Caberg Duke Preview
November 20, 2011 – The big news at Caberg for 2012 is the introduction of the Caberg Duke flip-up helmet.
The Duke replaces the Caberg Konda (review) and is a successor to the Caberg Trip (review), both very popular flip-up helmets.
So the Duke has a strong heritage to uphold and it appears to be ready for the task.
The face shield, large eye port, chin bar and chin vent system all have somewhat of a family resemblance to the Caberg Trip, but the Duke is all new.
It is 100% made in Italy, which is a definite plus in my opinion. Caberg was the first Italian company to manufacture a flip-up motorcycle helmet, so they have a long history in this design.
The Duke has a dual EC homologation as both a full-face helmet with the flip-up closed and as a “jet” helmet with the flip-up raised.
How does it do this? The helmet has a lock for the rotating visor, which is illustrated in the photos below. When the visor is raised, the lock engages, keeping the visor in the upright position. Not all flip-up helmets can do this and, in fact, it can be dangerous to ride with the rotating visor in the raised position if the helmet does not have the dual homologation.
Caberg went through each part on the Duke to reduce weight. We’ll be reviewing the helmet in detail soon, so I don’t have an exact weight but Caberg claims approximately 1550 grams, although I’m not sure for which size.
The Duke comes equipped with a Pinlock anti-fog insert (review) and the Caberg “Double Visor Tech” system that works very well. It includes the internal rotating sun visor, which is treated with an anti-scratch coating. The sun visor operates with a new low-profile engagement system along the top of the helmet, illustrated in the photos below.
The sun visor appears to be very large and rotates down away from the rider’s line of sight.
The ventilation system in the Duke is new, with the large chin vent and a top vent system that channels the air through grooves in the EPS and liner. The liner is removable and washable and it employs a breathable and hypo-allergenic fabric. It feels very comfortable and nicely padded.
Special attention was also paid to the thickness of the neck roll, as you can see in the photo below. It has been made wider and with fewer pieces to help control noise. It also includes a pair of reflective inserts towards the back.
I haven’t confirmed the color choices for the Duke; I believe it comes in white, black, matte black, high-visibility yellow and the white/red/black graphics shown in the video. The Duke will be available in a polycarbonate shell with sizes ranging from XS to XL. It meets the ECE 22.05 standard only, in the dual full-face and jet homologation.
By the way, I was so intrigued by the helmet that I forgot to take the normal set of 360-degree photos! So I included some of the press photos from Caberg in the slide show below.
We’ll have a full Caberg Duke review coming soon!
Publication Date: November 20, 2011
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