Airoh Aviator 2.1 Helmet

What it is

• A lightweight, quality helmet.

Airoh’s Aviator 2.1 helmet is a light weight helmet with a carbon kevlar composite external shell that has a shelf on the bottom rear to accommodate for neck braces. Also on the shell are two vents on the front of the helmet, vents on the nose bridge, two vents on top of the shell, vents on the back of the helmet, and vents on the lower rear of the helmet. Inside the shell there's a comfortable liner and cheek pads that does a good job of wickering.The cheek pads feature what Airoh calls a fast emergency system with red straps on the bottom that you can pull which will bring the cheek pads right out for emergency crew to get the helmet off.  This helmet comes in 5 sizes, XS(53-54cm.), S(55-56), M(57-58), L(59-60, and XL(61). These helmets also come in many designs so you can find that perfect one.

How it works

• Durable
• Comfortable
• Doesn't vent as well as you'd think with all the vents on the top.

Being someone who is used to the cheap $100 helmets, I was instantly surprised by how lightweight Airoh Aviator helmet was. It reminded of a bicycle helmet from how light it is! Curious to find out how much this helmet weighed, I put it on the scale. With the liner and cheek pads in it, this medium sized helmet came out to a feathery 2.7lbs. I’ve always liked the look of these helmets and I’ve always seen the European racers wear these but hardly any American racers wear this helmet. Which drew me to find out why?  

On the inside of this helmet is a removable, soft, and very comfortable lightweight liner and cheek pads. The liner and pieces are so light that they border on being viewed as a little flimsy but they are not if you look at them closely. The snug and padded fit is true to size and the material to skin sensation is very plush. Plus when the liner gets nasty and sweaty from your riding adventures, you can take the liner out and throw it in with your next batch of laundry. Putting the helmet liner back in can be a daunting task to get some of the clips set. Especially the top of the liner. One time I thought I had it buttoned back up but the liner actually caught my goggles when I was trying to put them on and the goggles pulled the liner loose. This brings up another point, the eye port isn’t the largest and some big framed goggles are a tight fit.

Another minor struggle with this helmet is the snap-in nose piece. When I first got it, it was off the helmet as an accessory. I put it on the helmet and when you put on goggles, it makes for a tight fit and can get knocked loose, so I just took it off. The nose bridge of this helmet comes up so far that it doesn’t really need a nose guard anyway But then there is the frontal venting. When I got going down a faster trail, it feels like nothing is in front of your face and it is pretty refreshing. The larger vents on the top and lower rear of this helmet do not vent as much as I thought they would, leaving the rest of my head sweaty. It was about average with what I am use to. Here the wicking ability of the helmet liner proved to be excellent.

This helmet also comes with a couple of pretty nice accessories that I was able to use. The visor has two different extenders. The 18mm standard part can be swapped to a 55mm extension of added visor for mud, rain, and sun. I really liked it for blocking out the sun when it was low. Airoh includes a tool for changing the visor extension with a lanyard which makes this task very easy since it’s just two screws that hold the extensions on. This helmet also comes with its own stick-on GoPro mount because a normal GoPro mount wouldn’t fit the very sharply shaped top of this helmet. Another accessory is the plastic louvered covers for the vents on top of the helmet. They just screw over the top vents yet they didn’t really change any of the venting. Best we can figure it that it’s for styling reasons or to keep rain out.

Now for the most important information, the Aviator 2.1 Arrow helmet is DOT, ECE and FMVSS certified. I luckily haven’t had to test that portion of the helmet so I’ll take their words for it. But what I have learned is that lighter helmets are safer most of the time, especially when they pass stringent standards like these. Then comes proper fit and the Aviator is like a nice glove, just tight enough to hold it firmly but not enough to have pressure points or bother me. Airoh’s emergency fast removal allows the cheek pads to be removed in the event of a neck injury. On the bottom of each cheek pad is a red strap that is tucked under a elastic band for when you’re riding. One pull and the cheek pads will slide out so emergency responders can remove your helmet minimizing further damage to your spine..

Overall this is a nice, but very spendy helmet. Price really seems to sore as the weight comes down on helmets. I really like the unique, sharp, stealth chopper look the Airoh has. It’s lightweight--almost an open face feel, and it is very comfortable. The quality of this helmet is high especially in the design and construction of the shell with trick little accents. It should last you a long time as long as you don’t crash on it. All helmets need to be looked at as a disposable, almost one-time use (crash/head impact) piece of protective equipment no matter the price tag. I feel you are paying a little bit for the Italian style and exclusivity here, but don't you always? 

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