jump on my head and grind it into the grass verge. Head felt a bit bashed but does not appear anymore damaged than it already was and incredibly the Mainline seems to be completely unmarked ?! inside and out !?!??! What is this magic !!! So glad I was going for a proper ride afterwards or I would have put my normal helmet on and would most likely be mr mushy jam head by now.

 

[Kinger]

... Flattened me and the bike and proceeded to jump on my head and grind it into the grass verge. Head felt a bit bashed but does not appear anymore damaged than it already was and incredibly the Mainline seems to be completely unmarked ?! inside and out !?!??!

If that isn’t the best review of a helmet, I don’t know what would be!!
Glad you and the Mainline survived.

 

[Eddy Current]

This is probably a fine helmet....but I really must recommend Bell Super Air R MIPS helmet.

Features - Super Air R MIPS®

• Removable chin bar
• FLEX Spherical + MIPS® comprehensive energy management
• Integrated Breakaway Camera Mount
• XT-2® Padding
• Overbrow Ventilation™
• Goggleguide™ Adjustable Visor System
• Vents: 18 helmet, 4 brow ports
• Certification: CE EN1078, CPSC Bicycle
• Construction: Fusion In-Mold Polycarbonate Shell
• Fit System: Float Fit™
• Weight: 640 g

252€ (might be cheaper on sale)

I don’t know the point of get a full face helmet if it’s not DH certified and a truly DH helmet never is going to be lightweight

 

[Zimmerframe]

Can finally report back with some proper testing !

A couple of days ago I had a very fast OTB on a steep downhill, messed up my line, hit a tree (which stood it's ground) went full superman OTB bounced off another tree landed on my head backwards on some rocks and then slid/bounced/rolled for a bit. Has a couple of small dents in the plastic at the back now, only one shows up in the photo for some reason .. (on the right hand upright).

Decided to do some more testing yesterday and lost the front here :

Fortunately fully armoured (Muppets should always be fully armoured) . Landed hard chest first on the stumps, face whip lashed into the ground. Bounced and flipped and hit the tree/logs backwards and upside down, ricocheted off to the left, slid to a stop and promptly passed out and had a snooze for a while.

Bruised ribs, kidneys,calf. Pulled shoulder, lacerations, broken finger (finger tore off glove ?!)

Head - fine. Helmet was extremely comfortable throughout the brief flailing rag doll experience. The only part of me which doesn't hurt is my head.

Crash Test Dummy ... Zimmer ... Dummy

 

[Dirtnvert]

I strongly hesitate to call it ,even remotely, wisdom , because ive learned the hard way, but from my experience i wish you could avoid crashing. They certainly catch up to you. I have to do a lot of daily maintenance i wish i could have avoided at the same time i could be much worse from a few of those knocks. The lust is long. My mantra now is avoid crashing at all costs. Safe mileage is the key to progressing. I went for years without a crash because i rode every day and could play on the line and real it in. After an injury and recovery and getting rusty one injury led to another. Now its a balance of maintenance and fitness to get the mileage to be in the pocket on the bike to be able to play and do it safely. Thats the good thing with emtb's and lifts. You can get the mileage in and whats the rush. You have all day and all summer. lots of people destroy themselves on the first lap. I like to do a bunch of laps until i know every rock and root now. First month this year was no air. Scrub all jumps and push backsides and try and be smooth. Build the mileage and dont force it. Let the jumps come to you. I certainly still have my stooopidity stumbles but i cringe when i see or hear of injuries now. Im not quite matt hoffman injury level but im well past half way