Today we're gonna be reviewing the
Thousand Chapter bike helmet. Here we
have Thousand's latest helmet the Chapter.
It is a really cool evolution from
their Heritage helmet which really
made a big splash back in 2015 on
Kickstarter. With the heritage helmet
they really tried to eliminate the
stigma of wearing a helmet.
A lot of people don't wear a helmet
because it doesn't look cool so with
their original Heritage helmet they
really brought a lot of urban design
elements and retro styling to really
make it a cool helmet you want to be
seen in. Now with the Chapter helmet
they've evolved that design, incorporated
the same kind of unique design elements
but made a little bit safer, lighter and
more higher performance. Before we
take it out of the box, let's take a
moment to appreciate the fact that this
wasn't shipped in a dozen different
extra packaging. This is the box it was
actually shipped in, so the helmet box is
the shipping box. It's really nice and
environmentally sustainable instead of
using multiple layers of packaging. Now
let's go ahead and take it out of the
box. The retail price on this helmet
is 135 so a little bit more expensive
but still affordable. Now
with the Chapter helmet it's
currently available in three different
color variations, that's gonna change
over time they always expand the
collection with more unique styles. This
is the racer black variation, so really blacked out.
You have a removable bill here with two
little screws, just hand tighten them. You
have their awesome PopLock feature. This
lets you run a lock through here and
secure the helmet when you're on the go
and it's magnetically closing so a
really nice feature. We have a magnetic
taillight, this is also a nice new
feature they've added if we take that
out this is a rechargeable LED bike
light with magnet. To attach it we
simply put near and that's it so
automatically turns on first connection.
It's a really cool feature. We have
additional venting here and then the
nice thing is they've added MIPS. MIPS
is a liner
that absorb some of the rotation during
an impact so you can see it rotates and
has some pins that hold in place so in
an impact this will actually rotate
before that impact is transferred to
your head. It is a nice little safety
feature you've seen more and more in a lot
of helmets. You have a nice integrated
dual direction dial fit system, they have
a nylon strap system with adjustable
cams here so really easy to get a nice
fit on this helmet. Now inside the box we
get a really cool fabric bag with the
Thousand logo on there that lets you
store the helmet without damaging it.
You get the tail light and you also get a
second mount for the tail light. If
you don't want to put it on the helmet
itself you can actually use this tail
light with a different helmet by simply
attaching to your seatstays or a seat
posts. This also has a magnet built in
and you can see it automatic and turns
on when it connects. You also get a USB
recharging cable, micro USB and
you get a owner's manual.
These are rather thick just because of
multiple languages a light manual again
which is rather thick for what it is. Also
little tags about what the Chapter
helmet is and MIPS. Now let's take a look
at the weight of the helmet, if we put
the helmet on the scale that comes in at
368 grams so fairly light. That's
actually the lightest commuter helmet
we've actually tested with bike helmets.
The lightest road helmet is usually about 200
grams and that's for the really racy
highly vented road cycling helmets that
can often cost two hundred or three hundred
dollars so under four hundred is not bad.
The tail light by itself is 28 grams
while the little seat post mount
that you can optionally use comes
in a 30 gram so not bad overall. Now
let's go over the fit and finish of the
Thousand Chapter helmet. What's
really cool about Thousand is that they
take a lot of pride in the visual
details and it's really clear that their
designers have a hand throughout the
production of the helmet. You have a
helmet that really packs a nice visual
punch to it.
Now with the bill here, it's not built
into the actual cap as with the Heritage
these have some hand screws in here so
you can just
rotate out these by hand. It's a little
bit of a tedious process so I won't bore
you with that but these comes off
completely if you don't like it. If we
come around the side it has a very
familiar skateboarding or
snowboarding profile to it. So pretty
domelike and the venting has been improved with
this. You have larger events
that are more orientated with the
air flow. I actually did ride this on a
really steep long climb and while it is
a more vented helmet it definitely does not
match a normal road helmet which is more
like Swiss cheese, so if you're doing
long or hotter rides it's probably not a
good option but for commuting when
you're in colder weather shorter rides
it was perfect. On the side you have the
PopLock feature, this is
unique to Thousdand helmets. There's a
little hole on the side and that lets
you actually just run a lock through
here and if it gets stolen they actually
replace it. It is a really nice guarantee and
a cool little feature that most people
won't even know exists. It even looks
like a little bit of a gas cap with this
design so a really cool feature over all.
