Paul Petch

New stuff- Bell Variant helmet

It’s that time of year when my list of “to do” for the Spring/ Summer season starts to bug me for attention (not that it has to try hard;)) and I look at upgrades, fixes or replacement of gear on my bikes/ wardrobe. At the top is the sorry state that is my Fox Flux helmet….and it’s replacement. After 2 years of daily riding with some serious epics on dirt it has done me very proud, but has seen much better days. So today I picked up a new one in the form of a Bell variant.

In the past I’ve owned a Giro, Met and Fox but never a Bell…and boy oh boy is this one snazzy :) I’ve also moved away from wearing dark colours while out riding too- and in white it really stands out while commuting. After trying it on at BikeHQ today- it felt perfect on my noggin so that’s that. Infact, the Fox Flux in the smallest size (S/M) has never really fitted my head properly and to be honest has not the comfiest skid lid I’ve owned either (but it looks RAD right!! :)) so I imagine the Bell Variant to be less of an annoyance on the bike.

Talking of that “list” I’m also going to get the rear wheel on the Wolf rebuilt with a Mavic 819 UST rim so I can run it tubeless and get rid of the annoying pinch flats that plauged me last season. Other stuff I’m looking at (or considering) is a new stem (Thomson & a totally un justified upgrade :)) and replacing the Ritchey carbon bars that have also seen better days and more than 2 years of age. I’m also keen to try flats too….maybe….shhhhh :)

Anyway, first impressions are that the Bell Variant helmet is light, comfy, looks RAD, stands out in traffic and of course it has made me way more attractive to the opposite sex :) It also has alot of techy features (more details on the Bell website) that you would expect to find in a top end lid, that include;

- Fusion In-Mold Microshell
- In-Mold Bottom Wrap
- GPS Fit System
- Internal Reinforcement
- Channeled Ventilation
- VPV Adjustable Visor
- Cam-Lock Levers
- Registered Graphics (WTF??)

…blah blah……

I’ll be sure to update you with more ramblings once I have spent more time with it on my noggin. I love new toys….nomnomnom.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Cycling and tagged with bell, bling, gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.