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Cold Tested: FXR FX-1 Team Helmet With Electric Shield

FXR FX-1 Team Helmet
FXR Racing FX-1 Team Helmet with faceshield in place.

Maybe it was time to change my ways. Since 1994, when I first started riding with prescription goggles, I have a worn motocross-style helmet for all of my snowmobile riding. I had the Lasik vision correction surgery back in 2000, but by then I had gotten so used to riding with an MX helmet and goggles that I simply couldn’t go back.

In most conditions, I absolutely love that setup. There’s less concern about fogging, the helmets are generally lighter and I like the added airflow over my usually hot-running head. But there’ve been days when temperatures dip double-digits below zero and I have questioned my choice in brain buckets. However, there’s not a real practical way to carry a spare full-face helmet with on a trail ride. What to do?

That made me the perfect customer to try what’s called a “sport crossover” lid, like FXR’s FX-1 Team Helmet. With the face shield out, it acts, feels and looks like a normal MX-style helmet with a slightly bigger than normal face opening. But at any point, I could pull the face shield out of my pack and screw it into place beside the trail. In less than five minutes I’d have full-face protection, with the bonus of an overhead sun visor.

On my head, the thermoplastic-shell helmet felt comfortable and light. The interior material was soft to the touch yet firm against my face and head. Vents are found in the forehead with exhaust in the back, like pretty much every MX helmet. What was unique, though, was that the venting in the front of the chin bar was closeable with a sliding lever – a rarity for MX helmets, on which I normally duct tape closed the main front vent.

With the breath box in place, though, the helmet didn’t fit my odd-shaped head very well. If I pulled the chin bar down where it should have been, the top of the breath box weighed heavy upon my nose. But, my forehead is so large that it’s been used to show movies – perhaps other riders with more normal-shaped heads won’t experience this detriment.

With the shield in place on an early-season ride, I did experience more fogging than I liked – which is one factor that has kept me away from full-face helmet. Later in the season as I got used to the breath box the problem was mostly alleviated. When I had problems, I could plug the electric shield into the sled and immediately solve the issue.

Added up, the FX-1 Team Helmet is a really good transition helmet for either full-face wearers who have always considered going to an MX-style setup with goggles, or vice-versa.

Editor’s Note: In each issue of Snow Goer magazine, our team of product testers reviews various aftermarket products in the Cold Tested department. This review was printed in the February 2018 issue of Snow GoerSubscribe to Snow Goer now to receive such reviews, 6 times per year delivered to your home.

 

FXR FX-1 Team Helmet
FXR F-1 Team Helmet with goggles in place.

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