Abus Metronaut Helmet

The Abus Metronaut stirs conflicting emotions in me. Styled to look like a baseball cap and compliment the street wardrobe, I grew attached to ours very quickly. However, at this point the world-weary, caffeine dependant journalist proclaims it's little more than an in-mould construction piss-pot skate lid peppered with twenty-three pet-box type ventilation holes and dressed in a washable nylon cover.

Common to the type, ventilation is pretty sketchy leaving my hair matted to my scalp after a brisk twelve-mile saunter but this misses the point, it's aimed at the short haul jeans, T shirt and trainers recreational/utility rider and in my humble opinion, Abus are on to a winner if they can solve the airflow issue.

So then, down to brass tacks. Peel away the Velcro tab, slide the cloth material away from the helmet and you're left with a fairly substantial hard shell tipping the scales at a very reasonable 310g. Build quality and finish are generally what I've come to expect from Abus-there's no blips and half head-ring adjusts easily in gloved or bare hands-even on the fly. This incorporates a little LED powered by watch batteries for some additional 'left my lights at home' security-nice. Although it's only a back up handy back-up, the law says that rear lights must be positioned between 35 and 150cm from the ground - so unless you're under five foot you are going to need a proper rear light as well, you're going to need one even if you're over five foot as well come to think of it. Pedantic but it's the sort of loophole exploited by smooth talking lawyers in the event of an accident.

After wearing performance lids, the Metronaut feels quite bulbous but this evaporated in a matter of minutes and despite liberal helpings of scepticism, I could genuinely feel wind coursing through my hair. The peak is surprisingly functional too, shielding my face from sun, rain and twigs, although the street profile encroaches upon peripheral visibility, necessitating more caution when entering the flow of traffic, overtaking or negotiating roundabouts.

Even with a healthy thatch and the mercury nudging the muggy mid twenties, the inner climate remains fairly temperate riding for twenty minutes or so at a steady twelve-mph. Increasing both tempo and duration soon left me very sweaty, although to their credit, the washable pads absorb moisture very efficiently without "humming" between machine washes. On the strength of several prolonged showers, the outer cap does an excellent job of keeping the head dry-at least in cooler temperatures and the increased heat retention could be a real boon on cold winter commutes. I'd like to report the same for the integrated LED but frankly, it's too dim to be of much use and easily obscured by ponytails and similarly long hairstyles.

Verdict

Quirky, yet stylish utility lid needing better ventilation