Features
As I mentioned, most helmets are marketed on their features. The most important one, in my opinion, is the head retention system. A helmet that doesn’t stay put while riding just sucks, plain and simple. Luckily, the Tactic is solid on this front. It has what Specialized calls the “Headset SL” system, which is a simple plastic harness that has a couple of easy adjustments. The circumference of the retention system is adjusted by a knob at the back of the helmet. This is simple, effective, and I never had any problems with it moving on me.
The rear of the retention system can also be adjusted up or down by popping it out of the helmet shell. This adjustment is a little more finicky, but probably isn’t something that will need to be done more than once. It works well for getting the proper fit around the lower back of the head; my head slopes into my neck fairly high up, and it’s easy to get the helmet to comfortably accommodate this. The adjustability here might also come in handy if you were trying to get the helmet adjusted around a ponytail. Not a problem I personally have, but I’ve seen others struggle with this.
The straps on a helmet aren’t usually something that I think much about; as long as they seem reasonably secure, I’m not overly concerned about them. I will say, however, that the straps on the Tactic are fantastic, which is surprising because they’re essentially non-adjustable.
Here’s what most helmets that I’ve used in the past do for straps (left) and how the Tactic handles them (right):
The upside of the Tactic’s strap system (which Specialized calls the “Tri-Fix” system) is that the straps lie flat against your head and don’t get in the way of your ears. You lose some adjustability, but you don’t really need that adjustability because the system works great. I suppose it’s possible that someone with truly massive ears might disagree with me on this, but I think the system will work great for 99% of riders out there. The straps also have a reflective strip sewn in, which is good for those twilight rides.
I had a passing concern that the plastic widget that organizes the straps around the ear could break in a crash, but the strap system gets tested in the Snell B90a test, and it doesn’t feel flimsy or particularly prone to breakage. If nothing else, I doubt it’s any more prone to breaking than the little plastic under-chin buckle that’s on most half-shell bike helmets, and I’ve never heard of those buckles having an issue.
Breathability / Weight / Goggle Integration
The shell of the Tactic comes fairly far down the back of the head, but not as far as some other offerings out there. This is sort of a tradeoff on protection vs. breathability: the more of your head the helmet covers, the safer it theoretically is—but it also gets hotter. As is, the Tactic breathes pretty well. It’s not blowing me away with its massive airflow (pun intended), but it moves enough air that it’s pretty comfortable. I’d call it average.
Similarly average is the Tactic’s weight. It comes in at 335g (measured), which is right in the middle of the spectrum. To be honest, my neck can’t tell much of a difference unless a helmet is exceptionally heavy or exceptionally light. The Tactic is neither, and thus it’s perfectly acceptable but not noteworthy in this category.
I also did a quick test to see how goggles worked with the Tactic. Personally, I’m not all that into the whole goggles with a half-shell thing, but for those that are, my Thor goggles worked fine. There’s a nice flat spot on the back of the helmet that the goggle straps sits perfectly on.
Other Considerations
I have two (minor) gripes about the Tactic. First is its lack of an adjustable visor. The visor is fixed in place and it sits a little bit high for my taste. As far as I’m concerned, visors on half-shell helmets are largely just aesthetic and don’t do a whole lot other than differentiate “mountain” helmets from “road” helmets. This is, however, important, since if you don’t have a visor on your helmet, that means you probably shave your legs, and if you’re a guy, that’s not a topic that we want to breed casual confusion about.
My second gripe is that none of the vents line up well for jamming sunglasses into them. I don’t do this often, but every once in a while I find myself in a situation where I need to take off my sunglasses (i.e. a poorly timed ride that ends after sunset) and I don’t have any place to put them (i.e. didn’t bring a backpack, and my jersey doesn’t have pockets). I realize that an extraordinarily minimal level of planning could prevent these situations, but nevertheless, they happen. In that event, I like to jam my sunglasses in my helmet, but the Tactic’s vents don’t cooperate.
A couple of words on aesthetics: the Tactic is pretty much just a solid color. It has some very subdued graphics, but from more than five feet away, it pretty much just looks like a black helmet. I like this. I’m not a big fan of lightning bolts, or pissed off eagles, or whatever other “rad” graphics helmet designers occasionally think I would want on my head. So on this front, I award high points to the Tactic.
Bottom Line
Overall, I like the Tactic a lot. While it’s not industry leading in any particular category, it does everything well, and it does so at a pretty competitive price.
If you need a helmet and this one fits, the Tactic is certainly worth a look.