Bern FL-1 MIPS

Bern's FL-1 MIPS Helmet is the company's first foray into the road bike market. You may like the radical looks. Personally I found it too chunky for the road bike and, for a £100 lid, the strap system is poor.

Bern is an American brand with its roots in skateboarding, skiing and urban cycling, and that shows in the styling. The helmet is very round, rather 'un-roadie', and I thought this might make for a poor fit on my narrow head. However, the Boa retaining system was excellent and it was easy to achieve a secure, comfortable fit. My head size is right at the lower end of the range suggested for the large test helmet, but there was still adjustment to spare so there's no need to worry you won't be able to get it tight enough after a haircut.

> Find your nearest dealer here

As for vertical adjustment – and how it sits over the ears – this was non-existent and I found the helmet sat quite high, which meant protection to the back of the head wasn't what I had hoped for from what is a substantial-looking rear cage.

The MIPS insert is essentially a piece of plastic card, cut to fit, and with holes to match the ventilation channels. This is loosely tethered to the inside of the shell by four plastic rivets, allowing the MIPS insert to move around a little inside the helmet. The idea is that, in certain impacts, the helmet won't wrench your head around as much as a conventional lid. I experimented with how tight the helmet needed to be so that the MIPS insert would stay firm against my head, and this turned out to be not so tight that it was uncomfortable. If you are convinced by the science behind the MIPS system then this should do its job. The FL-1 is also available without the MIPS insert.

The strap system was very disappointing, about as basic as you can imagine, and I have seen much better on helmets costing £35. In particular the retainers below the ears have no proper locking system and I found they had to be readjusted every time I wore the helmet. They did generally stay in place during rides, though.

Padding was good, especially where it was wrapped around the Boa adjustment wires at the side (a nice touch), so this is a pretty comfortable lid to have on your head. It was a pity that the fabric sticky patches used to keep the padding in place soon came unstuck from the MIPS insert.

There's a good inch of polystyrene enclosed in that moulded shell – about an inch thick at the forehead, which is reassuring but tends to load the centre of gravity forward so that the helmet felt heavy on the brow. This wasn't helped by the helmet's high overall weight. Also, the front edge was in my line of vision a lot of the time, especially when riding on the drops.

> Cycling helmets – everything you need to know

There are plenty of large ventilation inlets. I got a wasp in through one of them, which emerged a few seconds later near my eye, so if there's room for him there's plenty of room for cooling airflow. You will definitely want a hat under this in the winter.

Looks-wise, my wife declared it 'OK', which is code for 'You look a prawn'. Actually, as an urban lid it's pretty cool. I would even use it on the mountain bike where its chunky qualities should be a bonus.

Verdict

Solid protection, to the point of being a bit chunky for road riding. It needs a better chin strap system, too