For those who ride into Europe's big cities, 'flip-over' helmets have become somewhat ubiquitous. And indeed for the urban rider, a flip-over might just be the perfect helmet, combing the protection of a full-face helmet when you're on your way into town from the suburbs, with the cooling effects of an open-face helmet when you're inside the city limits.
Shark helmets has been producing flip-over lids since 2007. The original helmet was called the Evoline. A design upgrade earned the helmet a new name: the Evo-One. That helmet went through several iterations , not all of which were hugely successful. But with the need to upgrade to ECE 22-06, Shark decided to start afresh from a blank sheet of paper.
There's nothing particularly outstanding about the technical spec. of the new Shark OXO, as the company's new flip-over is called.
The shell is made from a material called Lexan. That's a fancy word for plastic. This is not the most sophisticated substrate for a helmet, but plastic helmets are good at absorbing the energy of an impact. Plastic, though, doesn't make for the strongest shells, when it comes to multiple impacts, for example.
The helmet comes in just two shell sizes. Now three shell sizes is the mark of a truly premium helmet, although it's still probably the case that most brands have two, including some upmarket ones like, for example, a Schuberth helmet.
The OXO comes in six different sizes; from XS to XXL. Interestingly, the helmet has six different eps sizes, which means that each helmet will fit differently. And I mention this because, in the outlying sizes, some helmet makers rely on the comfort liner to alter the internal fit.
The headliners on the OXO can be removed and washed, by the way, but don't come in different thicknesses. But the cheekpads do. In fact, in every size of helmet you get the option to fit up to five different thicknesses of cheekpad. And that's pretty impressive.
The internal facings are certainly comfortable. All the surfaces feel nice next to the skin, although we're not talking about the levels of sumptuousness of a Shoei helmet here.
To us, one of the most interesting differences between the old Evo-One helmet and the OXO is the way it fits. Frankly, the OXO's predecessor had a very idiosyncratic fit. The helmet was very wide, meaning that it revealed large open spaces above the cheekbones. It then tapered down quite aggressively to the chin, meaning that it often felt as though you were wearing a boxing head guard. The result was that the cheeks could be very tight, pinching the mouth, and making it nigh on impossible to chew gum. Or even talk! People got used to it, but there was no other helmet quite like it. We were never great fans of the fit, although the helmet's overall rounder shape did work well on those with wider heads.
Well, the OXO is very different.
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