With a long-standing history in road cycling Catlike is renowned for creating distinctive helmets with outlandish styling—take a look at their Whisper helmet, for example. The Spanish brand is well known in road circles and a common sight in the European pro peloton, but they also have a full range of off-road models.
We checked out the Leaf, which is pitched as their trail/all-mountain model—a very popular part of the market. It sells for $140, again a very competitive point where it will go head to head with models from better known brands such as Fox and Giro.
Like its competitors the Leaf uses EPS foam moulded construction which is protected by a micro-shell on the outside. First impressions were good and the finish was as good or better than most other helmets at this price point. Catlike offers a claimed weight of just 260g but our medium sample was 310g. That’s out by a fair bit but it’s still a touch lighter than its main price-point competitors; both the Fox Flux and the Giro Xen are around the 330g mark.
Highlights for the Leaf include the visor; it offers better than average protection and a more secure mounting system than most. It also acts as aerofoil, channelling air through the front vents. Speaking of which, the three main openings are protected with bug mesh so you don’t get stinging insects stuck inside the helmet when blasting downhill at warp speed! With 23 vents in total, we never had any overheating issues—again it’s at least as good as the competition on this front.
While the outer micro-shell is well formed, fitting neatly around the EPS foam inner, it doesn’t extend fully around the lower lip of the helmet. This doesn’t affect the protection offered, it means the fragile EPS is left more exposed to general knocks and bumps—something to consider if you’re rough on your gear and tent to toss the helmet into the back of the car.
The Leaf comes in two shell sizes; the medium aims to cover 54-57cm heads while the large goes from 58 to 60cm. Offering three sizes would increase your chances of getting a perfect fit but it’s pretty common to have two size options at this price point.
Catlike provides a handy helmet adjustment guide to help you find the perfect fit. This includes four-way adjustable ‘Multi Position System’ as well as variable thickness padding to cater for round, oval, oblong and ellipse shaped heads. Despite all this, two of our testers with 55cm heads found the medium Leaf to be on the large side—they felt it relied too heavily on the adjustable Multi Position System (MPS) to achieve a secure fit.
Sizing is always going to be a very individual thing and for me the medium Leaf was great straight out of the box. Of course it’s always best to try before you buy—something that applies with any helmet purchase.
Euro Design
Styling is also a matter of personal preference but I liked the organic almost ‘alien’ look of the Leaf. The profile is rather low and flat so you look less like a ‘bobble head’. It’s offered in five colour options too, so there’s probably something to suit your taste; there’s black, fluoro green, fluoro orange, red and green.
Catlike boasts ‘LNP’ as another feature; that’s ‘Low Nape Protection’. Whilst there’s definitely more coverage than a road or pure XC lid, it’s not as generous as some all-mountain/enduro helmets. That said, the low weight and ventilation of the Leaf makes it better suited to XC and trail applications.
Catlike mightn’t be the first name that comes to mind for a MTB specific helmet, but the Leaf is a worthy contender. The finish is great and the styling just that little bit different without being over the top. If you’re in the market for a mid-priced trail helmet, it’s well worth trying the Leaf on for size.
Apollo Bicycles (03) 9881 6600 www.apollobikes.com
