Abus Taipan LED

The Abus Taipan LED is said to combine the advantages of the company’s road helmets with the requirements of the gravel lifestyle, whatever they might be. In essence, that means it’s a helmet with road DNA but with a little bit of off-road rugged stirred into the mix. The helmet promises to be flexible enough to straddle the many demands of gravel and capable of juggling the childlike joy of escape, the effort of intervals, cruising trails with friends and stepping onto a podium. This feels like a lot to ask of a plastic and foam hat, but at least they kept the vowels in.

Rather than simply painting it a muted earth tone and slapping a 23 per cent gravel tax on it, Abus says it talked to a bunch of professional gravel riders and asked them what they wanted from their helmet.

For some events, a helmet light is used, so they integrated a cage inside the helmet – the Acti Cage – which strengthens the helmet and front light mount area, and they carved channels to the inside of the helmet to allow for the associated light mount straps and cable routing. Then, considering the additional weight that helmet lights can add to a lid combined with the long periods of time gravel racers can spend in the saddle, they used thicker padding on the inside of the helmet to aid comfort, and the internal circumference of the helmet was increased slightly to allow for this extra cush.

A removable rear LED with a long run-time has been integrated in a neat line across the back of the helmet to help with the helmet’s night-time usefulness. Eyewear ports were also added, as these were a popular request from their sponsored riders.

More importantly, from a protection point of view, the Taipan was made a little deeper to the rear and temple to provide more coverage for improved off-road safety, while the whole body of the helmet is protected with a polycarbonate outer shell to stave off day to day aggregate and bumps.

The Taipan LED is available in Shiny White, Velvet Black and Graphite Silver. The LED free Taipan is available in the same colours, plus some others in the more gravel trend earth tones of Como Blue, Sand Beige and Frosted Green.

When it comes to ventilation, there are 18 holes in the Taipan for air to swirl in and out of and Abus has sculpted internal grooves to encourage through flow. Without access to a wind tunnel and a bag of smoke it’s hard to quantify, but while I’ve worn lighter helmets that feel more hole than helmet, I never felt any heat build up in the Taipan.

Central to the construction is the Acti Cage which is something that also appears on the GameChanger 2.0 and AirBreaker 2.0 road helmets. It’s a structural reinforcement built into the EPS foam that runs across the helmet, allowing for larger vents whilst still maintaining integrity.

The Taipan doesn’t come with Mips or any other proprietary inner rotational injury protection system, which means that even for a fully protected helmet with integrated light it comes in at 312g (Medium). While this isn’t road helmet featherweight, it’s not too chonky for something designed for dirty duties and I certainly never felt it a hindrance. The weight of some Mips style helmets makes me anxious anyway and I’m not convinced by the tech behind it, so I’m more than happy with the choices Abus has made here.

The internal shape of the Taipan is a rounded oval which suits my flat sided head perfectly, and this combined with its external profile means I don’t look like a mushroom. I generally hover between a Medium and Large in helmets, depending on brand, and the Taipan in a Medium (54-58cm) fitted me perfectly, even though the circumference on my oval shaped head is nearer 59cm.

The current trend for rounder, oversized helmets really doesn’t fit or suit me too well, so it’s a joy to find one that plops right on and cinches up with a couple of dial clicks. It remained comfortable over all-day rides with no pressure points or Devil’s Horn marks appearing on my forehead – something that can often happen with other lids.

The Taipan definitely has a road helmet look to it, but has added protection against the stones and sticks of gravel riding, with lower edge protection where a dedicated road helmet might have exposed inner shell, and it has a less vent perforated body. The whole of the helmet is covered in a polycarbonate shell, which is formed directly over the expanded polystyrene body for added robustness. There are only slivers of inner foam body visible across the helmet and so it’s well protected from the myriad knocks an off-road based life can attract, or from being carelessly chucked in the back of a car or being knocked off a pub garden table. After a good few months use, the helmet is still looking good without the scuffs and dents that can pock a more exposed helmet.

I’m never usually a fan of extra light attachments to helmets, but the one on the Taipan works incredibly well. It’s well integrated, unobtrusive and if you don’t like it you can easily pop it out and shave a few grams along the way. It’s held in via a lip and a magnet and it hasn’t shifted or rattled, even over mountain bike rough terrain.

The light switch is on the left hand side and works with a positive click. One click turns it on to a constant low light; the next click has the light on a brighter setting; one click more puts it in pulse mode; and one more makes it flash; then click again to turn the light off. With a bit of practice you can turn the light on and toggle to what mode you want to be in without taking the helmet off. You can even take it out on the move to see what mode the light is in and pop it back in without much bother.

