Spada Gear

Ellie wanted to try out one of Spada's latest helmets and decided on the Evolution Empire model, aimed at entry level prices it surprised her on how much bang you can actually get for your buck

Initial Thoughts

Spada Clothing have been manufacturing clothing for motorcyclist’s for a quite a few years now, the brand of late has become more popular and is making an appearance in more local motorcycle clothing stores and dealerships courtesy of it's good, solid quality at an affordable price bracket. With high performance helmet reviews dominating in the media, I was keen to get a hold of some clothing so that I could try it for myself and see how an entry level helmet TRULY stacks up, pound for pound, against what many consider to be the best brands around. With a suggested retail price of £59.95, I was expecting very little other than a very basic lid, but in fact it’s jam packed with good quality features and provides excellent value for money.

Construction

First things first, the helmet has unusual empirical themed graphics which can be aimed at either ladies or men, and it comes in three colours, unsecured loans empire blue, red or gold. The Evolution helmet from Spada is a good comfortable fit and is reasonably lightweight at 1450g, you obviously do not get the very pinnacle of high tech materials for such a price point but the weight is kept neatly in check.

The removable cheek and skull padding seemed to retain its shape, and after riding with this for just over a month it seemed to only give a little,  nothing really too noticeable which I have had with other cheaper branded helmets aimed at the same price point. When out on the road I found this helmet to be fairly quiet, however the top vents do cause a whistle at higher speeds, something which wasn’t too bad and nothing that a quality pair of ear plugs wouldn’t fix, it is not the quietest helmet overall.

This full faced helmet is equipped with an internal tinted drop down visor which proved handy on a bright day for reducing glare. The mechanism for sliding and locking the internal visor started off slightly stiff but did become better with use and it is situated at the side of the visor in an easy to reach location, something a few higher priced helmets could learn from with their concealed mechanisms. There are two upper and one lower adjustable vents situated just above the visor or below, which keeps your head nice and cool in warmer temperatures, in the colder temperatures however, I did find that the visor had a tendency to fog up and the breath guard didn’t seem to do the job at all but it did keep my nose warm!

It took me a little while to figure the “Quick release visor system” but once mastered with a quick pinch and pull method, the visor is nice and simple to remove without any problems, I found changing the position of the visor was a little “clunky” and sometimes it failed to close with one sweep. Not mentioned on most resellers of the helmet is that this does come Pinlock ready which is another  nice feature Spada have graced us with, this is something that often comes at an additional premium or faffing on other brands who do not offer it as standardElli. Safety-wise this helmet is EC2205 approved and has the double D ring fastening strap which does inspire more confidence than a seat belt strap. Unfortunately there is no SHARP test rating as yet.