Review of the Caberg X-Trace dual sport motorbike helmet.
The XTrace is Caberg’s ultra-flexible dual sports helmet. I say ultra flexible because, like the Bell MX-9 Adventure or the Shoei Hornet ADV, it’s been designed to work well whether you’re riding on or off road, touring or trail riding.
Which in practice means that Caberg’s designed an adventure style helmet with sun peak/roost guard, which you can easily pull off to convert it into a street helmet when you need to put in some serious road miles.
All of which sounds very interesting – especially when it looks this nice and is available for not very much money.
So, if you’re interested in this sort of helmet, read on to find out what owners and reviewers alike think of the Caberg XTrace – and maybe check out a few more reviews in our Adventure helmets section – or find some recommended alternatives to look at towards the bottom of the review.
- Dual sports adventure/road helmet
- ABS plastic shell
- ECE certified (but not DOT for the US)
- Removable peak
- Wide visor
- Pinlock ready visor
- Medium oval fitment
- Drop down sun visor
- micrometric fastener
- Sizes XS-XXL
- Expect to pay £160-£200
Best places to buy a Caberg X-Trace?
Please click below to visit the Caberg X-Trace 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).
Safety
(more about helmet safety)
The shell of the Caberg X-Trace is made from ABS plastic. That’s a thermoplastic shell to you and me and while they’re at the cheaper end of the market, they can make for really tough shells with excellent impact resistance.
The XTrace hasn’t been independently safety tested yet, but what we can tell you is that a stack of Caberg helmets have been in the past.
Most of those tested by SHARP are actually polycarbonate helmets (slightly different from ABS but still thermoplastics) and Caberg has built a fantastic reputation for making mega safe helmets.
In fact, over the years, the average score of their plastic helmets has been 4.3 stars out of a maximum 5 when SHARP tested them. And while, their average has dropped a little recently, that’s still a massive score and puts them into the top ten in our safest helmets brand list.
The XTrace is of course ECE tested/approved too so there’s no reason to suspect it’ll offer anything other than great protection.
It’s made in 2 shell sizes, which is OK for a helmet in this price range, and it’s been noted by a couple of owners that it looks particularly compact.
And like quite a few other dual sports helmets, there’s a nice wide visor to give excellent all-round vision and with a Pinlock ready visor (insert not included) and drop down sun visor, you’ve every tool available to ensure your vision’s never impared.
It’s all kept on your head with a super easy to use micrometric fastener.
3 Configurations
One of the great selling points about a helmet like the X-Trace is how it can be used for both on or off road riding.
Take off the peak and you’ve got a regular full face helmet. Take off the main visor and refit the peak and you’ve got an off road helmet. You can also drop down the anti-scratch sun visor or, I guess, stick in some goggles.
On that, there’s no word about which goggles will fit either from owners or from Caberg themselves.
Helmet Noise
(more about helmet noise)
There’s some decent padding inside the Caberg X-Trace plus the helmet comes with a chin curtain to help cut out a bit of road noise and unwanted draft from below.
But all in all the XTrace seems to be about average for noise suppression. A couple of owners said it’s quite quiet and another said it was too noisy; while the testing guys at WebBikeWorld reckoned it was a smidge better than average. And from the reviews we’ve seen from owners, that seems to be about right.
So don’t expect it to be particularly quiet – and stick in a decent set of ear plugs when you’re riding any sort of distance and you should be OK.
It’s tricky to find a really quiet helmet, but if that’s your goal, you should check out some of the lids on our quietest helmets pages.
Ventilation
(more about helmet ventilation)
There’s a single large slider on the chin bar and two separate 3 position sliders on the crown.
That single central vent has both half and fully open positions and directs air towards the back of the visor to help with de-fogging as well as towards the chin area.
The top vents are sliders and have to be operated separately. They pull air through the helmet shell and around the internal air channels cut into the internal shock absorbing lining and through to your scalp.
Most folks seem to find the sliders reasonably easy to find and use. And while the chin vent is especially good, top vents are only seen as about average. So if you’re planning to use the X-Trace for a load of dirt riding, you’re either going to get pretty sweaty or you’ll have to open the visor for some extra cooling.
While a decent amount of air gets to the rear of the visor, it’s not enough to keep things fog free. So if you do find things misting up, you should invest in a Pinlock antifog insert.
Visor
(more about visors)
Caberg advertises the XTrace as having double-visor tech. That just means it’s got a main clear visor and an internal sun visor.
The main clear visor on the X-Trace is nice and wide and because there’s a huge visor aperture, it gives excellent all-round vision.
It’s Pinlock-ready too – meaning it’s prepared to take an antifog insert if you decide to buy one (they’re about £30ish) and has an opening tab on both sides, which is great for maximum flexibility.
Note – the Xtrace doesn’t come with a Pinlock in the box, but many helmets do these days. Check our Pinlock helmets pages to find helmets that are either Pinlock ready or come with a Pinlock in the box (we’ll put it in the bullets at the top of each page if they do).
The visor works on a ratchet and has four opening positions. But note, it’s not a quick release visor because if you need to remove the visor, there’s a sun peak in the way that needs taking off first.
There’s no reported problems with the visor system on the XTrace; all works great according to owners.
Sun Visor
(more about sun visors)
The same goes for that drop down sun visor mechanism.
