The world of aggressive looking helmets is quickly getting saturated. But there is no dearth of designs that look great. As long as there’s creativity, there’s going to be great designs around. There might even be rehashes and nods to some older designs, and this is exactly what CRG Sports are doing with their ATV series. Coming from the ATV 1, there have been minute but significant and numerous design changes which has led to the culmination in the ATV 6.
DOT certified, but not ECE 22.05. So you can ride on in US and Canada wearing this lid on, but not in the EU zone (apparently).
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What Would You Love?
The aesthetics of this helmet have been kept subtle, yet the ventilation scheme, the eye port and visor mount positions give this a deep, serenely aggressive styling. If you are a previous ATV helmet customer, you can actually see the design evolve over the iterations and get progressively streamlined. The chin guard shape is actually a recurring design in many helmets produced by CRG.
The helmet comes in four colors – shiny black, matte black, glossy white and a blue theme which has a lot of flakes interspersed. But it looks quite heavy set in matte black and white.
The packaging is amazing. All CRG helmets come with their own unique packaging boxes.
The Top Features to Look Out For
Aggressive styling is commonplace. What about features? Let’s take a look.
Shell
The ATV shell consists of fiberglass reinforced plastic. The base of fiberglass is a thermosetting polymer which has intertwined fibers or strands of silica and other minerals. The process is carried out when it is in liquid form and then injection molding is used to give it a final shape. This makes the shell very lightweight and impact resistant.
The additional benefit you get is that this material makes the helmet less brittle. So you can rest assured that cracks and other breaches in the continuity of the shell won’t appear unless it is trapped under an impossibly heavy load.
It weighs approximately 3 pounds, thanks to the fiberglass reinforced plastic, which makes it one of the lightest closed lids out there.
The shape is more of a rounded oval, but the size ‘large’ has enough length to accommodate heads which are a little narrow and long. With six available sizes, you can be sure of finding the one which fits you quite well.
We have worked closely with RevZilla, Amazon and 2Wheel over the years to provide our testers with products to review. They are all great partners and unique in their own ways, so make sure to check out their prices. Please don’t forget we may get a commission if you buy from them.
Visors
The ATV 6 is equipped with a clear polycarbonate face shield. It has been advertised as scratch resistant. Ironically though, a warning sticker on the face shield reminds you not to ride at night with a scratched shield. It’s actually quite resistant to light bruises and scratches, but if you are involved in a major one where the face shield is lip-locked with the tarmac, it is going to get scratched. It will protect your face nonetheless.
The face shield does not have sufficient anti fogging treatment, so it can be a tad bit tough to ride around in colder weather. However, you can keep the visor in a ‘city’ or ‘cracked open’ position and the mist will clear up almost as fast as it appears. Also, the visor has mounts for a PinLock anti fog lens, so you are covered when you buy one anyway.
The visor mounts are quite small and the mechanism is not quite up to the mark as compared with other helmets in this price band.
Ventilation
The ventilation scheme may look minimalistic and bland, but it is actually very effective in letting lots of air in. Four vertical chin vents and three auxiliary vents on either side of an angry-looking, blocky, pentagonal extrusion are your main inlets. These allow air to flow around your mouth and jaws. Two angled chimney vents on both sides allow additional air in over your scalp to keep it cool.
It is a bit disappointing that this scheme does not work quite well in getting that circulating air out. Not too bad though. It’s not as if you are going to choke on your own stale air, but it would have made a nice addition if there were exhaust vents at the back.
Padding and Lining
The fabric comes from COOLMAX; guaranteed to be smooth and comfortable. It wicks up sweat and dust quickly and is breathable, so your skin does not feel irritated during one of your longer tours. The comfort liner is removable and washable, enabling you to keep using it for a long time before a replacement is necessary.
Customer Reviews
About 80 percent of the customers liked this helmet for its design and decent number of features. A few complained that it let too much air in, while some recognized the flimsy visor mounts at once and were miffed immediately.
However, many of them liked the fact that the ATV 6 is good at suppressing sound and keeping their heads warm in colder climate. But again, the inadequate fogging capacity made them weary.
We have worked closely with RevZilla, Amazon and 2Wheel over the years to provide our testers with products to review. They are all great partners and unique in their own ways, so make sure to check out their prices. Please don’t forget we may get a commission if you buy from them.
Bottom Line
The CRG ATV 6 is a decent entrant in the flurry of helmets trying on the ‘Vader’ look and it has standard features for the casual user as well. If you are not sure about buying a premium brand, this one will serve your needs well.
Verdict: Good helmet.