Met Parabellum Helmet

Italian company Met has made some pretty outstanding helmets over the years; in fact their Kaos line was one of the first helmets available with more head coverage than a standard XC lid. To keep up with the rapid development of bikes and the faster, more aggressive riding they allow, they’ve recently added the Parabellum to their range.

The name comes from Latin and roughly translates as ‘prepare for war’, so as you might expect it features extended coverage at the rear, plus a revised and more secure retention system, a new ‘gel’ pad at the front to divert sweat away from your eyes, plus a removable POV camera mount. There are a total of 28 vents to help keep your head breezy in the heat of battle, and its space-age looks, especially at the rear, certainly stand out at the trailhead.

Available in three colours and two sizes (medium and large), the claimed weight of 270g for the medium puts it at the featherweight end of the spectrum; or at least it would if it were indicative of reality. We’re not sure which bits were excluded to come up with that figure, but the actual in-use weight of 362g (without the 15g camera mount) is pretty standard for current all-mountain style helmets. The retail price of $229 makes the Parabellum a premium offering, so it’s not unreasonable to expect premium performance from this latest Italian cranium cage.

Trail Ready

Constructed in the almost ubiquitous in-mold style, where the EPS inner and the outer shell are manufactured together, the Parabellum appears to use a slightly thicker shell on the front, top and sides of the helmet where it cops the most abuse, and a slightly lighter layer around the back and underside. Our test helmet had a few small gaps where the front and lower shells meet, but otherwise the build quality was excellent. Straps and buckles are all quality items, and we like the fact that the camera mount clamps onto the shell using a screw mechanism, rather than the less secure velcro used by some other brands. Coverage is good at the rear although it doesn’t extend as low as some, and there’s no extra protection around the temples either; this puts the Parabellum squarely in the ‘trail’ category for us, rather than being a burlier all-mountain design.

The adjustable visor is very long and narrow; we feel a slightly shorter but wider design could have done a better job at keeping the sun and rain out without compromising forward vision as much. Rather than relying on friction to keep the visor where you put it, the folks at MET have gone with a set of knurled interlocking teeth. When combined with the brass thread inserts and steel screws the visor is going absolutely nowhere once you tighten it down, but it also means that you need to stop and almost completely undo the screws in order to adjust the visor. Adjustable it may be, but on-the-fly adjustable it isn’t—this means you’re likely to put it in a tolerable but not ideal position and just leave it there.

Size Wise

The retention mechanism on the Parabellum tightens evenly all the way around the circumference of your head, and this ensures there are no pressure points at the sides or front even when cranked down fairly tight. The rear cradle is nice and wide so it spreads tension evenly across a large area, but it also sits very low. For us this caused some issues with the fit. Even in the highest of its three positions, the lower edge of the retention cradle would dig into the back of our heads, and this tended to push the helmet forward and over our eyes. It should also be mentioned that the height adjustment mechanism on the cradle was quite hard to use.

Both of our 55-56cm head sized test riders found the same sizing issue with the medium (54-58cm) Parabellum. It just goes to show that head shape and fit is always a very personal matter and you really need to ‘try before you buy’ with items such as helmets. For a premium level helmet, we can’t help thinking that Met could have stretched to produce three shell sizes rather than two, perhaps offering a ‘small’ to complement the existing medium and large offerings.

In terms of ventilation, the Parabellum delivers on its 28-vent promise; even on hot and humid days it does a good job of keeping sweat to a minimum. The ‘Gel O2’ front pad is designed to divert sweat out to the edges and away from your eyes; it proved remarkably comfortable despite feeling a little unusual when you first put it on. The minimal internal channelling means it’s not the absolute airiest helmet we’ve come across, although riders living in cooler climbs might prefer not to have the winter wind whistling around their head during the cooler months.

The Parabellum clearly has some great features; the Gel O2 front pad works well and feels great, the camera mount is excellent, and the rear coverage and ventilation are perfect for a trail helmet destined for long days in the saddle. However, in order to fully justify its price, we think the rear cradle height adjuster needs to be improved, the visor adjustment mechanism needs a rethink, and a smaller size needs to be added to fit those with less girthy heads. With those changes, it’d have any rider ready to do battle with the rocks, heat and steeps of modern trail riding.

Advance Traders 1300 361 686 / www.met-helmets.com