Find the perfect DH or Enduro mountain bike mask

Finding the right mountain bike goggles for gravity, downhill or enduro is like choosing a pair of goggles, it's all about comfort. ATV goggles should protect your eyes, but also be perfectly comfortable.

But make no mistake, the first market to drive innovation is the ski goggle market, followed by motocross. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see porosity between production lines among manufacturers. As a last resort, we may (still) see VTT-printed products that were originally developed for a different practice and / or the brand has changed only minor points.

However, the more time passes, the more products become specialized, and now there are goggles that are truly geared towards mountain biking 🤘.

An overview of the criteria to consider in order to know which DH or Enduro MTB goggles to choose.

Go to KelBikePark.fr to find an MTB Bike Park adapted to your practice and your desires!

Criterias of choice

👉 Remember: check your mask С Your complete mountain bike helmet!

⚠️ It is very important to try on a full face MTB mask. Make sure that after wearing the mask with the helmet, you will not feel pressure on the upper part of your face and will not feel any discomfort in your nose.

Frame

The frames are classic and quite versatile, but pay attention to the vents, how the screen holds onto the frame, and the overall flexibility of the glasses. Above all, it must remain comfortable and fit perfectly to the contours of your face.

Make sure the mask retains its original shape when fitted with a helmet.

Be careful with very wide bezels designed to increase your field of view as this is sometimes incompatible with your helmet.

For example, if you wear glasses, you should choose an OTG (Over The Glasses) mask, which however is not very common in the MTB market. A deeper one will allow you to wear glasses without discomfort.

Foam

Directly in contact with the skin, do not skimp on the quality of this point! Double or triple density foams (most comfortable) are well adapted and conform to the shape of the face. The foam must be covered with a hypoallergenic fabric to avoid skin irritation.

Finally, for finishing, make sure the foam is cut well, especially in the nose area, so as not to pinch your nostrils and reduce your ability to breathe.

Ventilation and anti-fog treatment

Downhill is a difficult sport (only those who have never done it before think it is quiet) and it causes effort and therefore sweating 😅.

Who said that sweat speaks of fog, and we are not drawing you a picture showing the effect of fog on the glass of the mask 🦮.

Therefore, you should choose a mountain bike mask with good ventilation to ensure good air circulation.

Some manufacturers have also developed models that absorb moisture or scatter water molecules to prevent fog from forming. Preferably in addition to good ventilation.

Support Group

Always wider, fashionable, and more reliable. But again, be careful about the compatibility with your helmet and the width of the headband retention hook located on the back of the helmet, if present.

Another important point is the presence of effective anti-slip silicone bands inside the headband so that it does not slide on the cover of your full face helmet. They must be large enough to be active and efficient.

Protective screen

The first thing to remember: the more technological innovations in the screen, the more difficult it will be and the more expensive it will be to buy and replace it in case of breakdown. So, between a mountain bike mask with a high quality lens (e.g. anti-fog mask, double lens, spherical) and a mountain bike mask with simple anti-fog protection that you don't practice in conditions that create more fog, you won't see a real difference. So consider this factor when replacing your screen.

One or two screens?

The advantage of the double screen is based on the thermal insulation of the air layer between the two screens, which limits the formation of condensation and fogging.

Mountain biking is mostly in the summer, so temperature differences are less important than when skiing, for example, and this reduces the usefulness of the dual screen.

Shock and scratch protection

Dust, dirt, rocks or insects - your screen will be tested.

In motocross, one technology that keeps the screen always clear is the Tear off: a disposable protective plastic layer that fits over the screen and can be easily removed while riding. Today it is (obviously) criticized for its environmental impact 🍀.

When mountain biking, except for competitions, we try to wipe the screen and therefore it is useless. Better to give preference to a screen that is resistant to scratches and impacts.

Some brands even advertise shatterproof screens. For example, at Julbo we can read: “Our Spectron polycarbonate lenses are unbreakable. You can roll on them, hit them with a hammer or throw them off the roof of a building, they won't break. "

Specialized in motocross and mountain biking at Leatt, the screen has been tested with certified armor according to military certifications with water repellent protection!

Light protection

Brands are working on multiple protections built into screens. The challenge is to filter out light, boost or reduce certain wavelengths of light to improve contrast and colors, while maintaining an intensity suitable for mountain biking.

Several technologies exist depending on the mask manufacturer.

Chromapop

It is usually difficult for the retina to distinguish blue from green and red from green. By filtering the wavelengths of interference between blue and green and between red and green, Smith's Chromapop technology increases contrast.

Hyper

100% screen processing allows you to emphasize the clarity of the contours, improve contrast and enhance colors.

Prizm

Oakley Prizm display technology enhances contrast and color to better distinguish between contrasts.

clarity

The technology, proposed by the Swedes from POC and developed in partnership with optical glass company Karl Zeiss, enhances or reduces certain color frequencies of the light spectrum.

Spectron

This is Jura 🇫🇷 Julbo shatterproof flagship polycarbonate glass. A lens that filters out bad UV rays and has demonstrated its uncompromising protective performance.

For MTB lenses, they are available in category 0 or 2 and, depending on the need, filter the light intensity, protecting the eyes from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Photochromic

Photochromic technology is interesting, but the speed of dimming or brightening with practice (mountain biking) poses severe limitations for this type of screen. Combined with the economic equation, since the technology is quite expensive, few manufacturers offer models with photochromic screens.

At Julbo, a photochromic mask suitable for the Quickshift mountain bike is a good example.

And the others?

Specular, iridium, polarized?

It makes no sense to have screens of this type for mountain biking, you are paying a high price for technology that is useful for skiing or in high mountains, but which turns out to be useless in mountain biking.

Can I use ski or motocross goggles for mountain biking?

The answer is YES, but try it! Don't pay for technology or features that don't come in handy when mountain biking.

Moreover, if you still want to try the photochromic screen, we recommend the CAIRN Mercury Evolight NXT (ski) goggles with a screen that adapts to brightness and goes from category 1 to category 3.

📸 Credits: Christophe Laue, POC, MET