Our choose
Our prime choose for many commuters, this decently priced helmet is comfy and versatile, and it scores properly in security checks. But it surely is available in solely two sizes (fewer than our different picks provide).
The Met Downtown Mips is a light-weight and comfy helmet that scores properly in security checks performed by the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. With its low-key type and detachable visor, it’s a flexible alternative for informal commuters on hybrid bikes, in addition to for weekend warriors on drop-bar highway or gravel bikes.
The Met Downtown Mips is likely one of the least costly helmets to make Virginia Tech’s top-25 record in 2023 (the common value for a helmet on that record is $180). However this helmet’s match and options really feel uncompromised by value. The buckle and adjustable chin straps, which preserve the Downtown helmet in your head, are among the many slimmest and most user-friendly of these I examined.
Seventeen vents transfer air by the helmet, and the sweat pads are sturdy sufficient to maintain the anti-rotational Mips liner from snagging your hair. Nevertheless, this helmet is available in solely two sizes (the fewest of all our picks), and Met’s crash-placement coverage is sweet however not nice.
Runner-up
This light-weight, aerodynamic helmet has good air flow and a very good crash-replacement coverage. It’s greatest for riders on drop-bar bikes.
The proprietary liner on the Trek Starvos WaveCel Biking Helmet—a wave-shaped mobile co-polymer insert referred to as WaveCel—is a funky-looking tackle anti-rotational expertise. But this helmet breathes properly (for those who’re on a highway bike) and checks properly, and it eliminates the usual plastic Mips slip-plane liner.
Because of the angle of its vents, although, this helmet doesn’t breathe as properly while you’re using in a more-upright place. So it’s a much less versatile alternative than the Met Downtown Mips for those who swap between a drop-bar bike and a metropolis cruiser. (For those who experience solely hybrids or upright ebikes, think about our also-great choose for metropolis using.)
Of the businesses whose helmets I examined, Trek has probably the greatest crash-replacement insurance policies—free alternative for one 12 months after buy. In order that helps to offset its increased value.
Improve choose
That is the top-rated helmet in Virginia Tech’s security checks, and it’s the lightest, best-ventilated helmet we examined. It’s additionally the most costly by far. For those who’re a dedicated roadie—or extraordinarily involved about concussions—it might be value contemplating.
The Giro Aries Spherical is the most costly helmet we examined, nevertheless it’s additionally the lightest and most comfy. And it was the highest-rated helmet within the 2023 Virginia Tech helmet security scores (out of a complete of 217 helmets).
This helmet has an uncommon ball-and-socket design, which makes use of a sleeker, better-integrated model of Mips expertise, and it additionally options adjustable chin straps and a low-profile buckle. The result’s a helmet that’s so mild and comfy you nearly overlook you’re sporting it in any respect.
Beneficiant vents on the surface and cut-in airflow channels on the within preserve your head cool. And a triangle of reflective tape provides visibility to the again, making us surprise why all helmets don’t come normal with reflective particulars. Given this helmet’s excessive value, although, the crash-replacement coverage appears skimpy.
Additionally nice
Designed for upright using, this helmet is supposed to attraction to commuters who gown in road garments, not spandex. But it outperforms different urban-style helmets we’ve examined, and it scored exceptionally properly on Virginia Tech’s crash checks.
The Specialised Mode seems like one of many many bucket-style helmets which have change into standard with youngsters and informal riders—nearly extra like a skateboarding helmet than what you’d see on a motorcycle racer. These helmets are inclined to have fewer vents, to allow them to be scorching, they usually additionally have a tendency to attain poorly in Virginia Tech’s checks.
The Mode, nevertheless, bucks these expectations, with cleverly designed vents and a powerful sixth-place spot on VT’s record. However this helmet is much less versatile than our prime choose—its air flow system doesn’t work properly on highway bikes. And its crash-replacement coverage is much less beneficiant than these of our different picks.
Additionally nice
One other stellar performer in Virginia Tech’s security checks, this helmet is meant to be used on mountain-bike trails. Which means it supplies extra protection to the again of your head than our prime choose. It additionally weighs extra.
For those who are inclined to spend extra of your time on trails than on pavement, the Candy Safety Trailblazer Mips helmet could possibly be value a glance. It additionally scored very extremely within the Virginia Tech checks. And, like most mountain-bike helmets, it supplies extra protection for the again of the top than road-bike helmets do. The flip facet is that it’s heavier than our prime choose, and the visor doesn’t come off.
As somebody who rides every kind of bikes, I appreciated the easy-breezy angle the Trailblazer helmet gave off, and I felt only a tad much less dorky traversing the streets whereas sporting it. (Purchase the helmet you want greatest, and also you’ll put on it extra typically!)
