Go to any enduro or local trails these days and you’re guaranteed to see a whole lotta POC helmets. After their intro to NZ shores a few years ago courtesy of Wide Open, they have infiltrated the market with their unique styling, two-tone colour schemes and innovative features. We’ve just received the latest model, the Tectal Race.
The first POC mtb model, the Trabec, was a pioneering lid in the full-coverage, open-face style of helmet, and the Tectal follows in the same vein, with plenty of EPS liner material around the back and sides to offer optimum protection in those areas. The Unibody outer shell and Aramid fibre grid construction keeps it all together and maintains the integrity of the helmet in a crash impact.
The head harness adjuster assembly is one of the most positive and solid out there, and uses proper metal hardware that should last a long time.
See what we mean by coverage? There’s an elastic goggle strap incorporated at the back for those who are rocking the open face/goggles combo, which seems to be a lot these days! Heaps of big vents keep the noggin cool, and POC even supply a full set of spare pads for when you stink out the originals, which will be hard to do as they use Polygiene anti-odor treatment. There’s also a helmet bag to keep it scratch free on those road trips. What’s RECCO? Well if you get yourself lost, a ‘reflector’ built into the helmet that helps rescuers to locate you, and was developed for use in avalanche rescues.
The visor is easily adjustable via this alloy thumb-wheel, and has a good range of up and down, the amount you see there in the black window basically.
Alloy allen bolts hold the visor at the sides too.
Solid-as anchor points into the shell for the straps…
…which are held with metal pins inside the shell.
The straps won’t twist and they sit nice and flat against your cheeks because of the wide harness/junction thing. Very cool. Those Swedes know a bit about quality and protection…
Look out for a review in Spoke Issue 66, out May.
