MET has a new Revo MIPS mountain bike helmet that pretty much looks like a normal modern MTB half-shell lid. And that’s certainly not a bad thing. It’s got plenty of vents, some extended temple & occipital coverage, and an adjustable visor. But hidden beneath that unassuming exterior, MET put in a ton of work to make this one of the best-ventilated and safest mountain bike helmets on the market.
So much work that they built their own wind tunnel, and crushed the new helmets more than a thousand times across several different testing protocols to be sure it exceeded every safety testing standard out there, including one still in development.
On top of that, I’ve been riding in the new helmet for about a week. I haven’t crashed in it yet (thankfully) but can offer insight on great fit and airflow.
All-new MET Revo MIPS mountain bike helmet
This MET Revo is the Italian maker’s new all-mountain bike helmet, promising to keep your head cooler than ever for those rides with extended summer climbs, but also extra coverage and impact protection to keep you safe even with more high-speed enduro & eMTB riding.
MET calls the new Revo a natural evolution of their all-rounder, all-mountain Roam trail bike helmet. At first glance, the new helmet is not too dissimilar to the old Roam. But MET assures us that the new Revo is significantly safer and better ventilated.
What’s new?
The biggest safety updates here are the more extensive simulation and testing to address both linear and rotational impact standards, plus the faster speeds and larger possible impact area tested for in the NTA 8776 ebike helmet test standard. MET says the new Revo was tested “at 21% more impact speed and able to disspate up to a 43% more impact energy adding a 10% extra impact tested coverage in the two most sensitive brain areas: the back and the temples.“
The biggest cooling update, is simply more open venting area. MET says this new Revo helmet delivers a “23.5% increase in cooling efficiency” vs. the previous Roam. They confirmed that by testing the helmets in MET’s own ‘The Tube’ full-size cycling-specific wind tunnel. The Tube was created firstly for a road aerodynamics perspective, helping design aero helmets and refine MET athletes’ aerodynamic setup on the bike. But by creating a head form that could measure temperature change, MET was able to map and quantify how the new Revo mountain bike helmet’s ventilation design actually allowed heat to escape the rider’s head.
But that only works together with improved design & materials that allowed MET to open more of the helmet surpface up, while still absorbing even more forceful impacts.
Safety Testing Protocols
The most basic test standards are the linear impact requirements of the legacy CE/EN, the US/CPSC & AS/NZ tests that are the minimum for all bicycling helmets. But MET had already been working with MIPS for years, and also evaluated their helmets with the rotational impact tests of the MIPS protocol front & lateral impacts against a 45° plane, their ‘pitched’ frontal impact, and optional rear impacts.
They’ve also pushed to make sure their helmets can achieve independent 5-star safety ratings from Virginia Tech’s own six different angled plane rotational impact tests.
More recently, they’ve also taken into consideration the more demanding NTA 8776 ebike helmet safety certification, which also tests higher energy impacts. This newer standard also importantly increases the area where impacts can be made, further down the temple and occipital area behind the ear. It seems like a rather small shift, but MET explains that these high-energy impacts are now getting much closer to the edges of even their increased coverage half-shell helmet designs, making it harder to absorb impact energy. But it also means greatly increased rider safety in impacts near the edges of all NTA-certified helmets.
Lastly, MET has also been active in the development of a new draft EN 1078 testing protocol, that ultimately aims to objectively quantify the now-voluntary MIPS and Virginia Tech type of rotational impact tests so that they can be implemented into EU law for all helmets. We’ll have more detail soon about how this ongoing project is set to institutionalize rotational safety for ALL consumer bicycling helmets, ensuring that all bike riders will be safer in the future.
Tech details
- In-mod EPS foam construction with 5-piece wrap-around polycarbonate shell
- MIPS Air Node isolates the rider from many rotational forces in an impact
- extra MIPS Air back-of-head pad
- 23 external vents, linked to deep internal air channels and unobstructed by the MIPS liner
- full 360°Safe-T Heta dial retention fit system, with 3-position rear height adjustment
- 4-position adjustable (breakaway) visor with 4cm height adjustment for goggle or sunglasses compatibility
- Fidlock magnetic buckle
- available in 3 sizes – S (52-56cm), M (56-58cm) & L (58-61cm)
- 390g claimed weight, size medium (395g actual)
Safety specs
- 5-star Virginia Tech Helmet Lab safety rating (highest possible)
- NTA 8776:201-12 ebike/pedelec/eMTB certified
- CE EN 1078:2012 + A1:2012, US CPSC & AS-NZ certified
So how does that all make it feel?
First Impression – Riding Review
My first rides with the new MET Revo helmet were in warm, wet & humid Italy a couple of weeks ago. Then, back home this past week in unseasonably sunny & warm weather. And I sweat a lot, in pretty much every helmet, and all year long. But so far, the new Revo is clearly better vented than most mountain bike helmets. Sure, I’ve ridden with some ultralight road helmets that keep me a bit cooler.
But no half-shell helmet that I can remember in recent memory has this feeling of lowered protection around my temples and just behind my ears, while still feeling cool to ride in. I have no problems wearing this on more cross-country and marathon-style rides, as I do on all-mountain rides leaning more towards enduro. The extra side coverage still doesn’t feel anywhere as deep as a full-on enduro helmet, a 3/4 shell, or a full face. But it certainly feels like it wraps around my head more than just simply sitting on top of it.
One more interesting point to note is the extra ‘Part 2/2’ MIPS pad at the back of the helmet. Most (almost all) helmets just touch the back of your head to their EPS foam. But MET added this extra insert that makes for a more 360° fit to the padding. And even though it is velcroed in place, if is a low-friction MIPS Air Node pad that is designed to slip between your head and the helmet to isolate you from rotational forces in a twisting impact.
MET Revo – Pricing, options & availability
The new MET Revo MIPS mountain bike helmet is available now for $230 / 200€ / £170, including a soft storage bag. You can pick from 6 muted matte color schemes – off-white, olive, midnight forest green, navy & black – and 3 sizes (S-L).
MET also hinted that more affordable MTB helmets that share much of the same safety and ventilation tech are expected to launch later this spring.
