Caberg Avalon review: great value but slightly flawed?
The Avalon is Caberg’s entry-level all-rounder helmet. Caberg say it’s been designed to have a sporty look – I suppose mainly because it’s got a a small rear spoiler – and is made to be an everyday sort of helmet. So one that can take the knocks and hardships of everyday riding and won’t cost you an arm and a leg to buy.
To that end, the Avalon has a thermoplastic shell (either ABS or Polycarb depending on who at Caberg you ask – in fact the CabergCares UK website marks it down as both!) and comes with a drop down sun visor, quick release micrometric fastener and removable liner so you can de-stink it from time to time.
And because it comes with a Caberg badge on it, that usually means it should protect well and be well built too. Couple that with the fact doesn’t cost very much and it could be that Caberg’s onto a winner with the Avalon – as long as it’s up to the job of course.
So read on for our full review of the Caberg Avalon and find out if it’s worth your hard earned…
- All-rounder full face helmet
- Thermoplastic shell
- Drop down sun visor
- Micrometric fastener
- Fog City insert ready (similar to Pinlock)
- Speaker pockets
- Sizes XS-XXL
- Expect to pay £130-£170
Best places to buy a Caberg Avalon?
Please click below to visit the Caberg Avalon helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).
Overall/Summary
The Caberg Avalon is a great value full face helmet.
OK, on the downside it’s pretty noisy and the ventilation’s not great, but on the upside it has most of what you’ll need in an all rounder helmet. That includes integral sun visor, easy to use micrometric fastener, removable/washable interior and quick release visor with the option of buying an antifog insert if you need one.
It looks cool too and it’s got Caberg’s good reputation for build quality and offering helmets that are proven to give excellent protection. And owners are widely very pleased with their Avalons and the excellent value it represents.
So if you’re looking for a do-anything all rounder helmet, don’t want to spend too much and don’t need a great venting helmet, then the Caberg Avalon is well worth considering.
Or maybe consider some of our suggested alternatives at the bottom of the page.
Safety
(more about helmet safety)
Caberg Avalons are ECE 22.05 certified which means they should be up to the job if you have a spill. That’s not quite up there with the latest generation of 22.06 helmets of course but it’s a good standard meaning the Avalon will offer at least a decent minimum level of protection
Above that, it’s always useful if a helmet’s been tested by the UK’s SHARP testing labs too because some ECE rated lids actually score really poorly in the SHARP test.
The bad news is that SHARP hasn’t tested the Avalon yet. But the good news is that Caberg helmets have generally scored really well when SHARP has tested them in the past – scoring overall well over 4/5 stars across the board.
Their last thermoplastic helmet – the Horus flip-up – scored 3 stars for safety but the two before that scored either four our five stars. Which is a good average score.
Try our Best Motorbike Helmet Top 10s to find your next helmet instead…
Based on that and the fact that the Avalon is a full face, not a modular, we’d expect the Caberg Avalon to score either a three or four star rating – although obviously that’s just a guess based on past performance of Caberg helmets so has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
OK, so what else will help with safety on the Avalon?
Well it’s got the usual antiscratch clear visor, which is pretty standard – though owners reckon there’s a good amount of peripheral vision going on with the viewport and that’s vital for good all round awareness and helps you notice vehicles creeping up on you or at junctions.
Obviously, in the UK, visor fogging is a big issue pretty much when it’s anything other than a heatwave and while the Avalon doesn’t come with a Pinlock, the visor is fitted with locator pins and you can buy Fog City’s equivalent for around £25 – which has got to be worth it to keep your vision fog free.
Drop down sun visors can be real life savers when you’re riding into lowering suns, so that’s a welcome addition – though it’s not antifog coated so it will steam up in cold/wet weather.
You should always fastidiously fasten your helmet up on every ride (it’s been estimated that around 6% of accidents result in the helmet coming off – probably because they’re either untied or not tied on well enough). As long as you correctly fasten and tension it every ride, super easy-to-use micrometric fasteners like the one on the Avalon are safe as houses and a great option.