Abus says there’s 4:20hrs of run time in the light at full whack 4.6 lumen mode and that can be extended to an impressive 35 hours in 1.8 lumen flashing mode. It charges via a USB-C port in the back and, as mentioned above, if you don’t want the light, you can simply pop it out and save 19g in the process. If you really don’t need the light, the standard Taipan is available to buy for a little less.

The retention system is your common twiddly dial out the back and there’s over 50mm of up-down ratchet adjustment on the cradle to get it to sit just right on the back of your head. The half-ring cradle is designed with a large hole in the centre for those with long hairstyles such as ponytails, buns, or braids, which Abus calls its Ponytail Fit. For even finer adjustment, the front arms of the cradle have a choice of three holes to clip into in the body of the helmet.

There’s no strap yolk adjustment buckle, which shaves a bit of weight and is probably what allows Abus to call the straps aerodynamic, but it does mean that you have to hope that the set angles and join position work okay with your ears and settle the strap comfortably under your chin. None of this was an issue for me though.

Fastening is by a familiar three-prong buckle and excess strappage is tidied away nicely with a sturdy silicone loop. It’s with the straps however that I have my only niggle with the Taipan – and it’s the teeniest design flaw really – but the rear strap could catch on an open ended loop of the cradle and fray the material a tiny bit.

The helmet pads are quite substantial and are one integrated unit, so you can take them out in one go for easy cleaning or replacing. Held into the body of the helmet via five attachment points, you give each of these a sharper than you might feel appropriate tug and the whole pad pops out. This is a great idea for any helmet, to be honest – gravel branded or not. When was the last time you bothered to wash your helmet pads? Well, now’s your chance.

The Taipan also comes equipped with an Eyewear Port, which is essentially the second row up of vents in the helmet into which you can slot your sunglasses arms. The front edge of these ports has an extra bit of outer shell wrapped into it to help glasses arms slip in and out and to offer a level of helmet protection against misguided pokes. If you regularly slip your glasses into your helmet holes though, this won’t be big news. The port worked on all sets of glasses in my collection, holding them snugly – although the vents sit higher than many helmets’ handy holes, so it takes a bit of learning to aim your glasses there.

Value

The obvious comparison is with the Poc Omne Beacon Mips Commute Bike Helmet, which is about the same price, comes with an integrated 4 LED rear light and is marketed as a commuter helmet. It also comes with Mips, which does make it heavier, although it was praised for its good airflow.

If you’re desperately after a gravel helmet then Fizik has a whole collection with its Kyros and Kudo lids. Both have many of the same features as the Taipan, including an integrated rear light compatibility and come with Mips. And if you’re deadly serious, the latter comes in an Aero option and lightweight Arche-Type variants. Prices range from £170 to £279.

The Specialized Search helmet can be had for half the price of the Abus and is labelled as having been crafted for riders who embrace adventure on every ride. It’s claimed to have the largest vents in its class and Specialized embraces its everything capabilities by saying it can tackle gravel trails, local races and commuting to work. It comes with Mips Evolve Core Solution, a 5-Star Virginia Tech Helmet Rating and even sunglass storage and weighs a respectable 300g.

For a fraction of the price and something that’s more XC focused, but also fine for gravel, you could try the Rockrider XC Mountain Bike Helmet Race Mips and its unique and breezy looks. You don’t get many frills, but you do get Mips Evolve Core lining, which brings this bargain helmet to a reasonable 330g which tester James thought was light enough for its intended use.

> Best cycling helmets 2026 — choose a bike lid that’s right for your riding

Conclusion

Abus has dusted the Taipan in a thick layer of gravel marketingspeak, but it’s a far, far more versatile helmet than that would suggest. I’ve worn it on road, gravel, cyclocross and XC mountain bike rides and haven’t felt hindered weight wise or over- or under-protected during any of them – and more importantly, the Gravel Police haven’t pulled me over for my wilful indiscretions.

That said, I’ve never really distinguished between my road/CX/XC/gravel helmets anyway, simply downgrading my road one for scruffier off-road duties when a fresher lid appears. Your helmet requirements might be more discerning in terms of light weight, airiness or protection. The head mounted light compatibility might appeal to XC MTBers who wear a one for night-time shenanigans and the integrated rear light would also make it ideal for commuting duties, on whichever bike you choose to do that.

While it’s a great helmet that meets the requirements of what a gravel rider might need, you can happily ignore the gravel spin and see the Abus Taipan LED as a great multipurpose helmet that would suit a broad spectrum of riders.