Overade Plixi Foldable Bike Helmet

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(3 / 5)

1. Not Worth It
2. Meh
3. Good
4. Highly Recommended
5. Life Changing

[Coming Soon: Overade BLINXI, the snap-on helmet light + turn signal for the PLIXI]

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What Is It

The Plixi FIT is a folding helmet that uses hinges to collapse in on itself and drop in volume by two-thirds.

It’s fairly customizable in terms of color and add-ons, and is meant to be a personalized accessory as well as a safety product. It is designed and marketed by a French company, Overade.

The Plixi is one of the oldest folding helmets in the market today, and has received good reviews for its innovative folding design.

About the Plixi

The Overade Plixi came to market in 2010 and radically changed the folding helmet market with a design that dropped in volume by two-thirds. Like other folding helmets, it’s aimed at commuters and city bikers, as well as skateboarders, rollerskaters, and scooter riders. The folding design lets you slip the helmet into a backpack or handbag when you’re done with it, making wearing a helmet much more convenient.

The basic construction of the Plixi is similar to other folding helmets. The inside is made of EPS foam, like most conventional helmets, and the shell is made of ABS, a hard plastic. The ABS shell makes the helmet relatively heavy, but also resistant to scratches. So there’s a bit of a tradeoff.

The Plixi has 14 vents on the top for airflow.

For its folding mechanism, the Plixi uses metal hinges, which are very strong. Overade actually tested the folding mechanism’s durability by having it folded over and over again 10,000 times, after which the Plixi still kept its safety and stability features.

Overade also began selling accessories for the helmet– reflective stickers, a visor, and a helmet cover for the rain. The visor and cover can be easily attached to the helmet. They stay on when folded, and they’re removable. They also come in many different color choices, so you’re able to really customize the look of your helmet.

Recommendation

Giving a recommendation on the Plixi is not easy.

The Plixi has some nice features:

1. It folds compact
2. It resists scratches
3. It can be customized with a visor and cover, which come in different color choices

On the other hand it has some drawbacks:

1. The shape it takes on when collapsed is spherical, which is not so useful
2. The maneuver you use to fold and open it is complicated relative to other folding helmets
3. It’s heavy

Overall, we don’t have a strong recommendation either way.

Here’s why:

• People who’ve tried the Plixi like it
• It is generally good quality
• Its price is roughly average compared to other folding helmets
• It’s a bit heavy, but could be worse, and not such a big deal if you’re just riding a short distance to work
• It’s complicated to fold and open, but once you get the hang of it, it only takes a few seconds
• Its folded shape is hard to take advantage of, but it does fold really small

We don’t think the Plixi is the best folding helmet out there, but it does the job.

Plus, if you’re willing to shell out some extra money, the personalized accessories can be a cool feature for some people. Although, I’ll admit, most people probably wouldn’t care enough about their helmet to spend on it more money than they have to.

Who the Plixi Would Be Perfect For

There are lots of folding helmets out there, so who would pick this one?

We think it’ll come down to personal taste with the Plixi.

The kind of person who will pick the Plixi likely:

1. Values functionality, and wants a good quality helmet they can stow away
2. Likes the look of the Plixi compared to the other folding helmets that are about the same price

Foldability

Although the steps are more or less straightforward, it takes some time to learn how to fold and unfold the Plixi. Once you learn how to do it, folding the Plixi takes a bit longer than it does for most other folding helmets.

You can see how it’s done in the video below:

There are three steps involved in folding the Plixi:

1. First, slide the rear part of the helmet up over the top.
2. Then, push the sides inward, and fold the back part of the helmet inward into the center of the helmet.
3. Finally, fold the top section of the helmet over the center of the helmet, so the helmet folds in half.

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Time needed to open/ fold	5-10 seconds
Attention needed to fold	Somewhat complex, needs some focus
Time/ Tries to master	Around 20 tries (5 minutes)

A big drawback to the Plixi’s foldability is that it doesn’t really go flat in any one dimension. It just folds down to a sphere-like shape, and is still over 4″ wide at its narrowest point. This makes it hard to take advantage of the helmet’s smaller size.

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Open	Folded
10.2″ l x 8.7″ w x 5.1″ h	6.3″ l x 8.3″ w x 4.3″ h

Portability

Carrying the Plixi by hand in the folded position is harder than average. That’s because its shape when folded is a bit clumsy, making it hard to grip the entire thing in one hand. It’s also heavy relative to other folding helmets. The Plixi weighs 450g (0.99 lb) for S/M, or 490g (1.08 lb) for L/XL.

Fit

There are two sizes: Small/Medium (for head circumferences 21.3″ – 22.8″) and Large/XL (23.2″ – 24.4″). The S/M size is probably appropriate for most people, even if your head is a bit larger than average.

The fit can be adjusted further with a mechanism in the helmet that helps it resize to your head.

Finally, the Plixi comes with three sets of pads for the helmet’s interior. To adjust the fit, you can swap in the pads that are the right thickness.

