The Kask Moebius is a comfortable and airy helmet that looks beautiful, but is let down by weird sizing and proportions, as well as being heavy and unwieldy
Pros
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Excellent airflow and cooling properties
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Supremely comfortable
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Beautiful design
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Durable and hard-wearing
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Easy to remove peak
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Easy to adjust straps
Cons
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Heavy
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Bulky on small heads
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Too much lateral movement
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Italian brand Kask is synonymous with sleek and luxurious helmets developed with pro racers, advancing proprietary technologies, and topping the heads of victors in some of the biggest races in the world, including the Tour de France.
Our previous coverage of Kask helmets has for the most part been limited to recreational cycling, namely the brand’s aero and road offerings, but that’s not all it has on offer. Kask is a trusted name for commuters as well, and has plenty of offerings vying for a spot in our best commuter helmets and best e-bike helmets guide.
Back in April, Kask released three new urban helmets: Urban R, Moebius, and Moebius Elite. All three were designed to meet the needs of urban cyclists from daily commuters to fairweather riders, with great emphasis placed on the urban-inspired aesthetic with a touch of Italian flair to go with it.
We’ve been testing the Moebius since it was launched, riding it in all weather conditions (which have been pretty changeable of late in the UK), while trying it in varying guises, since it’s quite versatile in terms of how you choose to use it. Here are our thoughts on the Kask Moebius after about a month of wearing it while pedalling around the city of Bristol.
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The Kask Moebius commuter helmet(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Design and aesthetic
From the outset it’s clear that Kask designed the Moebius to be as much a fashion statement as it is a safety accessory. The brand has opted for a very specific style of urban helmet, that’s light on air vents and heavy on opaque surface area, using sculpted contours to create a fluid-like appearance that, for some reason, makes me think of caramel. In many ways it is beautiful, even though it falls into a category of helmet design that I personally am not usually a fan of.
The slightly rounded, solid structure with a removable peak and limited ventilation points is reminiscent of other big players in the urban helmet market, such as the Bern Hudson, MET Corso and even the HEXR 3D-printed helmet. This particular style of commuter helmet has always struck me as one that must be liable to overheating, and yet I know from experience that all of those three offer a surprising amount of ventilation and cooling. After all, they visibly have a number of air vents (quite a lot in the case of HEXR), so it’s easy to see how they’d defy expectations. The Kask Moebius on the other hand only has three — that’s three — ventilation ports: one at the front and two at the rear. Needless to say, I had my doubts when I first unboxed it.
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At the front, the single curved air vent does well to capture airflow(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
That air is then channelled through these two rearward vertical vents(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
The front vent is situated towards the bottom of the helmet, perfectly placed to suck up air when your head is lifted. As a side note, this vent curves upwards like a smile, and the absolute child in me is fighting the urge to stick a pair of ‘googly eyes’ in the centre. It may still happen yet.
At the back are two large vertically inclined air vents, and just below them is a reflective sticker that does a good job of helping to make the wearer visible in low light on the roads. It’s small and subtle, particularly on this Ivory coloured helmet, which echoes the brand’s penchant for sleek styling. Also at the back you’ll find a newly redesigned retention dial to help with securing a comfortable fit, which is surprisingly chunky compared to Kask’s previous dial design. The dial’s diameter measures at 40mm, 10mm larger than the one you’ll find at the back of the Kask Mojito. Why is this important? Simply put, it makes it much easier to grip and make micro adjustments when you’re wearing reasonably thick, full-fingered gloves, something most daily commuters will do for a good chunk of the year.
The Moebius comes with a removable foam peak to shield your eyes from the sun and rain, and it’s really easy to attach and detach. There are three small holes in the underside of the front of the helmet, and three plastic plugs on the peak that simply pop into place and stay put. Removal is just as easy, pulling the plugs out gently.
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The peak is sutble, well-fitted, and can be removed if required(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Removal (and subsequent fitment) is super straight forward(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
The peak is black, making it versatile enough to work with all ten colour options you can choose from, and protrudes from the helmet by 36mm. Why did I measure this? I’m afraid to say that I am among that group of urban cyclists who wants a helmet to look as good as it performs, and I’m very picky. 36mm isn’t too big, and in fact the peak feels similar in size to what I’m used to when wearing a cap beneath my helmet.
Moving away from how it looks, it’s very clear that the Kask Moebius is built to be solid and hard-wearing. The outer is constructed from ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), a thermoplastic polymer that’s known for its impact resistance, structural strength, stiffness, and excellent performance in a range of temperatures, among other qualities.
Some final design details to mention before we move onto how well it performs: the side straps are cotton, with a fake leather chin strap and buckle. Inside are foam pads with very clear air channels defined throughout the inner shell from the front vent to the two at the rear. Finally, the branding is minimal, which is always a nice touch: at the front and rear are two fairly small embossed logos colour matched to the rest of the helmet, and it looks pretty classy.
