Best bike helmets for road cyclists 2024: lightweight, aero and all-rounder lids for every rider

The Ventral is one of the lightest helmets available, making it ideal for those who measure rides in vertical metres rather than horizontal kilometres. Excellent ventilation helps in the heat but the adjustment mechanism is a bit basic and there is no MIPS to save weight. Specialized Soil Searching is a movement to recognise, celebrate, and support the trail builders who help shape our sport and our stoke. That tender closed in mid-February, and Elevation Parks, Dirt Art’s bike park management and development arm, had won.

29-inchers are great for cross country bikes, as well as trail bikes due to their stability and ability to go over nearly any terrain without a hitch. Suspension is an important thing to note for this price range, as suspension forks genesis bike will be very basic, meaning full-suspension bikes in this price range should be avoided. These affordable bikes are almost all made with aluminum alloy, have 10 speed or 11 speed drivetrains for gearing and hydraulic disc brakes.

Kask uses its Ergo Fit retention system, which allows wide vertical and circumference adjustment of the rear of the cradle, allowing two sizes to suit most head sizes, and there is a comfortable synthetic leather chin strap. Rather than an additional layer like MIPS, Kask uses the WG11 protocol to test its helmets for rotational impact protection. For those going on gravel and long tours on their bike, a chromoly steel frame mountain bike might be something to look into. Being resistant to fatigue and easy to repair, these can handle long-term rides with a fair amount of weight. These bike frames are mainly available from custom frame builders and therefore have a large price tag.

For those looking to get into it, there are several different types of bikes to choose from. With a range of specifications and technical aspects, there’s a lot that you’ll need to keep in mind to get the right bike for you. The Core range is based around a 6061 aluminium tube set that is butted where needed with some gentle manipulation to ovalise the down tube as it meets the seat tube at the bottom bracket shell.

genesis mountain bike

As she competed at the elite level, her journalism career followed, and soon she became a full-time cycling journalist, a career she’s now had for 11 years. There’s little venting though, with the visor covering the two small slot vents in the front of the shell, making for a warm, but manageable ride. It also lacks some of the more modern safety features, with no MIPS or MIPS equivalent technology genesis bicycles included. On the scales it’s pretty similar to some of our other lightweight helmets, coming in at 242g for the medium. What’s different from lots of other helmets in this guide is the price, it’s a good $100 cheaper than many of its competitors. Other safety features include the Spherical MIPS system, with the outer and inner shell capable of moving independently during an impact.

While seemingly superficial, anyone who has ridden with an aero lid will know the challenge of trying to stow sunglasses when they’re not on your face. They’re meant to be best compatible with POC’s own brand sunnies, but we teamed the helmet with a whole host of brands and found them to hold tight to every single pair. The semi-aero lid did suffer a little with breathability however, and while the ventilation was very good, on the hottest of riding days it could have done with the ability to suck even more cool air in. That said, on the sweatiest of days in the saddle, we found that the Protone’s water irrigation design is top-notch, managing to avoid channelling sweat down onto sunglasses or into eyes. Our test model in a small weighed in at just 170g (the claimed weight for the medium is 200g). We certainly found that this translated to a featherweight feel on the head, with the ventilation adding to the general comfort.

Now with twelve years of experience, Genesis offer a truly brilliant range of bicycles to cover almost every discipline. Rugged hardtail mountain bikes, traditional and modern road bikes, classic commuters, cyclocross, tourers and some specialist machines too. We know that what might not fit one of us, might fit another team member better, meaning that this best road bike helmets buyers guide has depth and breadth in terms of recommendations. Padding makes a helmet more comfortable but also helps to wick sweat away from your head. An ideal road bike helmet design will feature padding that can be removed for washing and replacement. The style and thickness of padding varies between helmets, so again, it’s worth trying a few models on to see which works the best for you.

Cross Country has traditionally not been too much in our wheelhouse, but we’re still keen to look at it if there is local interest and we can help support it,” he says. As part of taking over park management, French says they’d like to bring events to the park. They’d like to get the Mystic Downhill running primo again so they can start considering bringing DH racing into the park. But the future of Mystic is not just about gravity, and French tells Flow a major part of the development plans involves improving links and connectivity and building new climbing trails.