Modular helmets look silly. There, I said it. One part police officer, two parts touring nerd. Add a one-piece riding suit with some hi-viz accents, then throw a leg over a massive adventure bike, and you’ll blend in perfectly at the BMW MOA Rally.
But as true as that may be (trust me, I’ve been to my fair share of MOA events), there is no denying the sheer practicality and comfort of a modular lid. They’re the hardtop convertibles of motorcycle helmets. Sunny day aboard the old GS? Take the top down with the push of a button and let the breeze blow through your beard. Weather turns to shit on your “adventure” ride to Starbucks? Close the hatch and mouth, breathe in comfort. The drop-down sun visor, Bluetooth communication compatibility, multi-point ventilation system, and pivoting chinbar make for the Swiss Army knife of head protection.
But you still look silly.
KLIM aims to fix that with the introduction of the new GT1 Expedition modular touring helmet, which it says is “The industry’s first and only modular touring helmet on the market built with Koroyd technology inside.”
What is Koroyd and how do you even pronounce that? Well, I’ll get to that in a moment. First I’d like to address the fact that this new GT1 Expedition looks pretty cool, especially when propped open, which I can’t say for many of the modular lids on the market. Secondly I’ll note that KLIM took five years to develop this new helmet, using an in-house wind tunnel to quantify drag, lift, and sound at real-world speeds.
The GT1 is built with hand-laid 3K pre-preg carbon fiber beneath which lies a matrix of Koroyd and EPS. The shell molding process preserves the complex design without excess resin buildup, voids, or thickness inconsistencies. Additionally, Koroyd’s dual-walled, welded cores crush uniformly on impact, minimizing rebound versus EPS alone. Translated, the GT1 has a high strength-to-weight ratio not often found in mass manufacturing processes, and the combination of Koroyd and EPS means you’re not sacrificing weight for safety.
Comfort is crucial when it comes to a touring helmet, and KLIM hopes to provide more of it through noise reduction, optical clarity, heat mitigation, and reducing the overall weight and drag. If you’ve ever spent six or eight hours on a motorcycle, helmet fatigue can have a huge impact on whether you continue toward Iron Butt glory or call it quits and check into a Motel 6 outside of Albuquerque. So, KLIM tested the GT1 helmet in the wind tunnel at 75 mph, where aerodynamic and aeroacoustic forces are more extreme, knowing that touring riders not only spend long days in the saddle, usually at Interstate speeds. KLIM even used carbon construction for the chinbar to reduce weight in moving components.
Okay, so what is Koroyd and why should you care?
According to KLIM's website, Koroyd helmets “use a cylinder-based, honeycomb-like structure (co-polymer tubes) instead of traditional EPS foam to absorb, crumple, and convert impact energy, reducing risk of head injury.” It also offers better breathability, along with a 95% air structure for weight reduction. While MIPS uses a low-friction liner to reduce rotational forces to the brain during angled impacts, Koroyd helmets utilize a honeycomb structure designed to absorb energy on impact while also providing a lot of airflow. By combining Koroyd and EPS on the GT1, KLIM can tune the system for both high-and low-speed impacts, while also providing high-volume airflow for thermal management.
Unlike conventional modular chinbars, which pivot on a fixed axis, the mechanism found on the KLIM GT1 Expedition shifts the chinbar outward before rotating up, then draws it inward on closure for a flush seal. In short, this means when the helmet is open and the chinbar raised, you look less silly. And I can get behind that.
Additionally, the GT1 is outfitted with a Super HD face shield providing Optical Class 1 clarity, accompanied by a Pinlock 120XL for added airflow and fog control (mouth breathers rejoice!). There’s also UV400 protection provided by the Photochromic lens, which adjusts in changing light, and interchangeable cheek pads and crown liners to fine-tune the fit.
The new touring lid will be available in three carbon shell sizes and five EPS densities to deliver a more precise fit across the product range. As for color, you can choose from three gloss flavors, what I’ll call white, grey, and darker grey, as well as Redrock, Hi-Viz and a Carbon Matte for those that want to show some skin.
The GT1 Expedition will be available at your local KLIM dealer, as well as online in limited initial quantities, with an MSRP of $999.99.