Having three ways of adjusting the Plixi’s fit is a great improvement over the Plixi’s original design. When the Plixi first came out, it did not have a resizing mechanism in the helmet. A lot of reviewers complained that it was uncomfortable and slid around on the head, so Plixi responded with the Plixi FIT. That’s the current version of the Plixi that you can buy– it addresses a lot of the comfort problems that the original design had.

Safety

The Plixi is safety certified in Europe (EN-1078) as well as in Canada and the US (CPSC).

Options

In terms of customization, aside from the size of the helmet, you can buy the Plixi in four different colors choices. You’re also able to buy a visor for it in one of seven colors, a waterproof cover for it in one of six colors, and reflective stickers.

Four Helmet Color Choices

The four color choices that the Plixi comes in are: Black, Grey, Blue, and White.

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Visor

Seven Visor Color Choices

The seven color choices for the Plixi’s visor, if you choose to get it, are: Black, Grey, Orange, Red, Blue, “Blue Jeans”, and “Beige Suede”.

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Visor Features

What makes the visor so convenient is that it is:

1. Removable
2. Easily attached to the helmet with Velcro
3. Able to stay on the helmet even when the helmet is folded.

Installing the Visor

There are three steps to installing the visor:

1. Remove the plastic film to expose the adhesive on the bottom of the Velcro strip
2. Stick the Velcro strip onto the underneath part of the front of the helmet
3. Attach the visor to the helmet by way of the Velcro

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You should be able to go through the process of attaching the visor in under five minutes. Once the Velcro is on, you can swap the visor out for a different one in the future without having to worry about the Velcro steps again.

Waterproof Helmet Cover

Six Helmet Cover Color Choices

The six color choices for the Plixi’s waterproof helmet cover are: Black, Grey, Orange, Blue, Red, and “Fluo Yellow”.

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Helmet Cover Features

The helmet cover has some convenient features. It is:

1. Waterproof
2. Removable
3. Able to stay on the helmet even when the helmet is folded
4. Relatively easy to install.

Installing the Helmet Cover

Installing the waterproof helmet cover involves three steps:

1. Squeeze in the front part of the cover
2. Latch the cover’s plastic hooks into the front vents
3. Latch the cover’s small metal hooks into special slots on the sliding part of the helmet

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The whole process of installing the helmet cover should only take about a minute.

Reflective Stickers

Here are what the reflective stickers look like:

These are grey strips that you put on certain areas of the Plixi, which reflect brightly and make you more visible at night.

Reviews

The Plixi has generally received good reviews from people who bought it.

The biggest positive aspect that people cited (other than the fact that it folds) was that:

1. The Plixi seemed well made
2. The folding mechanism felt solid

The few negative reviews said that:

1. The helmet was not so comfortable
2. It has less ventilation than other helmets
3. It’s complicated to fold, and is still big and clunky when folded

There are also some reviews that gave the Plixi a mediocre rating due to the fact that it slides around on the head. However, these reviews are largely based on the previous version of the Plixi, not the Plixi FIT. The older version did not have a good fit adjustment mechanism, so it sometimes slid around on the head. The Plixi that you’ll find online now has mostly fixed that issue.

Where To Buy

You can buy the Overade Plixi on Amazon here.

You can also buy it on Overade’s website, either just the helmet or the helmet plus accessories (aka the “Plixi FIT Pack”). However, the prices on Overade’s website are currently only in Euro. So if you’re outside the EU, it would be better to purchase the Plixi on Amazon.

Comparison to Other Folding Helmets

There are a lot of folding helmets to choose from, so the Plixi has quite a bit of competition.

Here is how the Plixi compares:

FEND

The FEND helmet is an all-around decent folding helmet, like the Plixi. The two helmets are comparable in a lot of ways.

The two helmets are in a similar price point. The FEND, like the Plixi, has an ABS shell, meaning it also resists scratches but is heavy. They are both very average, mid-tier folding helmets. And neither helmet has any major flaws or, conversely, uniquely positive features.

However, the FEND does have some advantages over the Plixi:

1. The FEND is easier to fold
2. It is 10-20% lighter than the Plixi
3. It’s easier to carry by hand, due to its naturally grippable shape

On the other hand, the Plixi folds slightly smaller than the FEND.

Also, the Plixi has been around since 2010, so the creators have had a lot of time to refine their design. The FEND, meanwhile, is brand new to market, and may still be figuring things out.

In terms of responsiveness, Overade– the creators of the Plixi– seem much more active online than the FEND team. Overade has a 2-year warranty on the Plixi, and I trust them to offer support on their helmet post-sale. I am much more skeptical of the FEND team’s ability to offer this kind of support.

You can find out more about the FEND in our review here.

We Would Love to Hear Your Thoughts

Have you tried the Plixi and are willing to share your opinion of it with us? Do you have a question or comment about anything in this review? Please let us know by posting in the comments below!

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This review was written by the Things That Fold editorial team. We have based our review on information we found publicly online, such as the vendor’s website, online sales channels, other review sites, and news articles. We do not currently own this product.

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