I've been a Bell fan since my earliest days racing MX in the 1970s and I've continued favoring Bell products over the last 35 years of road, MTB, and more recently, gravel, cycling. I agree completely with one of the other reviewers below who noted that since the advent of MIPS, the feel of my Bells (and other brands) all suffered with a less secure fit, increased pressure points, and an awareness that the helmet was always there.
This new XR solves all of the that and returns that legendary Bell fit that I remember pre-MIPS. The helmet literally disappears on your head. And the unique little sweat channel engineered into the brow pad to channel sweat out over your nose rather than down your lenses really works!
One quibble, however, which admittedly might be due to my unique head shape, is that the helmet sits low on the head. Because of the that it might make contact with your glasses near your temples if you're wearing newer oversized models. Because of that, it may affect which eyeglass I may wear with this helmet.
I loved bell helmets before the mips revolution. Then everything came with a mips liner which most definitely changed the fit of a helmet. Well with this model the mips is built into the shell of the helmet so the fit is back to perfect.
Bell's new MIPS system is perfect, no longer is there the horrible fitting, uncomfortable, size changing old style MIPS plastic liner system. I have been a long time fan of the Bell fit, I switched to a certain big brand helmet / bike company but no longer support their business practices, tried Kask for a little while and the fit was close but not perfect....
The XR is my daily commute commute helmet. It fits and feels great. Luckily I haven't had to test its crash capabilities. I have not used it on long rides so I cant say how it will feel if wearing 3-5 hours. For 60 min its great
