Steelbird’s latest Airborne Helmet is a lightweight, comfortable and good looking helmet, and it’s also purposeful.
Steelbird has been coming out with some pretty interesting helmets these days. The latest one we got our hands on was the SB 42 Bang Airborne - Motocross helmet. It’s obviously designed like a motocross helmet but it can easily be used as an everyday helmet for city riding also.
It just so happened that at the very same time I got the Airborne helmet I had also gotten my hands on the brand new Ducati Multistrada Enduro – perfect timing. I could now take the bike to our Off-Road Adventure Zone in Gurgaon, where we do a lot of our off-road testing.
The helmet we had was white and blue in colour and it really stands out in terms of its overall design. The Airborne Helmet gets pretty decent material and technologies, which the manufacturer claims is as per international standards. The helmet comes in two variants, which is mostly distinguished by colour. The motocross styled helmet has clearly elongated chin with ventilation and double visor portions. Like all visors, it allow the rider to dip his or her head and provide further protection. Of course, it will also keep the sun out of the eyes if need be. So the design is also quite functional. Steelbird has clearly told us that this helmet is aimed towards the youth, but it will certainly appeal to anyone who goes adventure riding as well.
It’s certainly in no way a heavy helmet and it does feel comfortable. You might want to make sure you get the right size though because I felt there was a bit too much space between the inner padding and my ears. Also my chin was not fully protected, so sizing is quite important of course. The chin strap is polyester and the visor is a polycarbonate Anti Scratch Coated Visor. The visor size is quite nice and you can clearly see everything in front of you, with no obstructions.
With a price tag of just Rs.2,229 it certainly does seem affordable, but there is no certainty of how well it would actually protect you if you were in a hard impact accident. It does feel light and it is a little flimsy. In low impact crashes or falls it might keep you out of serious harm, but if you are travelling at high speeds it might just bear a bit of the impact before it breaks itself. Other than that it’s a decently built helmet that does look good for sure and can be used every day or for adventure riding.
