Aero Helmet

[Aryeh]

@Nickldn and @PaytonM - Thank you for your feedback. I too have heard great things about the new Ballista, that is's both fast and vents well - I just worry I'd look like a Fred on my local group rides or training rides. I've not been able to find many non -promotional pictures of the helmet in real world situations.

I've been using the new Ballista for a few months now. I really like it.

[Lina]

I’m looking at replacing my four year old Lazer Blade + with something a bit more aero. I’ve been looking at several road aero models and wanted your thoughts on various options since most of them I’m not able to try on.

I’d like to have a good all around helmet that is both aero and has decent ventilation. I want a white helmet and want it fast without looking like I’m wearing a TT helmet on group rides. And of course I want it to be safe in case I ever actually need it.

Giro Eclipse Mips – looks like a fairly normal helmet but they don’t have a plain white – and I’m not wild about the white and silver combo. There is a shop about an hour away that sells Giro.

MET Manta Mips – I like the looks of the Manta, but will it be too hot? I also don’t have anywhere remotely local to try on.

Kask Utopia Y – Another good looking helmet, but cooling could be an issue. There’s also no Mips or equivalent that I see. No local resellers to me either.

Trek Ballista – Seems to have the best specs overall (aero+ventilation) but does it look too techy, or too much like a TT helmet? There is a Trek store about 45 minutes away.

Lazer Vento Keneticore – Currently sold at my local shop and I already have a Lazer helmet, but from what I read it’s not that fast or well ventilated and it doesn’t look great either.

HJC Furion 2.0 – Super lightweight for an aero helmet and can be had cheap, though there’s no Mips and technically it’s not even sold in the USA. It might be hot too, but it looks nice.

Thoughts???? Others I am missing?

Evade

[Stormtrooper]

There is a guy in our club who wears the evade and it looks like he's wearing a shoe box on his head. I vote for the Ballista.

[Rudi]

I've been using the Trek Ballista for a few months now over the pretty non existant UK summer, but we've had a few warm days and I've been in the Alps for a week as well. Coming from a Sweet Protection Faulconer (v1) and a Scott Cadence before then.

I really like it, it is very comfortable for me and feels like it would stay in place even if I didn't do up the straps etc. I felt like the SP was falling off all the time, but that may be I was inbetween sizes and may have chosen the wrong one (as there was a discount on that size).

That said, I'm sweating very heavily in it. Can't say if that is more than in the other two but they both had options to open vents and the Ballista does not. Not a deal breaker for me as I sweated heavily in a Kask Protone before the Scott.

@Mocs123 I have the all white and for me that is the best looking. Kask don't do MIPS from what I remember, they have their own version of something similar but I can't remember what it is called. I was also riding with someone with the HJC in white and it didn't look as good on them as I thought it might, but that is just my opinion.

[desperado95219]

I did exactly the same thing as PeytonM with the same result (initially bought the Met Manta but eventually settled on the Ballista) and I am happy. I wear my Ballista all the time in group rides and have never solicited any Fred comments...only compliments.

[wheelsONfire]

There is a guy in our club who wears the evade and it looks like he's wearing a shoe box on his head. I vote for the Ballista.

[aeroskii]

the US version of the Trek ballista in size medium weighs in at 270g. eu version tends to be around 50g lighter but please correct me if im wrong. if anyone knows any aero helmets at a comprimable weight hmu!

HJC Furion 2.0 is the lightest aero helmet. Mine in white.is 210 g size M, and Hell it's 1 g lighter than my Kask Valegros in white and TdF ver.

Trek has no light helmet. Ballista EU ver. is 268 g size M, scaled by bikeradar.

I wouldnt quite call it a full on aero helmet. needs a longer chord length. but yes for an all around helmet it seems very lovely

[ViperFFM]

There is a guy in our club who wears the evade and it looks like he's wearing a shoe box on his head. I vote for the Ballista.

I can recommend buying the helmet in a size that fits your head in this case

[Stormtrooper]

True about sizing, but some helmets also fit heads that are round or oval so upsizing might be the only option if a person wants a particular helmet.

[TobinHatesYou]

True about sizing, but some helmets also fit heads that are round or oval so upsizing might be the only option if a person wants a particular helmet.

Head injury prevention is too important to me to settle for a subpar fit. Any helmet that slides off my forehead with a firm nudge is disqualified. Any helmet that creates odd pressure points is disqualified. With a 58cm circumference, I'm right on the cusp of medium and large for most brands. The large helmets pretty much never fit though.

[Hexsense]

Yeah.
1) Fit.
2) (low level of) wind noise. My ear deserve to not get blast with loud wind noise.
3) Decent coverage... Helmet that expose too much of your head doesn't do its main job fully.
Then
4) Aero and weight for me.

I don't use a helmet that doesn't fit.

[pdlpsher1]

I went from a Ballista to a Furion. I can never go back to a heavy helmet such as the Ballista. You won’t know just how bad the Ballista is until you try on a light helmet.


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[bmrk]

The Furion 2.0 is my favourite helmet. Aero, light, not expensive and i can use it all year around as it is very well ventilated.

Never overheated with them in the mountains with temps above 30c.

[marian]

I'm looking for advice - I've tried several aero helmets - specialized evade 2, evade 3, met manta, giro eclipse spherical and they are narrow. The larger size of the helmet is already too big for my head and I can't fix it firmly. My head circumference is 58 cm. In my LBS they told me specialized sold in EU asian version years ago (for more round heads) and nowadays many customers have a similar problem with choosing a helmet.

you don't know how wide they are for e.g. lazer vento kineticore, sweetprotection falconer aero 2VI Mips or other models? I don't have the opportunity to try them in the store.

[208]

I'm looking for advice - I've tried several aero helmets - specialized evade 2, evade 3, met manta, giro eclipse spherical and they are narrow. The larger size of the helmet is already too big for my head and I can't fix it firmly. My head circumference is 58 cm. In my LBS they told me specialized sold in EU asian version years ago (for more round heads) and nowadays many customers have a similar problem with choosing a helmet.

you don't know how wide they are for e.g. lazer vento kineticore, sweetprotection falconer aero 2VI Mips or other models? I don't have the opportunity to try them in the store.

Can probably add the new ballista to your list of helmets that don't fit. It fits my oval head perfecto.