Leatt ADV 9.5 V25 Carbon

An $899 helmet that shows up as a kit

The Leatt ADV 9.5 keeps getting put right up against the Arai XD-5, and the XD-5 is one of my favorite helmets ever. So I rode this one on road and off since April to see if it holds up. It's $899, and that money gets you a lot more than a helmet. The photochromic shield comes installed, and the box also has a clear shield, a Pinlock, a set of Leatt's Velocity 4.5 goggles, and a really nice bag. Right out of the box you can run it four ways: shield and goggles, shield only, goggles only, or peak off like a street helmet.

The shell is a 6-layer carbon matrix in 3 shell sizes, XS to 2XL, and it's DOT and ECE 22.06. Leatt lists it at 3.28 pounds in a medium-large. My large came in at 1,531 grams on my own scale with the shield and Pinlock in, so call it 3.38 pounds ready to ride. It only comes in black carbon, and I'd love to see more colors. Those blue discs in the liner are Leatt's 360 Turbines, which are basically their version of MIPS. They let your head move a tiny bit in a crash, and Leatt says that cuts rotational acceleration by up to 40%.

Light, comfy, and built for the dirt

The fit is a little different. It holds the crown and my jawline the tightest, and there's a ton of room around my ears, so it goes on and comes off without tucking them. The padding is super comfy, and on long off-road days my neck never got tired. That's the weight paying off. If you wear glasses, it's better than the XD-5, because the port isn't as wide open and it actually holds your frames in place. The Fidlock magnetic buckle is convenient on the street, but off road, where the helmet comes off at every stop, it's so nice.

The visor system is easy. Press the side, rotate, and the shield pops out. You get shut and locked, shut but cracked, 3 open positions, and fully open, which puts the shield completely out of the way so goggles drop right in. That's how I ride it: shield down on the road to the trailhead, then flip it up and throw the goggles on for the dirt. Ventilation is one of my favorite things about it. That chin vent moves an incredible amount of air, and I could feel it on my face at 25 mph with the shield shut. It also has a foam dust filter, so on a dusty trail you can close the shield, open the vent and still breathe filtered air. Visibility is huge, and the only catch is that on a really big head check the chin bar bumps my chin, which is true of pretty much every ADV shape.

The trade-offs you're making

Build quality is a couple notches under the Arai. Arai's build is so high that almost nothing touches it, and the Leatt isn't bad at all, it's just not Arai level. The vent switches are where you notice it most. They don't have a solid click, and with the peak on it's hard to get gloved fingers on the top vents.

The one thing nobody talks about is the peak at highway speed. Around town you don't feel it, and under 60 I barely noticed it. But on my MT-10, a naked bike with nothing blocking the wind, I felt real lift somewhere between 55 and 70. That's exactly why the peak comes off in a few seconds, so for a big highway day you pop it off and you're basically riding a street helmet. Noise was way quieter than I expected for an ADV helmet with a big peak, though it's still not as quiet as a street lid.

For comms, this is the cleanest Cardo install I've ever done. There's a Bluetooth icon with a rubber grommet on the shell for the wires, a flat spot for the unit, speaker pockets, and padding that's already slotted for the wires, so you don't cut anything. For motovlogging, the front vent rules out a chin mount, so my Action 6 lives on the peak. The shield still clears and I can't see the camera looking forward, and there's a ton of room inside for mics. The catch is that the helmet is light enough that a camera on the peak pulls it forward a little, and the liner rejected 3M tape, so my mic mounts needed J-B Weld. I put the whole setup in a free step-by-step guide: get it here.

Who should buy the Leatt ADV 9.5

If you've got $900 for an ADV helmet and you split your time between road and dirt, swap between shield and goggles, or wear glasses, I'd put the money on the Leatt. It's lighter than the XD-5, it comes with way more in the box, and it's about $30 cheaper. If you mostly ride long highway miles and want the most solid helmet you can buy, the XD-5 is still worth every penny. For how I ride, though, it's the Leatt. The Leatt ADV 9.5 earns a Chase Score of 85, a Great tier rating, sitting just behind the XD-5's 87.