Remember when...

[DeadlyStryker]

someone said they always see strange pictures on the homepage? What is this??

[ebenke]

Obvoiusly it's a dual purpose mountain bike / football helmet that bolts directly to your skull with those silver dollar sized screws.

[tkblazer]

its the Met Parachute, no longer available in the US

http://www.mailordercycles.co.uk/pro...253p3943&rs=gb

giro made the switchblade which is similar

[strobelite]

troy lee did one too!

[Devoid169]

Its a case of poor taste in helmets AND jerseys!! HAHA!!

[Stray_Bullit]

Yea, the shirt is dead sexy!

[kanga]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

its the Met Parachute, no longer available in the US

http://www.mailordercycles.co.uk/pro...253p3943&rs=gb

giro made the switchblade which is similar

We have about four people using the Met in our OTB group.

I still have my Switchblade, and if it weren't for all the missing padding and broken visor, I'd still use it. I loved that helmet, and being able to put on the chinguard at the top of a climb to come back down.

There's another convertable full face that's not available here. It's from a Spanish company called Casco, and is the Viper.

[Happy_Gilmore]

I seen one of these [Met Parachute's] last week in Mammoth, The girl said she purchased it in the UK, It looked dam good on her...... but I would not want to take a hard face-plant in one.

[mfoga]

Originally Posted by Happy_Gilmore

I seen one of these [Met Parachute's] last week in Mammoth, The girl said she purchased it in the UK, It looked dam good on her...... but I would not want to take a hard face-plant in one.

It looked good on her or she looked good and had one on?

[DeadlyStryker]

Are these things reputable? If it is only for the detachable face guard, I'd probably just get a full face. I don't climb much anyways.

[carlh]

Originally Posted by kanga

We have about four people using the Met in our OTB group.

I still have my Switchblade, and if it weren't for all the missing padding and broken visor, I'd still use it. I loved that helmet, and being able to put on the chinguard at the top of a climb to come back down.

There's another convertable full face that's not available here. It's from a Spanish company called Casco, and is the Viper.

I don't get it. If you have to bolt the lower back on at the top of a hill, why not just carry a full face on your pack uphill since you don't really need a helmet climbing anyways. I understand needing a full face at times, but since you have to carry the bottom half, just carry the whole thing uphill. If its gnarly enough for a full face, those things aren't going to cut it. Goofy thing.

[Burner]

I wore my Met this weekend. They fit great, just hard to get on and off with the face piece on. The face guard is easy to remove/replace, there are only 2 screws and can be undone with a coin.... that being said, I strapped it to my pack for the climb.

[kanga]

Originally Posted by carlh

I don't get it. If you have to bolt the lower back on at the top of a hill, why not just carry a full face on your pack uphill since you don't really need a helmet climbing anyways. I understand needing a full face at times, but since you have to carry the bottom half, just carry the whole thing uphill. If its gnarly enough for a full face, those things aren't going to cut it. Goofy thing.

I have to disagree with the "don't really need a helmet climbing" part.

Some of the trails that I regularly ride up are steep, technical and exposed in the San Gabriels. It's harder to breathe in a FF on a tough technical climb. I've seen as many people fall down a hillside or off a cliff edge climbing as I have descending. Trails like the Merrills or El Prieto definitely warrant a brain bucket whether climbing or descending.

Then when I turn around to come back down, I ride hard enough that face protection would be worth having. The Casco would be more protection than an open face, not as much as a true FF, but a good compromise for the type of riding I do most of the time.

The Casco chinpiece doesn't bolt back on, it just snaps into place. You don't even need to take the helmet off to attach the chin piece. Even with my old switchblade the 2 minutes it took to bolt on a chin piece was worth it.

I've only seen one Casco in person, and it's been on my wishlist ever since.