The Specialized Tactic 4 is the latest incarnation of the Tactic helmet and is designed with trail and Enduro mountain biking in mind. We gave our resident adventurer Barry Godin (Fulham Store Manager and popular YouTuber) the Tactic to review while away on one of his bikepacking trips, and you can find his thoughts below.
The Specialized Tactic is an Enduro style mountain bike helmet and a total redesign of its predecessor.
The first thing that you notice when you have this helmet in your hands or on your head is how incredibly light it is, coming in at 380 grams based on the medium size. This makes such a difference when wearing it all day.
The fitting system is also a new design, redeveloped with a thinner fit system which also allows for more variation in head shape. It was super comfortable, but I will say the sizing on this helmet is different to other brands I’ve used – where I am usually a medium I would ideally be a small in the Tactic for the perfect fit, so make sure you try it on in store first or check the helmet sizing guide.
The Specialized Tactic 4 features brilliant low coverage round the back of the head, which partners nicely with the MIPS (multi-directional impact protection system) protection and adds another layer of safety. The Specialized ANGi system can also be added to detect if you have had an accident and then send a message to your chosen emergency contact (which is amazing if you are solo rider riding off road).
When wearing it all day you notice how well the helmet ventilation works to keep you at the right temperature.
The whole helmet is also designed around wearing glasses and googles – it has a place to store them under the visor with vents to make sure the arms are held correctly and a flat spot at the back of the helmet to hold a google strap in place. For me this meant the perfect place to have a helmet light which was on a head strap. This held perfectly all day with no movement at all.
It must also be noted due to the glasses integration the peak is rather high, so if there is a low sun or it’s pelting down with rain there is not much shelter. I would definitely advise this helmet to be partnered with eye wear.
Thanks to Barry for taking the Specialized Tactic 4 along for the ride – as always it looked like an amazing trip! If you want to see more of Barry’s Bikepacking adventures you can follow him on Instagram & Youtube