The helmets really look like retro
motorcycle helmets, and on the back we have
the little mount for the tail light.
Another feature that is nice to see
here, a lot more modern helmets come with
integrated taillights or headlights so
it's nice to see the option to have a
removable one. Again you have the vents
on the back, so eight vents in total four
on the back and four on the front. We have
the little MIPS sticker that's almost
ubiquitous now with helmets.
What's really cool about these
helmets again are the details and what I
mean by details is the edge here.
With really cheap helmets or even
mid-level helmets the EPS foam
that you can see here would be
exposed on the sides but with the more
premium helmets they actually covered up.
Here it's a glossy black and that
really gives it a nice finished touch.
With the EPS foam is actually visible it
gives a little more cheap look. So little
details like that really set it apart
and really gives it a more premium fit
and feel. On the inside you have
nice big MIPS liner and surprisingly it's
not riddled with MIPS logos. I've never
actually seen it with just one color,
and another really cool feature. If you're
buying a new helmet I definitely
recommend getting MIPS or at least
one of the variations of the secondary
safety devices.
You only get one head so you might as
well spend a little bit more money and
have a little safer helmet. You have
plenty of padding here, fairly soft I
found this to be really comfortable the
fit system is a dial system which is
pretty common these days.
Multiple attachment points so really
easy to get in place and
this cradles your head well. Now these
straps aren't the fancy
vegan leather that you get with the
Heritage. It's just a standard nylon but
it's really comfortable it's soft and
you get adjustment points here with
these little cams. That's
one thing I didn't like about the
Heritage helmet is that you couldn't
adjust it as much so. With this it is
super adjustable like any standard road
helmet and you also get the premium
touch of a magnetic buckle. It is really
simple, you do have to get used to the
motion so to remove it you push away
instead of pulling away from each other
so a little bit different but it gives
you one-handed operation when you want
to put it on. You just get it closed
and then you have the Thousand logo on
there so a little touches like that that
make the helmet stand out.
Now let's look at the taillight mount, it
is pretty
lightweight and has this nice padding
here too so you can definitely put this
on a seatstay or seatpost pretty easily.
These straps, although they're a
little bit short, easily should fit any
bike you simply put it on there and
should hold it in place. Now let's go
over the operation of the light. As
you saw when you get it close, it has a
magnetic switch, it
turns on. You can turn it off by simply
holding the button. Now one thing that's
a little odd is once it's connected you
want to go ride again you can't turn it
back on. You actually have to remove
it and then pop it in place. You can also
turn the taillight on and off when it's
not connected to
the magnet on the helmet or the mount by
simply holding it for I believe two
seconds and then I'll turn it on and off.
Now when you first get the light you
might think it's broken as it comes in a
lockout mode. You can see if I hold
this that actually illuminates and if I
hold it for five seconds you can see now
it's locked. If I click it nothing
will turn on, so this is a good way to
store the light so you don't
accidentally turn the light on. Now the
thing with this is it's USB rechargeable
so we have a little USB port here.
The run times on this
are surprisingly short, it only has
two modes so if we hold it again so to
get it at a lockout mode you do five
seconds and that light should change
illumination. Now it's off hold it for
two seconds it's on so you have a
constant mode this is good for one hour
and if I click again you have a flash
mode. What's cool about the flash mode
it's actually irregular flash so you can
see it's on off on off and then blink.
Now this will give you two hours of
runtime with 50 lumens so fairly short
so if you have a commute that lasts more
than an hour - this will probably die so
definitely have to charge this more
often. It's a little unfortunate that the
runtime is so short
however I like the mounting. It is super easy
to charge you just pull off and plug it
in somewhere and get it charged it up.
Now let's do a little comparison between
the Chapter helmet and some other
helmets on the market. What I have here
are some commuter helmets as well as a
nice road helmet and we can see how they
compare with the Chapter. With the
Chapter this is a more performance
oriented helmet and it has the MIPS
liner a better fit system lighter weight.
