Provided the helmet in question fits his head properly. All helmets have to pass the same tests, but the variables are retention system and inside shape.

Best advice in the entire thread -- restrict your short list of final choices to the helmets that fit your head best. In my case, the Giro Xen was by far the best candidate, but "your mileage may -- actually, will -- vary."

Both my wife and I use the Giro Savant and are very satisfied with them.

There is one problem: The chin straps work loose over time. This seems to be true of all the Bell and Giro bicycle helmets, at least in my experience. The straps are slippery enough to work through the little O-ring that is supposed to hold the adjustment. I solved this problem by sewing the straps together with a few hand stitches of carpet thread.

Helmet chin straps must remain 'snug'; with the strap fastened, one should not be able to pull the helmet off. This is important and I fault Bell/Giro for not addressing the problem better.


Joe --- who knows a lot about helmets.


jyl:
Your evaluation and analysis of the utility of MIPS is accurate and I predict that MIPS will 'go away' in time.

Also: any legal helmet, no matter the price, will perform to the established and legal standard of performance for normal impacts.

However: Those older helmets with pointy tails can be dangerous and should be replaced with the more current and rounder variety; a round helmet with no protrusions is best. -- JM

Just for the fun of it, Google: "pig snout helmet" This helmet style was developed to deflect things like arrows, pikes and lances. What this same shape will do, when applied to the back of a bicycle helmet, is move the helmet aside so the car can hit your head directly. Such 'aero' helmets might be useful when doing a Time Trial with no one else around, but -- not in traffic with cars. -- JM

I have found for me and it probably has something to do with where I live, but other than fit, airflow is the most important thing to me.