Decathlon B Twin endure Unscar helmet.
I don't normally shop at Decathlon. For some reason I find their UK stores depressing places; they just lack life. The ones abroad always seem fun, bright and lively. Perhaps the UK ones are just quiet? It also doesn't help that they are miles away so not worth the trip.
Surrey Quays.
I was near to the Surrey Quays one the other day so popped in. The instant I walked in the door a depressive fugg came over me and I just felt as though life was too much. What an odd place.
Anyway, I was in the bike section so decided to push through the negative feelings and have a look around. Ambience aside it's actually quite an interesting bike shop, and has way more stock than your average LBS or Evans. You can even ride the bikes around, which really is great fun.
Eventually I ended up at the helmet section. Now I've no need for a new lid at all, none whatsoever. I've a fairly new Urge and a recent Fox, neither of which have been crashed too much. But this particular item, the Unscar ER, caught my attention.
Price.
It was marked up at £29, which seemed remarkably good value for an enduro lid. Tried it on and it fitted well enough in a large. So I bought it. Normally I wait until I've trashed an helmet before buying a new one, but at a penny less than £30 it seemed silly too wait.
So, what do we have then? It's an Enduro styled helmet for a start, so fashionable in a CHiPs kind of way, so you look like a Police officer from the Village People. Suits me. The helmet is formed of three plastic hard shells direct bonded to the foam inner core, with a rather firmly attached peak style visor. The bright red liner doesn't come out for cleaning as it is stiched in.
Wearing the helmet.
On it is actually quite comfortable, although the adjustments are quite basic. All you get at the rear is a bit of elastic to hold things in place, but it works well enough and doesn't wobble about.
In use it isn't as hot as you'd expect it to be, given the limited number of vents, but then here in the UK we've not exactly had much in the way of warm weather this year. I've used it on two, three hour spins out and it has been fine. Certainly I've not noticed it being any warmer than the Urge that I have. But then I'm such a lazy git on the bike that I don't put much effort in anyway.
If you sweat in normal vented helmets then this one may be too warm for XC duties. It also doesn't seem to be any noisier than any other helmet I've ever owned, and may actually be quieter than the well vented Fox.
Value for money.
Overall for £29 it's a pretty decent bit of kit and makes me question the £80 I spent on the Urge as this does an equal job and to my eyes looks the part. It even has a depression to fit a light or camera. Certainly it shows that you don't have to spend much on kit to get out and about. And when I bought the Urge Enur-o-Matic I had the piss taken out of me. Today in this the builders' didn't really comment so it can't look that odd on.
Really, if you're in the market for a helmet then Decathlon are bonza cheap. Just don't pay too much attention to the in store ambience. That sucks.
6 months on.
You know what? I've still got the Fox and URGE helmets, but they've sat unused since buying the B.Twin Unscar. It's just so comfortable that it has become my go-to helmet. This is the only helmet that I use these days. Indeed I popped into a Decathlon store recently to buy another, but alas couldn't find one. More's the pity as it is a great lid.
I don't normally shop at Decathlon. For some reason I find their UK stores depressing places; they just lack life. The ones abroad always seem fun, bright and lively. Perhaps the UK ones are just quiet? It also doesn't help that they are miles away so not worth the trip.
Surrey Quays.
I was near to the Surrey Quays one the other day so popped in. The instant I walked in the door a depressive fugg came over me and I just felt as though life was too much. What an odd place.
Anyway, I was in the bike section so decided to push through the negative feelings and have a look around. Ambience aside it's actually quite an interesting bike shop, and has way more stock than your average LBS or Evans. You can even ride the bikes around, which really is great fun.
Eventually I ended up at the helmet section. Now I've no need for a new lid at all, none whatsoever. I've a fairly new Urge and a recent Fox, neither of which have been crashed too much. But this particular item, the Unscar ER, caught my attention.
Price.
It was marked up at £29, which seemed remarkably good value for an enduro lid. Tried it on and it fitted well enough in a large. So I bought it. Normally I wait until I've trashed an helmet before buying a new one, but at a penny less than £30 it seemed silly too wait.
So, what do we have then? It's an Enduro styled helmet for a start, so fashionable in a CHiPs kind of way, so you look like a Police officer from the Village People. Suits me. The helmet is formed of three plastic hard shells direct bonded to the foam inner core, with a rather firmly attached peak style visor. The bright red liner doesn't come out for cleaning as it is stiched in.
Wearing the helmet.
On it is actually quite comfortable, although the adjustments are quite basic. All you get at the rear is a bit of elastic to hold things in place, but it works well enough and doesn't wobble about.
In use it isn't as hot as you'd expect it to be, given the limited number of vents, but then here in the UK we've not exactly had much in the way of warm weather this year. I've used it on two, three hour spins out and it has been fine. Certainly I've not noticed it being any warmer than the Urge that I have. But then I'm such a lazy git on the bike that I don't put much effort in anyway.
If you sweat in normal vented helmets then this one may be too warm for XC duties. It also doesn't seem to be any noisier than any other helmet I've ever owned, and may actually be quieter than the well vented Fox.
Value for money.
Overall for £29 it's a pretty decent bit of kit and makes me question the £80 I spent on the Urge as this does an equal job and to my eyes looks the part. It even has a depression to fit a light or camera. Certainly it shows that you don't have to spend much on kit to get out and about. And when I bought the Urge Enur-o-Matic I had the piss taken out of me. Today in this the builders' didn't really comment so it can't look that odd on.
Really, if you're in the market for a helmet then Decathlon are bonza cheap. Just don't pay too much attention to the in store ambience. That sucks.
6 months on.
You know what? I've still got the Fox and URGE helmets, but they've sat unused since buying the B.Twin Unscar. It's just so comfortable that it has become my go-to helmet. This is the only helmet that I use these days. Indeed I popped into a Decathlon store recently to buy another, but alas couldn't find one. More's the pity as it is a great lid.
Comments
Post a Comment