David Undercoffler Wearing the Canyon Declectr Trail Helmet | Photo Mountain Weekly News
Canyon Deflectr Trail Helmet Review: The New Gold Standard for Safety and Value
If I’m being honest, my review of Canyon’s first-ever Deflectr Trail helmet was going to rank it above average at best. Most of my time was going to be spent talking about its special new ‘HighBar 1.5’ chin-strap retention system and the fact that, overall, the helmet felt like it could use some more ventilation in the hot California sun. But then I looked up its safety ratings. And then its price. We’ve got a winner here, folks.
The Safety Benchmark
According to the good folks at Virginia Tech’s proprietary helmet safety testing program, the Deflectr is now the highest-rated bike helmet – for any type of riding – they’ve ever tested. Both factors immediately shot this new brain bucket to the top of my recommended list; I’m happy to sweat an extra drop or two if it means I can keep a third concussion at bay the next time I take a hard fall.
Inside the Release Layer System (RLS)
Canyon will tell you that’s because of a funky system this helmet pioneers called the Release Layer System (RLS). Essentially, some of the panels on the helmet’s outer shell are designed to break away from the helmet itself when they encounter an impact. The Deflectr Trail has four such panels; two large ones up top and one smaller panel on either side of the helmet. Beneath these panels (sitting on top of the helmet’s inner shell) are hundreds of tiny polyurethane ‘bearings.’ They work to assist the outer panel in detaching from the helmet upon impact – the detachable panel effectively rolls off the helmet via these bearings – and as this is happening, it’s greatly reducing the amount of rotation passed to the rider’s head.
Design and Integration
What’s even better about this system is you’d have no idea it’s lurking under the surface by looking at the helmet. The Deflectr is a sharp-looking helmet with plenty of contemporary styling cues that will fit right in at any trailhead. The visor has three positions, with the highest being designed to allow you to tuck sunglasses underneath. And it currently comes in a trio of compelling color choices – Black, Metallic Olive, and Desert (the zebra-esque pattern you see here is for the helmet’s media launch only).
Price and Market Positioning
What’s better than looking good is looking smart because you didn’t spend a fortune. As of this writing, the Deflectr is a cool 160. That’s a killer deal. The next safest MTB helmets on Virginia Tech’s list are the POC Kortal (240), and the Fox Speedframe RS (279) and Pro (199…my personal helmet of choice at the moment). Too often safety and value can be mutually exclusive features on bike gear, so the fact that they’re so closely entwined on this Deflectr is a huge win for consumers.
Overall Impressions The Tradeoffs: HighBar and Ventilation
It’s not all roses for this helmet. The Highbar chinstrap is a little wonky. Instead of a set of nylon straps that click together under your chin, the Highbar is a single piece of plastic that pivots from eye level to down around your chin, and then tightens with a ratcheting dial. It’s an interesting concept, but in reality, I missed the ‘normal’ setup.
Nylon straps have a small amount of give to them that I found myself missing with the more rigid plastic strap, and overall comfort was a little lacking. Ventilation on the Deflectr also wasn’t on par with the aforementioned Fox Speedframe Pro that I’m currently using.
It was certainly fine – I never felt suffocated or overly hot. But it did seem to slightly lack the level of airflow – especially on slow climbs – that riders in super hot climates might be expecting.
These are worthy tradeoffs for everything else the Canyon Deflectr Helmet promises. For $160 out the door, you get the safest bike helmet money can buy, and it looks the business at the same time. Win-win-win
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