A few years ago I was looking for a new helmet.  I’d been riding with a Met Ippogriffo - a good helmet, but nonetheless one which I felt did not fit my head properly.  The primary issue I had was that the helmet moved around on my head substantially - I want my helmet to stay still, so that if I come off my bike it’s in the right place!!  I bought a Catlike.

Basics of the Helmet

This helmet has two standout features - ventilation and fit.  After wearing an ill-fitting helmet, the Catlike seemed a revelation - it fits beautifully and sits nice and low on the head.  I’ve found many helmets fit well on parts of the skull and not others - for example, they will fit well around the sides or back, but dig into your forehead. 

The Catlike is well padded and cradles your head very well.  It is a relatively deep helmet and offers excellent side impact protection due to the fact that it sits down low on your head.

Ventilation wise, the Catlike is peppered with lots of holes and the front to back flow of air is excellent.  When my hair is a little longer, evidence of the ventilation is clear as it looks like my hair has been corn-rowed when I take the helmet off!

The retention system is well designed and simple to operate.  It has no fancy adjustment wheels but is easy to adjust and reliable.  The chin strap is well made and soft on the skin and the harness clips are smoothly finished.

If you want to look a little different from everyone else on the road, the Catlike will help you do this - not only because it looks unique and they are relatively rare helmets, but also because they are available in a myriad of different colours.

The Catlike Kompact Pro is the second best of the Catlike lineup and used to be their top of the line helmet.  The current top of the line helmet is the Whisper which is a similar helmet with a lighter shell and more ventilation, shown below:

What’s Not Good

There’s not much I don’t like about this helmet.  After almost 2 years of constant use, it is still in excellent condition.  There is no delamination of the outer shell from the in-moulded main body. 

The primary issue for me with this helmet is its Australian availability and price.  I bought this helmet from Probikekit about 2 years ago for approx $150.  Since that time, Probikekit is no longer distributing this product to Australia due to “distribution agreements”.  If you’re wondering what that means it is simply code for “Catlike want to overcharge for this product in Australia and will restrict supply to overseas retailers who want to sell into Australia at a cheaper price”. 

Another issue with the Catlike helmets is availability of spare parts like a new pad set (which I need badly).  These are not easily available so consider this before buying one and see if you can source a spare pad set at the time you purchase.

Price / Where to Get It

Well, price from Probikekit is a very reasonable $140.  However, standard retail price in Australia is $299!!  You have to be kidding, right?  Bargains are, however available with a number of online retailers selling in Australia in the mid-$200’s, and at time of writing this review I found the helmet for $199 online at Bikes de Ver.

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