The wild new aero helmet, noticed atop the heads of Alison Jackson, Ben Healy and their respective EF teammates, is formally the quickest aero street helmet in the marketplace, in keeping with an in-depth, industry-wide, unbiased wind tunnel take a look at.
The POC Procen Air, maybe higher described as a time trial helmet tailored for the street reasonably than the aero street helmet type we have come to know, has already taken scalps within the WorldTour, however it could possibly now declare an altogether completely different victory, one that’s arguably no much less precious.
On the twentieth April, Cyclingnews evaluate professional, Tom Wieckowski, and I took 24 completely different street bike helmets from 18 completely different manufacturers to the wind tunnel on the Silverstone Sports activities Engineering Hub.
In a bid to create probably the most full take a look at doable, we selected the range-topping aero helmet from each model we might consider. We included all of the helmets that beginner riders and racers may take into account shopping for, and given Cyclingnews’ connection to the world of professional racing, we additionally wished to incorporate every model represented within the WorldTour.
The ultimate record included all the things from Abus to Uvex, together with the S-Works Evade III, the Trek Ballista, the Candy Safety Tucker 2VI, the older POC Ventral, the Met Manta worn by Tadej Pogačar, the Abus Gamechanger 2.0, the budget-friendly Van Rysel FCR, an even-more finances pleasant helmet that prices simply £20, and even a helmet that does not launch till later this 12 months.
After over 4 hours of back-to-back (to-back) testing, the Procen Air – full with visor – was topped quickest.
To see the total outcomes, you’ll be able to head to our aero helmets wind tunnel examined characteristic. You will should be a Cyclingnews subscriber – it was your subscription charges that helped to pay for this very take a look at – however once you’re in, you will have full entry to the uncooked CdA information, our take a look at protocol, the caveats, and the entire issues we discovered on the day.
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We have additionally calculated the distinction in watts between every helmet at 30km/h, 40km/h and 50km/h. We then reversed these calculations to resolve for pace at 250, 350 and 450 watts, and from that we labored out what number of seconds that will prevent over a 40km time trial. As an example, the distinction between the Procen Air and the slowest on take a look at is 12.8 watts at 40km/h. Bump that pace to 50km/h and the wattage distinction grows to an enormous 24.9 watts.
We did some enjoyable calculations too, comparable to what number of metres Tim Merlier may achieve in a 200m dash by carrying the aero Evade III as a substitute of the Prevail III from sponsor Specialised; and what number of watts Groupama FDJ gained/misplaced when swapping from Giro to Julbo.
Curiously, we additionally discovered that the Procen Air is 1.3 watts quicker when carrying the visor than once you pair it with sun shades.
Naturally, our take a look at was standardised to make sure accuracy, and every of the 23 helmets was examined at a wind pace of 40km/h throughout 4 completely different yaw angles of 0 to fifteen levels. They had been all examined on the identical day in a wind tunnel utilized by a whole lot, if not 1000’s, of WorldTour stage athletes, producers and engineers.
Together with the general winner and loser, there have been loads of surprises all through the remaining helmets. For instance, there’s little or no correlation between how a lot you spend and how briskly your helmet will likely be.
As anticipated, we discovered that as a gaggle, the helmets described as ‘aero’ by their producer tended to be quicker than those who had been extra aimed toward being ventilated, however the variations had been a lot nearer than we anticipated, and there have been loads of examples of so-called aero helmets scoring worse than different so-called vented helmets.
We additionally discovered that you would simply undo your aero good points unwittingly, comparable to together with your straps, and with sun shades placement, however the actual particulars of these checks are but to return. Watch this area.
Till then, subscribe to Cyclingnews – simply £1 in your first month – and go get all nerdy with the numbers.