It operates using a slider just below the left hand visor pivot. That’s a convenient place for the sun visor controls and most owners reckon it quickly becomes second nature to find it.
It also means there’s space on the left side of the helmet if you intend fitting a bluetooth intercom.
The sun visor itself works on friction; so slide it one way and it’s fully down and you can set it at various points in between if you like to have just some coverage.
Word is that it’s nice and dark and it’s large so it covers all the space you need it to cover (some sun visors leave a bit of space at the bottom that can be annoying).
Peak
Of course, because it’s a dual sport helmet, there’s a large sun peak/roost guard on top of the helmet.
With the Caberg X-Trace it’s removable so you can turn the helmet into a full face if you want.
There’s a couple of thumb screws – one on each side – so you don’t need tools either. Just remove the screws, pull off the peak, shove the screws and washer back in and there you go – full face helmet.
But if you do like to ride with the peak in place, owners reckon it feels solid and sturdy (like the rest of the helmet does) and it doesn’t vibrate when riding.
In fact we only came across one person who had a problem with the peak on the road who said the turbulent air off the top of his fairing catches on the peak a bit. Most other owners said it doesn’t cause them problems.
Comfort and Sizing
(more about comfort and sizing)
The X-Trace is a medium oval fitment and owners are pretty universal in their praise, saying it’s a really comfortable lid.
It’s got a fully removable/washable lining that’s designed to be moisture/sweat wicking and owners say is made of nice comfortable material.
If you’re unsure of your helmet size, make sure you follow our helmet fitting guide. The XTrace is supposed to be true to size, so work out your head size then just order the correct size.
Note, one owner did say he felt the chin guard isn’t the longest so if you’re particularly big of chin, you might want to make sure you order from a store who’ll replace/return without a quibble.
Actually, you’ll want to be able to do that anyway, just in case the size (or anything else isn’t quite right) – which is why all our recommended stores do just that – and some will even pay return postage!
Looks & Graphics
The Caberg X-Trace is a good looking helmet – both as a dual sports or in its full face config.
At the time of writing there’s not a whole load of different designs/graphics available. There’s a gloss white and matt black plus a couple of different colours in Spark and Lux graphics.
To find out if any more are available, you might want to drop through to the Caberg helmets pages at our recommended online retailers using the links below (note. except for Amazon, we only provide links to places that get amazing online reviews).
Best places to buy a Caberg X-Trace helmet?
Please click below to visit the Caberg X-Trace 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 X-Trace Video
Here’s a mega-quick 3m look around the Caberg XTrace Lux.
Other stuff – fastener, weight, aero, build quality, chin curtain, warranty
The X-trace comes with a quick-release micrometric fastener. They’re really simple to use and should be safe as long as you tighten the adjuster on the strap from time to time.
The XTrace weighs around 1.6Kg (3.5lbs). That’s actually pretty light for a plastic shelled dual sport helmet and a couple of owners did say that it feels relatively light while riding, which is the most important factor I guess.
Several folks said that build quality is very good; the helmet feels sturdy and the materials feel decent quality, especially for a helmet at this price.
There’s both a removable chin curtain (what Caberg calls a wind stop) and removable breath guard (nose shield) in the box.
And finally, one downside is that you’ll only get a stingy one year warranty with Cabergs (find helmets that come with a 5 year warranty here).
Overall/Summary
The Caberg XTrace is a well loved helmet by the many satisfied owners out there.
Words like comfortable, fantastic value, and great build quality are widely used. And it’s no wonder when such a flexible and fully featured helmet can be had for not very much money.
Ok, you can see where Caberg has cut costs – the Xtrace doesn’t use some of the fancier materials you might get from a Shoei or Schuberth. But if you’re after a mega flexible helmet – one that’ll works well as a full face, off-roader or anywhere in between; and if you’re looking for great value helmet to go with your adventure bike, then the Caberg X-Trace is well worth looking at.
Best places to buy a Caberg X-Trace?
Please click below to visit the Caberg X-Trace 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).
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 X-Trace?
So you’re looking for a dual-sport/adventure bike helmet? You can always check out all our adventure helmet reviews here, but here’s our recommendations to take a look at first.
OK, there’s the Shoei Hornet ADV which is a fantastic dual sport or the Arai Tour X4 – though they’re both much more expensive and neither has actually been SHARP tested yet (though the Arai is Snell certified in the US).
You should check out the Caberg Tourmax which has been awarded maximum 5 stars for safety by SHARP – that’s actually one of the few flip-front dual sports helmets out there and is only a smidge more expensive than the XTrace.
There’s the X-Lite X-551 which is a tiny bit pricier still, but apart from being a bit noisy is a solid helmet and comes with a Pinlock anti-fog in the box.
Finally, you should take a look at this pair of Nexx helmets – there’s a whole lot of composite fibre adventure helmet for not much money.
Other Adventure/Dual-Sports helmets?
There are lots of other Adventure/Dual Sports crash helmets out there, so please check out our Adventure motorcycle helmets page to see all our other reviews and previews. Or, if you're looking for the safest tested helmets on the market, you might want to take a look at our safest motorcycle helmets pages where you'll only find helmets that are SHARP four or five star rated - so you'll know you're wearing the best protection out there.
