Difference between road and mountain helmets?

Looking at manufacturers sites for helmets, I see that they distinguish between road and mountain.
Other than visors, what is the difference between the two categories?

Thanks, Chuck Davis

 

"Chuck Davis" <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected] 148273.news.dfncis.de:
> Looking at manufacturers sites for helmets, I see that they distinguish between road and mountain.
> Other than visors, what is the difference between the two categories?

There differences are not huge and many cyclists use the same helmet for road and off-road.

Off-road helmets tend to be bulkier, with more protection on the back and sides. Off-road helmets
always come with visors, which are generally useless on-road (since they block your view). Off-road
helmets tend to have short, wide vents which work well at low speeds. Road helmets have longer,
narrower vents which work better at higher speeds.

 

Yes, they are marketed differently.

Actually I have a Giro Mtn. Bike Helmet, which is fine for either my trail riding or Road Riding. I
consider myself to be an average rider, 18mph avg on road, and 14-15mph on trails. I find that the
helmet is comfortable in all conditions, you just have to remove the visor if you are riding in
hilly conditions, so you can see when going downhill. Allot of people say the visor is useless, but
if you go on allot of long rides like I do keeping a little extra sun off your face makes a big
difference in the middle of summer. So unless you are planning on running the CAT circuit of the
USCF and shaving your legs, a mtn. bike helmet will do fine for ya.

"Chuck Davis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Looking at manufacturers sites for helmets, I see that they distinguish between road and mountain.
> Other than visors, what is the difference between the two categories?
>
> Thanks, Chuck Davis

 

"Mike Hilb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:OlMva.35118$A%[email protected]...

> I find that the helmet is comfortable in all conditions, you just have to remove the visor if you
> are riding in hilly conditions, so you can see when going downhill. Allot of people say the visor
> is useless, but if you go on allot of long rides like I do keeping a little extra sun off your
> face makes a big difference in the middle of summer.

The visor on my Bell flips up, so I can more or less set the angle of it to where I want. This works
pretty well to keep rain off my glasses and shield some glare from lights at night. I find visors to
be really useless in the woods, but I agree with you that the face shading makes a big difference on
long road rides in the summer. I use only one helmet, I had to tape up the silly vents in the visor
to keep rain out. I did split my last Bell open on a low tree branch that I didn't see because of
the visor. I guess that makes visors somewhat worse than useless in the woods.