This Clever Mountain Bike Helmet Has an Easily Removable Chin Bar

Bell’s Super 2R helmet has a removable chin bar. That nubbin on the top is a GoPro mount. Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

Next time you go screaming down some steep single-track on your mountain bike, biff it on a redwood root, and wind up with a mouthful of dirt, I hope you remember that I’m the guy who told you how you could have avoided that fractured jaw.

Bell’s new Super 2R helmet has a removable chin bar. It starts off looking like a standard MTB helmet. It provides a bit more coverage than the average half-shell trail bucket (especially in the back) but it still has decent ventilation and an adjustable visor. The idea is that you wear it with your face fully exposed while you pedal up the steep stuff, keeping the chin bar in your pack. Then, at the top, you snap on the face-saver and buckle it in place. There are two lever buckles at the temples, and another on the back of the helmet, so securing the extra polycarbonate loop takes only a few seconds. Now you’re ready to get gnarly without the fear of leaving your face fully exposed. We’ve seen some other helmets with removable chinguards—bolt-ons, mostly—but Bell’s quick-clamp design is really smart.

The list price is $200. But for an extra $20, you get more than just the detachable jaw protection. Like a few other helmets in Bell’s top end, the Super 2R comes in a version built with MIPS technology. That stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System. It’s a feature that allows the helmet to slide slightly on angled impacts, reducing the likelihood of brain injury. MIPS AB is a Swedish company that’s currently partnering with all the big names in extreme sports (Giro, POC, Smith, Bell) to crank out helmets specifically designed to reduce brain and upper spinal cord injuries in serious spills. MIPS helmets have that little yellow sticker on the back, they’re pretty easy to spot.

So here you’ve got a helmet built to better protect your chin, jaw, and pearly whites—and, if you upgrade to the $220 MIPS version, your brain—the next time you take a launcher over the handlebars of your 29er. Those fractured ribs, collarbone, and wrist? You’re on your own, bud.