All in all then, despite the Avalon having a fairly basic construction and being relatively cheap, because of Caberg’s good reputation for making safe helmets, we’d expect the Avalon to do its job admirably if you do end up chinning the tarmac.
Helmet Noise
(more about helmet noise)
OK helmet noise is always subjective and can always be minimised by wearing some decent ear plugs every ride.
But obviously some helmets are inherently noisier than others. And despite the Avalon having a chin curtain to help reduce wind and noise getting into the helmet from below, most Avalon owners reckon it is a noisy helmet.
As I say, if you wear good plugs and if you keep the speed low, you’ll undoubtedly be fine. But if you start to press on, the noise inside the Avalon can become a bit of a racket. It probably doesn’t help that there’s some generous speaker pockets inside, just where your ears are (so no padding), but if lack of noise is something you’re really after, check out our quietest helmet reviews instead.
Ventilation
(more about helmet ventilation)
Just looking at the vents on the Avalon, it looks more or less the same as any other full face, right?
It’s got a single chin bar slider that opens a couple of vents below the visor. And up top, there’s a pair of crown vents, again both operated independently by sliders. Ok, the sliders are quite small to find and those crown vents are pretty far back (to avoid the retracted sun visor) but the setup’s a common one.
Unfortunately, in the case of the Avalon, looks can be deceiving.
With most helmets, those vents take air through the shell where it’s taken around the inside of the helmet in grooves in the polystyrene liner. That way air can get right around the scalp and find its way through the internal comfort liner and onto the head.
Caberg for some odd reason has decided not to have venting channels in the EPS so the air can’t really find its way through to your head. And while there are exhaust vents at the back underneath the spoiler, the system can’t really do its job effectively.
It’s maybe not such an issue if you’re planning on using your helmet on shorter runs or for commuting. But if you’re planning on touring or riding somewhere hot, that’s going to really annoy. Click the link to find helmets with really good airflow.
Visor
(more about visors)
The visor system on the Avalon is good though.
As with all helmets, the visor’s anti-scratch, and the one on the Avalon’s quick-release too so you can whip it off quickly for cleaning. There’s only a clear visor in the box but you can buy smoked or mirrored visors too if you find those handy.
There’s a couple of what look like Pinlock pins on the inside of the visor but they actually fit anti-fog inserts from FogCity, not Pinlock.
FogCity have been around for aeons but they’ve only recently moved in on Pinlock territory. And the early word is that the FogCity Go works well – and they’re also slightly cheaper than the average Pinlock at around £25. Well worth it if you’re suffering from fogging (which you will be in the UK!).
A couple of useful links…
– All our Budget helmes reviews –
– Best Protecting Motorcycle helmets –
On the main visor, there’s a central opening tab – which is good because it means you can easily open your visor with either hand – and there’s a ‘cracked open’ defogging position on the visor too which always comes in handy.
Overall then, there’s no issues with the main visor.
Sun Visor
(more about sun visors)
That’s not quite the case with the sun visor though.
Sun visors can be mega handy when you’re riding into the sun of course. Yes there’s downsides – they can fog up when it’s cold and some sliders (used to drop and raise the sun visor) can be just where you want to mount a comms controller; though with the Avalon the slider sits just behind the left visor pivot, nicely out of the way.
No, the issue with the sun visor on the Avalon is that quite a few owners say it’s annoyingly short, not dropping down low enough and leaving a stripe of light at the bottom, and especially where the cut out for your nose is.
And that can become pretty distracting.
With the sun visor slider on the Avalon, you slide it down then press it further to click the visor in the lowered position, and it’s unclear whether owners are forgetting to do this, not quite lowering the sun visor fully.
Either way, it seems that’s a slight fly in the ointment with the sun visor on the Avalon.
Comfort and Sizing
(more about comfort and sizing)
Most Caberg Avalon owners reckon it’s a comfortable helmet. The liner’s removable and washable and hypoallergenic. And, although a few owners reckon the cheek pads are a bit tight at first, word is they do bed in quite quickly and the helmet sizing’s about right.