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The faux-leather strap is easily adjustable and comfortable on the skin(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Inside, you can see the well-defined internal channelling(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
At the rear, a subtle reflective sticker helps aid visibility(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Pads on the inside are comfortable, breathable, and removable(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Colour-matched Kask logos are subtle and classy(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Performance
The Kask Moebius is marketed as “a lightweight, scratch-resistant [helmet with] an ergonomic fit”. The first thing we can confirm is that it’s not that lightweight, especially when compared to its main competitors. The Bern Hudson weighs in at 349g, the 3D-printed HEXR we reviewed weighs 344g, while the freakishly light MET Corso weighs a mere 275g. The Kask Moebius, on the other hand, tipped our scales at 413g — 7g lighter than its claimed weight, but still significantly heavier than the rest, and it feels heavy when you’re wearing it.
How much the Moebius can withstand scratches is yet to be fully determined, since we’ve only had it about a month and we’ve treated it with a lot of care, but so far so good. The ergonomic fit, however, we can attest to greatly: the Kask Moebius is supremely comfortable to wear. This is in large part due to the interior padding being really soft against the skin and relatively dense, so it provides a solid amount of supportive cushioning.
However, despite the great comfort level, the sizing is a bit of an issue. For some reason, unlike the majority of helmet manufacturers who use simple S-XL sizing for helmets, Kask varies its size offerings by range. Some models that share a size are actually sized slightly differently (for example, a small Protone ranges 50-56cm, while the small Urban R is 51-57cm), while others are only available in M or L despite covering a wide range of 52-62cm. The Kask Moebius falls into this latter category, which means my medium size is actually huge on my 54cm peanut head until I tighten it almost fully.
Bearing in mind that the correct way to fit a bike helmet dictates that you should be able to fit just one finger between your forehead and the shell when the retention is at its loosest, I can fit at least eight with the Moebius. What’s more, although I can fully tighten the dial to achieve a comfortable and snug fit, there’s still a huge amount of lateral movement, and no matter how much I tighten it, I can fully rock the helmet from side to side.
This not only creates a potential safety hazard if I were to hit the deck at an unfortunate angle, but on a more trivial side of things, the overall size of the helmet looks a bit ridiculous on me. While I appreciate that this sizing decision covers most bases, the style of the helmet would benefit from some proportioning. Wearing a medium helmet with a large adjustability range results in my pinhead feeling like it’s been engulfed by a mushroom cap, whereas if the sizing were more tailored and a more compact mould used for the smallest size, it would be a little more flattering.
(Image credit: Mildred Locke)
Moving onto those air vents and my concerns about overheating; these were completely allayed from the get-go. Living near the top of a large and steep hill, my regular plummet into town was the optimal way to confirm that the Moebius is very airy and cooling. As soon as I started descending, I could feel the airflow being driven through the air channels sculpted into the interior shell of the helmet, moving through the padding, over my head and out through the two large vents at the back.
This was an absolute pleasure to experience on hot, sunny days. Meanwhile the peak did a stand-up job of shielding my eyes when needed, and the perforated surface of the interior foam padding does a really good job of wicking away moisture, so even on some of the hottest April days, I found myself feeling very comfortable, despite the slightly heavy lid. What’s more, as the spring showers started to set in recently, I began to notice that the minimal ventilation design actually does an excellent job of keeping the rain out.
Of course, there are other ways to make this helmet your own. One of my personal hang ups about this style of helmet is the way their peaks and rounded profiles tend to make them incompatible with a cycling cap — an accessory that I personally have a lot of love for. However an upside to the oversized Medium was that I could remove the peak and fit my favourite caps underneath instead, and even better, I still felt the benefit of that cooling airflow.
Verdict
For me, the Moebius was a bit of a mixed bag. My first impressions weren’t great: I didn’t really like the aesthetic, I thought I’d overheat, and I felt like it was heavy and unwieldy.
The latter opinion remains the same, but the Moebius did grow on me.
I’m really impressed with the amount of airflow it channels, and its ability to not only keep you feeling cool, but also keep your head dry in a downpour. The fact that I can comfortably wear a cap underneath means I can still make my own style statement, but I can also layer up when winter comes, to hopefully mitigate some of that cooling effect when it’s no longer wanted in such abundance.
Looking at the helmet as an item on its own, the aesthetic has really grown on me as well. I do think it’s a beautiful object and it has the air of a sculpture that I really like. However, seeing it on my head, the good feeling’s gone. It makes me resemble a mushroom, it has to be said, particularly in the Ivory colourway. Increasing the number of sizes available and tailoring the mould to keep proportions consistent would help with this, for sure.
Mildred joined as Reviews Writer for Cyclingnews and BikePerfect in December 2020. She loves all forms of cycling from long-distance audax to daily errand-running by bike, and does almost everything on two wheels, including moving house, and started out her cycling career working in a bike shop. For the past five years she's volunteered at The Bristol Bike Project as a mechanic and session coordinator, and now sits on its board of directors.
Since then she's gone on to write for a multitude of cycling publications, including Bikeradar, Cycling Plus, Singletrack, Red Bull, Cycling UK and Total Women's Cycling. She's dedicated to providing more coverage of women's specific cycling tech, elevating under-represented voices in the sport, and making cycling more accessible overall.
