MET Helmets Corso and Grancorso review

How the Grancorso is done

Tempo di lettura: 11 minuti

How the Grancorso is done

The shape is typical of an urban helmet, like a cap, let’s say so. Nape and temples well protected, few air intakes, cut shaped on the sides to leave some space to the ears and the visor. Which, as we will see, is removable.

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The ventilation system is justly less extended than a sports helmet: eight air intakes, six inlets and two outlets. But it’s definitely effective.

Two front air inlets and four on the top, with shaped channels that help the flow. As you can see in the image below, the upper inlets slightly protrude, so they can better capture the wind.

Let see them in detail. The two front ones are wider, one on each side. But they don’t affect the temples’ protection, which is indeed superior to other urban helmets. And there is a reason: it’s one of the criteria to be respected in order to aspire to the NTA 8776 homologation.

Smaller, but in a greater number, the top ones. The channels that introduce them are very elegant.

The two rear outlets are definitely wide, and embellished by the plate with the logo.

With a white light the air intakes.

With a red light the air vents.

The visor is removable; for those who prefer the London style look or those who simply don’t like it.

It’s a few seconds operation and requires no tools: two small seats in which to insert the little pins of the visor.

If you look at it quickly, you may think that the Met Helmets Grancorso is a cheap manufactured helmet, because its large inferior area in plain sight, I mean unpainted, that reminds the expanded material. Nothing more wrong.

Yet the marbled effect should make us sense that there is something underneath. As well as precision and the processing neatness, which are not typical of a cheap helmet. The shaped area above the ear is perfect and all the protection protrudes to wrap the temples; as well as an important protection for the nape.

But it’s not just this; all the lower part conceals a secret: it’s reflective. I hope you get it from my pictures; as you know, when I’m working with reflective elements, I can never convey their full effectiveness in my photos.

A further element of safety and, I can assure you, well visible even from a distance. Wise decision to use this material throughout the rim. The cyclist is visible also by vehicles that come to the side. I like it.

It’s not enough; the Met Helmet Grancorso can be equipped with the small rechargeable and water- resistant light proposed by the Company; the same one we saw in the Manta test and that costs less this year.

It hooks to the band behind the nape, without affecting functionality and accessibility of the adjustment wheel. Four tenacious (even too much…) hooks hold it firmly in place. You can also note the micro Usb socket for charging, protected by a rubber door that I removed for the photos. And that now I can find it…

It has a fixed function, flashing slowly and quickly in full light, ie all six LED lights at the same time, and a nice choreography with the LEDS that light up in pairs toward the outside or the inside. A button in the center controls the switching on, the switching off and different lighting effects. A couple of effects.

It is visible from a long distance too and with an angle of 180°, and my advice is too use one of the flashing functions. It increases the autonomy and especially the visibility, because the eye is captured by the movement and a flashing light will be more noticed.

It would be a mistake to think that it would be worthwhile mounting it only in the evenings; it is better to leave it there as it has a further interesting function: the light sensor, that turns on whenever we are in the dark, for example when entering a tunnel.

Just turn on the light, press the button quickly four times until switching off, but in reality it does not switches off (for that you need to press for a long time) and you will have activated the sensor.

Here is a short video showing all its functions; including the activation of the light sensor. In the dark or in a low light, the LEDS are activated in a fast flashing mode; when you go back to the light, they switch off after about 15 seconds.

Between the reflecting area and this LED light, there’s no danger you go unnoticed. 😀

Now let’s turn the helmet and let’s look inside, starting from the interior.

Four removable pieces, soft, rightly padded and widely perforated to ensure the best breathability. Some small Velcro ovals keep them in their seat.

The fit adjustment system is the refined Safe-T Advanced.

Besides the circumference, adjustable with the classic knob, the band at the nape can be moved to different positions, ensuring a perfect fit.

In detail we can observe the useful stroke that the system can cover.

The excursion adjustable through the wheel is very wide too; here below from the wide open to the all closed.