It also comes with a breath guard and chin curtain in the box, which is always useful.
Avalons are available in fitment sizes XS-XXL and it’s made using two different shell sizes to help tailor the fitting and looks a bit better to the rider.
The small shell is used for fitments XS-M and the bigger shell for L-XXL. If you’re at the lower end of those fitments, it’s possible that the helmet might look slightly large on your frame but we don’t expect it to be too noticeable.
Looks & Graphics
There’s no doubt about it, the Avalon is easy on the eye. Caberg has pulled off making a sporty-looking and modern lid and there’s quite a range of plains and graphics available to suit most tastes.
For the plain, you can have matt black or matt grey or a gloss white (no gloss blacks at the time of writing). Graphics are called Forge, Hawk, Blast and Giga.
To find any new graphics that have launched since we wrote our review – and to find any Caberg Avalon deals from reputable dealers, please click our links below. Cheers.
Best places to buy a Caberg Avalon helmet?
Please click below to visit the Caberg Avalon helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).
Caberg Avalon Video
Here’s a 6m video looking around the Caberg Avalon Blast in matt grey/black.
Other stuff – bluetooth, weight, build quality, warranty
Bluetooth Headsets
If you’re looking to fit a blutooth kit to your next helmet, then the Avalon should be OK. It’s been designed to fit Caberg’s Just Speak Evo kit so there’s some decent sized speaker pockets in there. And Caberg’s stressed how it’ll also work with other 3rd party bluetooth headsets too so we reckon most kits will fit. You can find other helmets with integrated bluetooth here or helmets that’ll fit 3rd party bluetooth units here.
Weight
Thermoplastic helmets aren’t usually very light, and the Avalon’s no exception. It weighs around 1.5Kg in the smaller shell size (so expect 50-100g more for the larger sizes) which is just about average for a plastic full face helmet.
Even though it’s an average weight, several riders reckoned it feels lightweight while wearing it – which is the most important factor – so you shouldn’t have a problem with the weight of the Avalon.
Build Quality
We came across a few Caberg Avalon owners who reckoned that it’s well built and good quality. And we didn’t really come across anyone complaining about any shoddy workmanship or items breaking, so owners seem pleased with overall build quality of the Avalon.
Warranty
Caberg gives a pretty average 2 year warranty on the Avalon. Which is OK I guess – though some brands give a more generous 5 year warranty, though they do tend to be from manufacturers making more expensive helmets.
Crash Helmet Buying Guides & Top 10s
For (hopefully!) other useful information to help you when buying your next helmet, check our various Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guides - or have a look at our Top 10 best helmet lists where we've got the top 10 best rated helmets overall along with Top 10 Best Budget/Top 10 Safest/Top 10 Best Full Face/Top 10 Best Modular/Flip-up/ Top 10 Best Sportsbike/Track helmets.
Good Alternatives to the Caberg Avalon?
As always, you can check out our Top 10 lists including Top 10 Best Budget Helmets and Best Full Face Helmets.
But here’s a hand picked bunch of helmets we think you might like.
The Shark Skwal is a cracking SHARP 4 star rated that comes with a Pinlock in the box. It’s Ride Magazine recommended too and it comes with LEDs in the rear!
The HJC I70 is about the same price and same weight as the Avalon and has a sun visor too – but it’s also SHARP 4 star rated and comes with a Pinlock already in the box.
If you’re liking the sporty look of the Avalon, I thought I’d throw in the Scorpion Exo R1 Air. Yes it’s another 100 notes on the Avalon but it’s also a full FIM certified racing helmet as worn by Fabio Quartararo. It’s composite fibre, ACU Gold and nice and light weight.
Finally, another HJC to check out is the HJC C70. Cheaper than the Avalon, it comes with sun visor, is Pinlock ready and maximum SHARP 5 star safety rated. Amazing value too.
Best places to buy a Caberg Avalon?
Please click below to visit the Caberg Avalon helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).
