Bell MX-9 Adventure Helmet



This is the Bell MX-9 Helmet.  Personally I have been an HJC fan for the last decade, but alas HJC hasn't caught up to the adventure riding market yet.  If you want a street helmet or a dirt helmet they will sell you a great one with plenty of safety certs to back it up for a very reasonable price.  When it comes to adventure helmets your options are getting better than they once were, but most of them are $400+ or you can go much cheaper and get something with a questionable safety value.

This is where I was hoping the Bell MX-9 would be a good fit right in the middle.  I was looking for a reasonable price point, good looks, functionality, and safety.  At a price of right around $200, and DOT and ECE certification it has two of the boxes checked.  Its not the best looking adventure helmet out there, but its half the price of the better looking ones so its close enough for me. 



Functionally it scores about a 8 out of ten with me.  The fit is good, and the chin strap seems to be in a good position.  Many people who pick the cheaper adventure options have a common complaint of the chin straps being to far back and cutting into their necks, but that is not so on the MX-9.  The vents on the helmet work great, the only down side I can see is that the only vent you can open and close is the chin vent.  This could become a problem later in the season when it starts to get a little colder. The visor has been great optically, and with it down the ambient noise is fairly low.  There is also the option to remove the visor, though it looks a little funny without it.  The visor seems to block a lot of the sun to the point I don't need sun glasses most of the day (early morning and late afternoon are still an issue when the sun is low though).  It also seems to have plenty of room for headphones and is setup to easily install a intercom system.



The one thing I was really hoping would have worked out better was the compatibility with goggles.  I'm not sure if its the fact I wear glasses, but the helmet is supposed to work well with goggles with our without the visor installed.  With the visor installed and with my glasses on the goggles sit way to low on my nose and tend to push my glasses down.  With the Visor off its not much better.  In general the helmet isn't the best when wearing glasses anyways, but the longer I have worn it the better my glasses seem to fit into the helmet. 




Overall I like the helmet and would buy it again in a heart beat.  It has performed great on the street and on the dirt.  

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