Giro Flak Helmet Review. Keep Your Melon Safe From Dumbassedry
It’s about I start reviewing some of the gear I use while biking as some of it can be used in other ways. The most important component to bike riding aside from the bike? Something to protect your melon from cracking open and spewing out grey matter. My first purchase was the Giro Flak Helmet that I purchased off of Amazon. I got a skate/bmx helmet to protect myself instead of the traditional mountain biking helmet because at the time it looked the the Flak covered more real estate up top.
For my first helmet, the Flak definitely provides good protection. Not to mention the matte black color is a favorite of mine. I’m not typically one for crazy designs all over, so a small sticker on the back was a nice accent to me. The matte look has been a pain to upkeep as fingerprints tend to stay longer than you might want, but it’s a helmet. Something’s going to get it messed up so you’ll just have to deal with it if you’re a neat freak. Giro is a great helmet company for all sizes noggins, because the size large fit my enormous noggin with no issues, and the padding kept the helmet on tight even after a few bad spills. The fit is perfect, but looks wise the helmet sits just above the head, as opposed to sitting around the head, if that makes any sense.
The helmet comes with three different sets of interchangeable strips of padding for the front and back areas of the helmet. Unfortunately you can’t add any padding to the top of the helmet but with a little ingenuity you can DIY it. I’ve had two pretty bad crashes thus far where the helmet definitely saved me from a trip to the hospital. I fell twice rounding a corner going pretty fast and in one instance my head smacked into a pretty sharp boulder. Other than what might have been a very mild concussion, the Flak saved me from any injury and other than a decent sized cut, the helmet was no worse for wear. I’m wondering if the padding on the top of the helmet were more significant would have saved me from the headache I got after crashing, but it’s just conjecture. I’m not trying to let that happen again anyway.
The straps of the helmet are simple and easily adjustable. The material is a smooth nylon which is plenty comfortable to me and I haven’t experienced any chafing from the size of the straps. Design wise there’s a small drawback here. You can’t remove the existing straps for a different brand or thickness. Not sure how Giro treats strap failure but I’m assuming you send in your helmet for them to replace it themselves. The strap attachment point is bolted with something similar to a metal grommet and the opposite end lies in between the hard styrofoam interior. It looks that without the proper equipment you can’t access these points without at least destroying part of the foam. Just something to think about for those who like a high level of modularity in their helmets.
All in all, the Giro Flak Helmet is a great helmet for those involved in multiple sports where brain trauma is a risk. Aside from a lack of thicker padding for the top portion of the helmet and a lack in modularity, the Flak is a winner where it counts most: protecting your skull. For the price, this helmet outdoes its more expensive competitors by offering up a no nonsense solution that’s simple and gets the job done. I highly recommend it if all you need is a basic helmet that’s light on flare and gives good protection.
Buy Now at: Amazon
