SCHUBERTH C4 – PRO HELMET

TESTED BY: Charlie Oakman

MILES: 2000+

TIME: Three years

PRICE: £499.99

WEB: Bikerheadz.co.uk

TEL: 01425 620580

A flip-front helmet in Fast Bikes... are you mad? Well, quite – that was my thought at first having visited Bikerheadz on the south coast, and the guvnor Pete pretty much demanded I ride home in the C4-Pro’s predecessor, the C3. I ‘quietly’ succumbed to the benefits of a modular helmet and since 2019, the C4-Pro has been my go-to for longer trips and upright rides.

Between the C3 and C4-Pro was the C4. This wasn’t the best, suffering as it did with terrible condensation, which was a possible oversight as they developed the excellent internal comms unit. A mistake maybe, but we all have to make them to improve and the C4-Pro is testament to this.

It’s a striking lid. My personal design preference is the ‘fragment helmet’ – plain old black and white with bold lines that work brilliantly with a dark visor, which are thankfully available despite coming complete with a drop-down visor. Another sport faux pas? Maybe, but the dark visor hides this, and if you have one you will find occasion to use it. Indeed, you are hard-pressed on the road to see that this is even a modular helmet, with the button to raise the front nicely tucked away out of sight on the underside of the chin bar.

The vision from this helmet is incredible. It has an extreme wide view, aided with the visor not only coming Pinlock 120 compatible, but with one already fitted. Pulling the helmet on, you feel the benefit of the Coolmax interior straightaway; a seamless, velvet-like material which feels fantastic on your face, even after a long ride on a hot day. There is a push button vent on the chin that directs air up onto the inside of the visor, joining air from the top vent that finds its own way out as there are no rear exhausts – this works with the quality lining to make this an eerily quiet helmet indeed (claimed 85dB @ 70mph on a naked bike).

If you are into your comms, the C4-Pro comes complete with pre-wired speakers and a microphone. These work with Schuberth’s own SC1 communications system that inserts into the helmet on the left-hand side, with the battery doing similar on the right; an optional extra, of course, at about £120.

Though not a regular comms user, I had great fun listening to Manx Radio and the Senior TT while riding home a couple of summers ago.

The comms does make this a slightly heavier lid which, without them, is already 1500g (the C4-Pro Carbon is a lighter version), but its aerodynamics make for a smooth, quiet and comfortable ride with great vision all around, so this additional weight is certainly forgivable.

I have ridden on a number of very different bikes in this helmet and you don’t need to be on a GS, or necessarily be on tour, to benefit from its attributes. No, you are not wearing it on track because it’s not designed for that – the C4-Pro is there to aid the comfort of the long haul and far-reaching roads, a job it does well and has since it came on the scene….

Plenty of deals out there at present, some a smidge over £300, which is cracking for a Schuberth lid of this quality. Personally recommended.