I have been riding with the Kali Amara for about 9 months now, through hot summer rides and wet, cold, muddy winter rides, and I thought it was time to share my thoughts with you. In the name of transparency the good folks at Kali sent me this helmet for free to test.

To find out my first impressions of the helmet check out my preview post.

I like this helmet. It’s fun, colourful, comfortable, cool and safe. How do I know it’s safe? Well funny you should ask – on a super easy bit of trail on my way to work last week I got a little zesty and had a high speed encounter between my noggin and the dirt. After making sure my bike was okay and all my limbs were where they should be I noticed that my head hurt a bit. Upon further inspection the visor was flopping around, and the long and short of it is I hit my head hard enough to bruise my forehead even with the helmet on. The helmet did its job, and quite well at that. No concussion, no more scars (I have had stitches in my head 4 times) and not a scratch on my head, the only real damage was to the Amara. Thank you Kali for protecting this beautiful fat head…I thank you and my family thanks you.

The big feature of this helmet is the helmet mount for cameras or lights. Kali is the hiptster kid on the block with this feature; they were doing it before some of the big boys got into the game. I really liked this feature as it was a quick and easy way to mount my camera. Check out this video from one of my local trails that I made up with it.

With the camera mounted I didn’t notice the extra weight after the first few pedal strokes, it was not floppy, but I did catch it on branches once in awhile. It’s not my favourite mount, but it is fast to mount  and super stable.

The Low Down:

After 9 months of putting this helmet through its paces, it does not stink and there were no bits falling off of it, just a few scratches to show for all the abuse I have put it through. My head never felt too hot on those long slogs, and the pads did a decent job of soaking up the sweat.

The fact that is saved me from a hospital visit is just icing on the cake.

With that said, there are things I would change. The first thing is the stickers on the visor; after a few months the edges started to fray and roll up a bit and for a helmet of this caliber this should not happen. Also, I have a big head, and the helmet just barely fits, and I push the chin straps to the limit. If my head was any bigger I would be SOL.

Likes:

• Mesh Liner
• Helmet Mount
• Fit
• Look

Dislike:

• Stickers

In the end I found the Kali Amara a comfortable, cool helmet with good looks at a good price. There’s not much more you can ask for in a helmet.

As with any helmet, you should try one on and see if it fits. Every company feels a bit different, so go out and give one a try and see if it fits.

PRODUCT FEATURES

• Ultra lightweight Polycarbonate Shell
• Low density EPS foam for impact absorption
• Integrated Airflow System with 17 Vents
• Expanded rear coverage design
• Breakaway visor
• Safety compliance: EN 1078 or CPSC
• Integrated Camera Mount for perfect filming (Cam version)
• Retail: $89.00 – $109.00