With the kids zooming around on Stacyc bikes and battery powered ride-on toys just about every day, my wife and I thought it a good idea to invest in a full-face "light" helmet option to further protect the little heads. While they always wore helmets on their toys, they were the standard open-faced bicycle style, and these didn't often stay in the right position when worn. It seemed the bicycle helmets like to drift backwards, off the side of the head, or the wheel adjustment in the back would loosen. Basically they didn't stay where they were supposed to, which made them ineffective or even more dangerous if needed to protect. With Stacyc bikes being a little "snappy" sometimes (ie: they'll pull a wheelie pretty dang easily!), it was important to us to have the boys equipped with helmets that would protect well, and fit right, cause if the wheelies are not controlled (as shown below by Rennen, who is an accomplished rider already), then your kid is going to end up on their back, and possibly hitting the back of their head in a classic Stacyc wheelie loop-out!
While we have a vast amount of full-face helmets around the shop, they are all full DOT approved motocross helmets, and while this type of helmet will offer the best protection, they are much heavier and - this is something that most people won't think of - not possible for a 3 & 6 year old to fasten on their own with the D-loop style passthrough straps. Also, the heavier DOT MX helmets tend to be a little too much for a 3-year old's little neck to hold upright.
I've observed with my now 7-year old when he started riding at 3, that the helmet seemed to control where his body momentum was going. If he got off balance, the heavy helmet appeared to act as a pendulum and add to the weight of inertia that was already pulling him to one side. It's very hard to find a super-lightweight full motocross racing helmet, and not to mention you'll be paying full motocross helmet prices as well, which can climb north of $500 if you go the way of a 6D!
Sure, it might make sense to "over protect" with a full DOT motocross helmet, but it's going to be counterproductive to your kids ability to balance (and learn), as well as potentially causing them to not want to ride because they hate their helmet.
In other words, "stay away from a full DOT approved MX helmet for a Stacyc bike, bicycle, electric ride-on toy, balance bike, etc..."
With the invention of e-bikes and super-capable mountain bikes, the evolution of helmets has followed suit to match the improved equipment. There are quite a few varieties of MTB "downhill" helmets that are available now that are not heavy like their motocross lookalikes, but still offer the appropriate protection for the speeds attained. There's a lot of variation in prices for these helmets too. Keywords such as "MIPS" and "lightweight" will add to the price - and for good reason - but when it comes to a kids helmet, you need to consider what they'll be doing, and how much you want to invest in something that:
A. They'll abuse
And...
B. They'll grow out of quickly
These two things held me back from spending much more than $100 on our choice, as I know my kids, and I know they do NOT take care of their equipment! I could only imagine how furious I'd have gotten to see that $500 Troy Lee MIPS featherweight helmet laying on the concrete driveway in the rain... (this helmet is the creme of the crop if your budget allows. It's linked below for reference). There's also a TON of non-recognizable branded helmets on Amazon that look the part, but are something to be skeptical of in my opinion. While the price is right, they don't have the credibility of Bell, Fox, Fly, Troy Lee, or other name brands who also produce very legit motocross helmets that HAVE to be approved by safety organizations (DOT for one) in order to be sold and approved for racing. This offered me comfort in my choice, knowing it's a HUGE brand that's made helmets for just about everything, for decades. Can't go wrong with a Bell in my opinion!
With all that said, my search eventually had me settling on the Bell Sanction "Adult" Full Face Bike Helmet for its price, features, and style. The Nitro Circus edition wasn't my choice exactly, and maybe letting the boys pick out their own colors wasn't the cheapest of ideas, BUT, it's important to ensure the kids wearing the helmets also think they're cool.
And important thing to note is that the sizing is labeled as "adult", but it's not. I think this is an Amazon thing and how the product is titled. As a rule of thumb, my 4-year old used the Small size, and my 6-year old (at the time) used the Medium. Both boys are almost a year older than they were when we got the helmets, and they still fit great. So I'd recommend 3-5 years old go with the small, and 6+ go with the medium.
If you're a visual person and want to see all of the reasons why I chose this helmet and see it in action, watch the YouTube video I made on these helmets. If you like and trust my decision, you can pick one up using the link below the video. Amazon was about the best option I saw for obtaining one as the prices do not vary from shop to shop on these, so it's really not worth shopping around. Also, you can't beat Amazon shipping times if you have a Prime account.
My Choice: Bell Sanction Adult Full-Face Bike Helmet
And the long term test?
We've thrash tested the Bell Sanction now for almost a year and they've been absolutely fantastic! They've been dropped, left outside, crashed tested, and believe me, if a kid doesn't find something comfortable, they'll certainly let you know! They can also clasp and unclasp the helmets on their own, which is great for parents as kids tend to jump from one thing to the other faster than you care to keep track of. This helps promote helmet wearing even when you're not there fast enough for them to help install it!
Overall, there's been absolutely no complaints about the Bell Sanction from the boys, and more importantly, NO INJURIES! (which is the most important part!).
Other "fancier" options if you're not a fan of the Sanction or the Bell
There's plenty of other MTB (mountain bike) helmets out there that are lighter, cooler looking, or "higher end" if your budget isn't concerned. Here are some of the others that I researched, but found no reason to spend the extra money on:
If you wanna be the coolest kid on the block, here's the helmet for you:
Troy Lee Designs Full Face D4 Carbon MIPS Stealth Helmet
If you're a Fox Racing fan, they have a very lightweight option:
Fox Racing ProFrame Mountain Bike Helmet
If you're a Bell fan, but want a little higher end option:
BELL Super Air R MIPS Adult Mountain Bike Helmet
I hope this article helped you! If it did, please let me know in the comments and pass this along to other parents looking to equip a new lil' shredder! I see this question come up ALL of the time on the Stacyc Facebook groups, and every time I link to my video for the Bell Sanction.
No matter what choice you prefer, the most important thing is that you have something protecting your kids heads. Concussions are no joke and I can tell you from personal experience, my oldest boy Rennen went over 3-years without a front tooth because he knocked it out while crashing his pedal bike. If we only had a full-face helmet on him, he would have had a full-smile in 3-years worth of school pictures. Ask my wife if she would've paid $100 to ensure that was the case at the time.