Best All Around Open Face Helmet

Founded in 2005, POC is a young brand, but they have quickly joined the cutting edge of innovation in mountain bike helmets and beyond. Their POC Tectal Race Spin mountain bike helmet is certainly on that cutting edge, and it is our pick for best open face mountain bike helmet of 2021.

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See Our Best Open Face Mountain Bike Helmet Review HERE!

Coverage, Weight, and Ventilation

The POC Tectal Race Spin is an open face mountain bike helmet that does it all. At 354g, it borders on cross country helmet light, and its 15 vents provide some of the best airflow of any helmet in the test. Along with the 6D ATB-1T EVO, the POC Tectal Race Spin provided some of the best coverage and protective features of any helmet that we reviewed. However, it was its ability to deliver that safety in a cool, lightweight package that helped it just edge out its top

Safety Tech

At this point, most high-end helmets are either using MIPS or trying to incorporate their own solution to the problems that MIPS aims to solve. POC was one of the first to engineer their own solution, and that comes in the form of POC’s proprietary “Spin” technology, found in the POC Tectal Race Spin and other high-end POC helmets.

Rather than a plastic insert sheering away like MIPS, POC’s Spin technology uses gel filled padding inside of the helmet. This allows the lining of the Tectal Race Spin to rotate on the riders head without sheering away from the rest of the helmet. Personally, I think there is something to be said for safety features and helmets designed around one another, as opposed to just having a third party liner slapped into a helmet that was already made. Sometimes, wearing a MIPS helmet feels like wearing a skull cap with a helmet attached to it. You can often hear and feel the helmet moving around on top of the liner, which is planted firmly on your head. The POC Tectal Race Spin feels like you are wearing a helmet that is planted directly on your head.

Other features

The POC Tectal Race Spin uses a standard, plastic buckle to latch the chin strap. For the price point, we would not have minded the magnetic Fidlock system featured on many of the high-end mountain bike helmets, but old school users might prefer the old school solution.

Otherwise, the straps are outstanding, providing a large Y shape that is adjustable in nearly every direction allowing you to better dial in the fit.

The visor is adjustable but requires adjusting a screw that locks it in place. This makes adjusting on the fly a pain, but also keeps it locked in once it is where you want it. We prefer the more dynamic system, featured on helmets like the Bell Sixer.

Like most helmets in this price range marketed at trail and all mountain riders, the POC Tectal Race Spin also includes a goggle strap.

Finally, the Tectal Race Spin is outfitted with a RECCO chip, which is used in search and rescue situations. This is commonly found on snow helmets but could be the difference in life and death, if you are incapacitated in the backcountry.

One downside is that, like most helmets that provide great coverage, you might find your sunglasses bumping into the back of the helmet. Not everyone, or every pair of glasses, will encounter this problem, but with this sort of helmet, shorter armed sunglasses tend to be the way to go.

The Bottom Line

Overall, the POC Tectal Race Spin mountain bike helmet is an awesome choice for those who want an open face helmet that provides maximum coverage and safety features, while remaining cool and lightweight. It also provides a rotational impact solution that, at least from a feel standpoint, is superior to MIPS.

So what is the downside? Price. At $220, the POC Tectal Race Spin is one of the most expensive mountain bike helmets that we tested. That said, as someone who has spent 15 minutes unconscious in the middle of a trail, I don’t think that you can put a price on protecting your head.

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