Bell Super 3R Mips Helmet Review

The best gear adapts to what is being thrown at it. With Bell’s Super 3R with its removable chin guard giving it the freedom of an open faced helmet to the protection of a full faced helmet when you want it.

After the Super 2R Bell decided to listen and have reconfigured the whole fit to avoid pressure points and the discomfort caused. Fair to say it has worked, the lid is now comfortable as a trail helmet and doesn’t squish your face too much with the chin bar attached.

Let us start with the helmet without the chin-bar attached, the typical day has to start with a long painful hill. With Bell’s Float Fit system the Super 3R has a spring like fit With improved fit and comfort over the old 2R’s. Utilizing the rubber dial at the back bell recommend not to over tighten the system for the best fit.

With 23 vents and 4 ports in front of the brow, there’s plenty of chance for ventilation. Actually, the ventilation provided is excellent with the combination of the fit system, the large numerous vents and the additional brow ports. These allow a constant stream of fresh air in and keep it flowing over the skull and out the exhaust at the back. Making these long hill climbs more bearable.

Bell have reconfigured the padding removing it in some areas and increasing it in others. Allowing for a more comfortable fit. They have stuck with their X-static Padding, the antibacterial padding that works by infusing silver into the fibres. The padding certainly works better than in the Super 3R’s predecessor making the fit much better and the positioning of the pads helps wick sweat away from your brow and eyes, whilst helping reduce the helmet gunk smell.

Bell has included a breakaway camera mount for the helmet too and this one won’t obscure one for the vents. sitting neatly on top it doesn’t protrude too much so is okay to keep there all the time even if you don’t have a camera in use. The mount itself is designed to break away during a crash helping prevent further injury to yourself. Need not worry about it coming loose or popping off during a rough descent. The mount is sturdy and the breakaway feature stays in place till a crash or finding that branch you swore was high last week.

The helmet’s adjustable visor comes in useful for storing goggles or glasses, finding 2 vents conveniently placed. Flipping the visor up doesn’t interfere with the camera mount luckily. A few helmets we’ve tested did prevent the visor from going all the way up. The visor can be detached if you so choose or if you need a replacement.

Once you finally reach the top you can begin the fun descent. The detachable chin guard can happily be stowed away in a back pack or else where. The chin-bar attaches by 2 clips either side and one at the back, whilst some people claim the clips are too stiff or fiddly we can report not one of us experienced these issues. With some people attaching the chin-bar in under 3 seconds it isn’t a difficult task to achieve.

The padding inside the chin-bar can be increased or decreased, we found this a nice feature with some wanting a squashed face and others happy to go with out. Once the visor is attached it is surprisingly comfortable and has plenty of space for your goggles. Starting the descent we realized that even the chin bar provided additional ventilation with 6 ports. Whilst acting as a full face this helmet provided superb ventilation.

The helmet weighs in at 440g without the chin-bar, it isn’t the heaviest trail helmet out on the market but provides a lot more coverage than some of the lighter ones. The chin-bar attached tips the helmet up to 760g making it an incredibly light full face helmet. Unfortunately, the Super 3R isn’t DH safety rated although there are rumours of a Super 3 DH for 2018. With Mips included as standard, the fit isn’t affected. With people debating Mips in this helmet it doesn’t affect the experience but certainly better safe than sorry.

The only issues found with the Super 3R are that it would interfere with glasses when wearing them. However, we found the best solution was to just stick goggles on the helmet made for easy storage and accommodates them brilliantly.

This is a trail helmet and should be used as a trail helmet the chin guard adds an extra sense of security. Whilst not being DH certified the chin-bar will save a trip to the dentist should you come off on a moderate intensity decent. The chin-bar can have replacements bought and they are backwards compatible so you can upgrade your Super 2R. 

With 5 great styles to choose from and 2 extra styles and fit for women the Super 3R and Super 3R Joyride make a great purchase. You are essentially getting 2 helmets for the price of 1! Whilst the chin-bar needs more than a jersey pocket to store it away it does fit nicely strapped onto hydration packs or a back pack. Making your descents safer and your climbs cooler the Super 3R makes an excellent addition for all trail riders.