Caberg Trip

by "Burn" for webBikeWorld.com

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Note: This helmet is also known as the Caberg Rhyno.

Summary:  High-quality helmet with unique styling (for a flip-up), comfortable, relatively quiet and one of the lightest weight flip-ups available.  Venting could be better, but overall, a good value.

Let's do something different and start with my conclusion: it didn't take long for the Caberg Trip to become my favorite flip-up motorcycle helmet.

I don't know how they did it for just £99 (Our UK contact found this one for £89), which is a steal in the UK but, unfortunately, more expensive when converted to Greenbacks, at about $200.00 with today's mercenary exchange rate (and don't forget shipping from the UK).

No, it's not available in the U.S., unfortunately -- at least not yet anyway.  My guess is that the company is trying to sell off their stock of the old Caberg Justissimo (wBW review), a decent helmet but -- unless they've redesigned it recently -- with way too tight front-to-back dimensions, which makes it a poor fit for many riders.

The Caberg Trip doesn't really break a lot of new ground; it somehow just puts it all together in a lightweight package that's stylish, comfortable and even quiet.  The "Rhyno" front end gives the helmet a signature look that definitely kicks it up a notch over most flip-ups, which are otherwise known as "The World's Most Boring Motorcycle Helmets".

Paint, Graphics and Overall Quality
Our Caberg Trip is a good quality helmet -- very good, actually, especially when compared to, say, the much more expensive Schuberth C2.  It can be hard to tell with single-color helmets, but the Trip's paint is nicely applied; the helmet has a thick clear coat and overall quality seems very good and better than expected for the price.

I'm not sure what drove us to order this "Dirty Copper" color -- I guess it was different?  Yep, it's different alright...  The Caberg website lists the Trip in Silver, Matt Black and Metal Black, and now that I think about it, I don't know where the Dirty Copper color came from -- the folks at the Caberg factory must have run out of the standard paint colors that day.

And by the way, don't ask me why flip-up helmets always seem to come up short when it comes to colors and graphics...

But overall, the finish is very good and, I think, certainly better than expected for a helmet costing 99 quid.

Score:  I'll give it a Very Good (See ratings description in the summary table below).

Helmet Weight
The Caberg Trip is a lightweight modular, and this is actually strange, because many helmets feel lighter than they actually are; this one feels heavier.  I was expecting it to be on the heavy side when put on the scale, because it doesn't really feel very light when handled. 

But the size XL shown here is, believe it or not, lighter than the Shark S 650 we recently reviewed, which is not a modular helmet and theoretically should be lighter.  Modular helmet have extra hardware that usually weighs them down.

Or maybe the S 650 is heavy at 1615 grams?  But even the Shoei RF-1000 in size XL is only a few grams lighter; the Caberg Trip weighs in at 1614 grams (3 lbs., 8-7/8 oz.), while the Shoei is 1610 grams.

So other than the very unusually shaped original ROOF Boxer, the Caberg Trip is the lightest flip-up helmet we've reviewed.  This is even more amazing when you consider that the Trip has an internally rotating sun shade, which typically adds mass to a modular helmet.

Take a look at the wBW Motorcycle Helmet Weights page for a chart comparing the Trip with every other helmet in the webBikeWorld.com database and be sure to scroll down to the bottom of that page, where we have a chart comparing all 19 modular helmets we've reviewed.  You'll see that the Trip is about 300 grams (~10.5 ounces) lighter than the heaviest flip-up helmet we've reviewed, the HJC FS-Max at 1911 grams, or 4 lbs. 3-3/8 oz.  Kudos to Caberg for that!

One thing to note though regarding weight; the helmet does feel slightly top-heavy, which may be due to the sun shade and venting mechanism up top.

Score:  I'll give the Zephyr an Excellent rating for relatively light weight in a size XL modular helmet.

Internal Shape
The Trip has a nearly round internal shape, bordering on what I'd call "neutral", with just a touch of long oval, and this should allow it to fit a wide variety of head shapes, other than the extremes of round or long oval.

Our example fits true to size; that is, the XL fits just like I'd expect from a round/neutral shaped helmet in size XL.

The cheek pads and liner are removable and the liner is comfortable and relatively plush, with a soft feel and enough padding on the sides and top so that I don't feel any hard points poking through.  The sides of the helmet are very slightly narrower than I'd expect for a modular helmet, but I think the helmet will loosen up over time as it gets broken in, so this shouldn't be a problem.

See the wBW Motorcycle Helmet FAQ page for more information on fitting a motorcycle helmet and a discussion on head shapes.

Score:  I'll give the Zephyr a Very Good for fit and trueness of size.

Visor
The clear visor on the Trip is stylishly shaped more or less with the "fighter pilot" helmet look.  It has only 4 detents to hold it as it's raised, and the first notch opens the visor more than I'd like to just defog the inside, but it's not a big deal.

The helmet has a single lifting tab is on the left-hand side.  The clear visor is not a "quick release" type; it's attached to the rotating flip-up visor with wide and flat aluminum screws on either side, and it will take a screwdriver or coin to remove it.  Since I pretty much change visors only if one of them gets scratched or destroyed, this isn't a problem for me.

The clear visor is also held on to the sides of the helmet with an interesting-looking piece of plastic, which gives the helmet a bit more style.