Now is it a road helmet? I don't think so
not quite. We have the Bontrager
Spectre here is $150 helmet versus the
$135 Chapter and the big difference is
with a road helmet is that they're
lighter weight. This has the WaveCel
technology from Bontrager a really cool
kind of three-dimensional structure that
fits between the foam and your head
instead of the MIPS. You can see
right off the bat
brighter obviously with a neon color and
you have a lot more venting, so it's
lighter weight more a little bit more
complicated fit system and a lot more
ventilation which you need for a road
bike. The helmet the profiles are also a
little bit different. The big
difference between commuter helmets
and road helmets is that these all have a more
blunt trailing edge a little bit shorter
while urban helmets tend to come down a
little bit further and have more of a
dome style. When it comes to commuter
helmets there's quite a few options you
can go with. The Heritage this is their
original, the latest generation of the
helmet. This is really cool
racing GT stripe version as you
can see they haven't changed the profile
significantly so same kind of dome
look. The bill is now removable which is
a nice touch, you get the PopLock and you
can see the venting has a lot more a lot
larger events with the Chapter. I
think the big difference here is the fit
system has been substantially improved
so this is one complaint we had here.
While this one's a little more
minimalist and better looking with the
vegan leather straps it just doesn't fit
quite as well because you have this
floating of design it's also
heavier despite not having MIPS so
that's one great thing about this, you
get the MIPS a better liner but same
cool design elements. Whereas
this has some GT logos here you get the
Thousand logo, the finished edges that really
set the helmet apart. Now when it comes
to commuter helmets you have quite a few to
choose from. There are a lot of smart
helmets. Here is the Coro SafeSound,
this is a smart helmet we reviewed here.
What's cool about this helmet is
that it provides Bluetooth connectivity
so it's a heavier helmet has an
integrated tail light and while that's a
good thing and a bad thing
I think it's good bad thing because it's
not removable and not replaceable so if
you ever have an issue with the tail
light on this you're kind of done.
What are you gonna do right
it's built in. With this one you can
easily remove it and replace it but
obviously the nice mic in here and the
fact that has integrated crash sensor
are really nice features but of course
comes in at a price.
This is a $200 helmet. The other
helmet we have here is the Urbanize
which we recently review. It this is
another E-bike and commuter style
helmet so a similar matte black finish
and same dome design. This has a little
more venting it also has a really cool
panoramic lens here so that's a nice
feature. It looks a little goofy but for
E-bikes or commuters s I think
it's perfect especially if you're riding
really fast you don't need sunglasses.
They have a taillight
this one's actually removable and what's
interesting is that Lazer also has a
lock type feature. If I go ahead and
pop this out so this is their PopLock.
It is not as convenient as the Thousand
PopLock but you can throw a lock
through here and secure the helmet. You
do have to remove the tail light which
doesn't have the cool magnetic design,
but again this helmet is $150 a little
bit more expensive and has MIPS.
This
doesn't have quite the sleekness of
the Thousand so you can see the edges
are a matte plastic where this is the
more glossy version. And just the
little details I think the matte finish
the removable bill gives us a little bit
uniqueness in the market. Now let's go
over the pros and cons for the Chapter
helmet. What we really like about the helmet
is the fact that it included MIPS
protection here. It's a really nice
secondary safety device that can reduce
the chance of injury if you have an
accident.
Also really like the visual design and
attention to detail that Thousand puts
into the helmet. You have a lot more
premium finishes and really cohesive
design schemes that make this
helmet stand out from the crowd.
Finally the integrated pop lock is a
nice way to secure the helmet to
your bike if you need to park outside.
Some of the cons of the helmet is the
fact that the venting is still limited.
Although they've improved the venting
and made a larger this is still not a
substitute for a proper road helmet if
you want to do longer rides. Also the
tail light has quite a low runtime
it's really cool with the magnetic
attachment with only two hours you're
going to find yourself charging this tail
light fairly often depending on how much
you ride. Finally be removable bill
uses hand screws which we found took a
lot of time to remove so it wasn't
really easy to remove the bill. Taking
everything into account we'd give the
helmet a nine out of ten. With the
Chapter helmet I think Thousand has
really brought style and function
together there's a more high-performance
helmet from the Heritage that brings a
lot of the same visual touches. Thanks
for watching for review don't forget to
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