A further fitting and comfort element is given by the pair of silicon inserts. In short, once secured to the nape, the helmet doesn’t move any more.

Why so much attention? Because the nape is, according to the statistics, one of the areas where you collide more often in the dynamics of urban accidents, besides the temples. In addition, a very tight helmet will do its full duty, one that moves doesn’t.

But of course the band is not enough: you need the strap.

In this case we have the exclusive magnetic system called Fidlock.

Which, at first, left me perplexed because it seemed not very effective. I spent more than half an hour to stretch and pull in all possible ways and directions and nothing, it stayed there: locked like a bank vault.

The two elements are shaped to fit perfectly and without any effort; and no effort is needed to unhook, with just one hand and even wearing heavy winter gloves.

After a while you get used to the right movement, different from the usual pressure clip, and you learn to appreciate its functionality.

A soft and extended pad prevents direct contact with the skin.

Two systems to adjust the lenght of the strap: the classic buckle ( with a comfortable ring to stretch and an elastic to keep the excess) and a couple of clips, equal to those we saw in the review of the sport Met Helmets Strale.

I have mentioned several times and several times an icon and an inscription unknown to most people popped up in the images so far published: NTA 8776.

On the right of the acronym, another inscription: S-Pedalec. Which is intuitive to decipher if combined with pedal assisted bikes. But there is that “S” and it is worth spending a couple of words. In many European countries we have pedal assisted bikes type-approved to reach 45 km/h: practically the speed of a small motorcycle. They are precisely the Speed Pedalec, from which the abbreviation we saw before.

With these speeds at stake, it was necessary to make the type-approval criteria more stringent; for bikes and accessories. And helmets did not escape, wisely, from this principle.

For this reasons, a group of helmets manufacturers, including Met Helmets, drew up a protocol together with the Dutch NEN certification body: using the previous homologation criteria to update them, sector and clinical studies to understand where the impacts are concentrated and much more.

The resulti s some helmets, like this Grancorso, which provide a superior protection of the nape and the temples (now it is clearer why I emphasized before these aspects), a higher thickness of the internal foam to better absorb impacts at a high speed, smaller ventilation holes to obtain a higher percentage of full and padded areas and the presence of fixed or mobile visors able to offer a superior protection from wind, insects and small objects “fired” by other vehicles. All superior in short. 😀

More than my words, maybe a photographic comparison clarifies better.

For a better understanding I compared the Met Helmets Grancorso with its sport Strale brand brother.

The first operation was to bring the two helmets perfectly at level, otherwise it would have resulted in a faulty way. Perspective deceives, refer to the bubble.

The second operation is to draw lines (the yellow one simulates the level) to show the different extension: the Grancorso, loyal to the directives of the NTA 8776, protects a lot more the forehead, the nape and the temples.

Perhaps I should have opened the paragraph starting from the homologation; I preferred this interlude because it allows me, now, to better explain the reason of the next two accessories we are going to see: the removable visors.

They are the Mag Clip Shield, one transparent and the other one slightly mirrored, indicated as “mirror glace”. It is available in a tinted version too.

They did not choose to name these visors “shields” randomly: they are real shields that protect from wind, insects and small debris. And from the cold, because a little cold arrived even here, more or less, and they were very useful.

Once mounted, their extension is remarkable.

The connection system is very practical: it uses three magnets, borrowing the technology already used by Met Helmets for its time trial Drone helmet.

In detail.

Clever the solution for when we want to do without it: we hook it, always using the magnets, on the top the helmet.

And now the effect that does with the helmet worn: it protects just very much…

Weight measured by me for this M size I am testing: 310 grams, without visor. Great for an urban helmet and generously sized to comply with the NTA 8776 homologation.

Four available colors; besides the elegant mat black seen up to now, we have a simple white, a fashionable deep blue and a bright yellow.

Well, we can say now that the Met Helmets Grancorso has no more secrets; let’s turn over the page and let’s go meet its brother Corso.