Best Overall Lightweight Full Face Mountain Bike Helmet

Leatt is a company born of innovation. The Leatt brace introduced the first mainstream neck brace to motocross and downhill sports, and now Leatt is innovating in the helmet arena as well, with strong entries in the open face, convertible, and full face mountain bike helmet categories.

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See Our Full Face Mountain Bike Helmet Breakdown and Comparison HERE!

Weight & Ventilation

At 850 grams, the Leatt DBX 4.0 full face mountain bike helmet is the heaviest in this review. Still, it is less than 6oz heavier than the lightest helmet in our test, the TLD Stage.

Smaller vents in the chin bar mean that the Leatt DBX 4.0 might not let in quite the airflow that the Fox Proframe or Troy Lee Designs Stage does, but it is still quite cool in its own right.

Safety & Safety Tech

Maybe slightly warmer, and definitely slightly heavier than its top competitors, the Leatt DBX 4.0 has no equal in the safety arena, and that is why it is our top pick for best full face mountain bike helmet.

It features more padding all around and particularly in the cheek areas, where other helmets in this category tend to be pretty skimpy. The padding and overall feel of the Leatt DBX 4.0 is more like a full on downhill helmet.

The DBX 4.0 also features a combination of harder EPS foam and softer EPO foam. The addition of the softer EPO foam allows for maximum absorption of low G impacts, which the harder EPS foam of most helmets does little against to protect your brain from concussions.

But where the Leatt DBX 4.0 truly shines is in Leatt’s Turbine technology. Turbine tech is Leatt’s answer to MIPS in that it seeks to lessen rotational impacts. However, unlike MIPS, it also helps dissipate straight on impacts.

Turbine tech is made up of flexible, rotating, pads, placed strategically throughout the DBX 4.0 and other high-end Leatt helmets. Each “turbine” can flex and twist, allowing the helmet to rotate without exerting the rotational force on your head, while also absorbing impacts from whatever direction they come. In fact, Leatt claims that its patented Turbine technology reduces up to 30% of head impact at concussion level and up to 40% of rotational acceleration to the head and brain.

While I am no scientist, Leatt’s Turbine tech seems like one of the best pieces of helmet safety tech on the market right now and is in no small part why we picked the DBX 4.0 as our top full face mountain bike helmet.

Visor & Additional Features

Unfortunately, the Leatt DBX 4.0 does not feature an adjustable visor. The visor is decent for blocking the sun or a light rain, but lack of adjustment means that you will not be storing any goggles under it and out of the way on those long summer climbs. That is about the only place where the Leatt DBX 4.0 comes up short.

The DBX 4.0 also utilizes a very sturdy rubber mouthpiece for the chin bar. While the Fox Proframe leaves this out entirely, in the name of better ventilation, having the option to pop this in when needed is a great addition. It will help on dusty days, and provide peace of mind that a rock or stick is much less likely to find its way to your teeth.

Padded straps and a magnetic Fidlock buckle round off an excellent, lightweight, trail oriented, full face mountain bike helmet.

The Bottom Line

The Leatt DBX 4.0 is an amazing lightweight full face mountain bike helmet. It might not be as ultralight as the TLD Stage, but it provides a level of protection and a solid feel that most helmets in this category just can’t match.

Combine this with Leatt’s turbine technology, and there is no lightweight full face helmet that we would trust more to protect our brains and pretty faces than the Leatt DBX 4.0. Finally, at only $229, it is actually a great value for a helmet in this category as well.

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