Endura MT500 full-face helmet £189.99

The MT500 is Endura’s take on the lightweight trail/enduro full-face. At just 570g (S/M), it’s over 100g lighter than our category benchmark, the Troy Lee Designs Stage helmet, and also costs £85 less. Like the Stage, the MT500 is DH-certified and meets the ASTM F1952 full-face standard.

Endura offer the MT500 in three sizes. To tailor the fit, two thicknesses of cheek pad are included, plus it has an adjustable retention cradle. We’d recommend trying before buying because it feels quite narrow. Our tester fitted the M/L (chosen using the size guide), but although the thin cheek pads were super-snug, the retention cradle needed to be tightened fully to feel secure. Downsizing did help, but it felt noticeably tighter at the sides.

As we’ve seen on other top-tier lids from Endura, the MT500 uses Koroyd to increase noggin protection. Despite this honeycomb layer, it’s surprising how airy the MT500 feels once you get moving.

That’s largely down to the sizable vents and intakes, which do a sterling job of preventing you overheating. When you’re working hard, it’s noticeable that your breathing is louder than in the Stage or in Fox’s Proframe, due to the Koroyd in the chin bar, but we didn’t find this off-putting.

Something else you’ll need to get used to is the peak, which remains in your eyeline. It can’t be pushed up out of the way because it butts up against the helmet shell. This, coupled with the relatively stiff plastic it’s constructed from, gives us concerns over just how easily it’ll break away in a crash. Endura say: “The effect of a so-called ‘breakaway peak’ is something we may investigate further in the future, but on this project the focus was to create the lightest, best-fitting trail full-face on the market, exceeding the required safety standards.”

One other little bugbear is the strap. While we’re happy enough with the magnetic buckle, threading one half of the

strap through a loop to ensure the chin pad stays in the right place is quite fiddly, especially with gloves on. We also found that the strap needed retightening almost every time we put the helmet back on.

If you can live with these issues, the MT500 is a nice lid to ride in. It’s comfy (although the padding isn’t quite as plush as the Stage’s) and has good enough airflow that you can keep it on for long, sweaty climbs without feeling like your head is about to explode. It’s well made and competitively priced, plus Endura offer a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. Rob www.endurasport.com