The rotating flip-up visor works very nicely with a large, centrally located release in the front of the chin bar.  The flip-up visor rotates smoothly and has a very firm notch at the top to hold it securely open if necessary, although we don't recommend riding with a flip-up visor in the open position.

The flip-up visor has small metal hooks that hold it to what look like plastic or polycarbonate slots in the helmet.  It's difficult to tell, but it does look like the receivers behind the polycarbonate in the helmet shell are made from metal also.

The clear visor is 2 mm thick and it is very clear and free from distortion.  The Caberg Trip also includes an internal rotating sun shade, and this one works better than any of the other internal sun shades we've tried on any helmet, modular or otherwise. 

A lever up in back on top of the helmet moves the sun shade up or down, and it seems to give an even amount of push and pull on the sun shade for smooth operation, unlike the single-sided lever on the Schuberth S1, Schuberth C2, Schuberth J1 and Schuberth R1 that sometimes give us trouble.

Also, the Trip's sun shade travels down farther than probably all of the others we've tried; the bottom part of the sun shade actually touches Rick's cheeks.  This means that this is the first sun shade that can actually be used without the bottom edge interfering with the rider's view.  Note, however, that the orientation of the lowered shade will vary, depending upon the helmet size, the rider's head shape and also the shape of the rider's face.

The eye port on the helmet does seem slightly smaller than normal, because of the shape of the sides and, of course, the raised center portion of the chin bar which gives the Trip it's "Rhyno" styling.

The top-to-bottom visibility is slightly less than average, as is the side-to-side visibility, but this is a relatively minor issue and not a deal-breaker by any means.

Score:  I rate the visor, visor clarity, operation of the flip-up visor and the sun shade as Very Good.

wBW Lightbox - Click photo to view.

Caberg Trip Top Vent

Caberg Trip Front Vents and Visor Release

Metal Hooks to Latch Flip-up Visor

Caberg Trip Helmet Liner

Noise Levels
Yet another surprise for a modular helmet in this price range, the Caberg Trip is actually a fairly quiet helmet.  It does have what seems like a steady volume of mid-frequency wind rushing noise, but it's not too bad, especially with ear plugs.  The noise volume just doesn't seem to change much, whether riding behind a fairing or not.

It also doesn't seem to make a difference whether the top vent is open or closed, although the top vent doesn't do much (read on).  There's no "whistling" noise coming from either the vent or the ridge that runs along the top of the helmet, which also holds the sun shade rotating lever.

Caberg didn't skimp on the liner padding down towards the bottom of the helmet, which helps keep out any low frequency "booming" noises that can result from windscreen turbulence hitting the helmet from the mid-point downwards.  I'm actually surprised at how well the Trip controls turbulence noise, at least for me.  Note that the noise from this area can vary greatly, depending upon the wearer's head shape and how tightly the helmet fits towards the bottom of the helmet. 

Note that we always wear correctly fitted, high quality earplugs and an extra helmet liner when riding, and we strongly recommend that you always wear hearing protection also.  See the wBW Earplugs and Hearing Protection page for more information on choosing and wearing earplugs. 

Note also that your experience with this helmet's noise levels may be different, depending upon many factors, including your head shape and the way the helmet fits; motorcycle configuration; prevailing winds and more.

Score: I'll give the Caberg Trip a Very Good rating for noise control, especially worthy considering it's a modular helmet, which are usually on the noisy side because of the extra gaps from the rotating flip-open visor.

wBW Video Tour of the Caberg Trip Helmet

Venting and Air Flow
Here's where the Trip lets me down a bit.  All those vents in front of my chin may look cool, but don't act that way.  I guess the air is coming in, but where's it going?  The chin bar doesn't have any air vent holes to duct the air flow on to the rider's face, and some of the air is directed up on back of the clear visor for defogging.  And there's no on/off switch for the front vent holes, although I guess it doesn't need one.

The chin bar's raised center also seems to block some of the air that might land on the rider's face, and I did feel my mouth and chin getting slightly warm at stop lights.

The top vent is pretty small and consists of two small holes at the front of the long black ridge that goes across the top of the helmet from front to back.  The ridge forms a little air dam right in front of the vent holes, and it doesn't feel like very much air gets in there.  Too bad they didn't mold the ridge to form an air scoop at the front, although that would probably add some whistling noise to the helmet.

The top of the liner inside has some mesh to allow whatever air gets in to flow over the top of the rider's head.

Score:  I can only rate the Trip's venting as poor, with the caveat that the weather has been very warm and humid here lately so the venting may seem better in cooler weather.

Miscellaneous
The Caberg Trip meets ECE 22.05 standards.  It is not DOT approved and at the time of this writing, it is not available in the U.S.A., but can be ordered from England.

The helmet has a "quick release" buckle on the chin strap, which takes some time to adjust the first time the helmet is worn.  The Trip also comes with a breath guard, which touches my nose, so I removed it.  There's a chin curtain included in the box, but I didn't install it.

Conclusion
The Caberg Trip is now my favorite flip-up motorcycle helmet.  Hopefully this will change soon -- that's progress!  The Trip is definitely roomier than the Justissimo and it also feels more robust.  I'm impressed with the quality, the comfort, the light weight and the operation and functionality of the sun shade.