Help me choose an aero helmet.
I'm looking into getting an areo helmet.. I have two contenders .. WHAT SAY YOU.
Lazer Tardiz Helmet TT: White; Size: Large
Giro Advantage 2 Triathlon Helmet Color: White/Silver Size: Large
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I'm looking into getting an areo helmet.. I have two contenders .. WHAT SAY YOU.
Lazer Tardiz Helmet TT: White; Size: Large
Giro Advantage 2 Triathlon Helmet Color: White/Silver Size: Large
Comments
I got the Lazer Tardiz off ebay a few months ago ($80)...used only twice supposedly...was indeed pretty clean though. Have done a couple of rides (when it's been cold and I didn't want much ventilation) with it and have no problems with it. I like the idea of the port on top to dump water on my head (though I haven't actually done it yet). I could hear traffic just fine (not really a big issue in races, I know, but still doesn't hurt). I have the white one too....didn't want a dark color since it'll be hotter and I live and race mostly in Texas. Doubt that helps you much, but oh well.... It does have a couple of small ventilation ports.
FYI...this is my first TT helmet too! Even less helpful huh?
Jeff
I got the Giro Advantage 2 for Christmas. I have not wore it on the bike yet (besides in my house). My major concern is the padding up front. It does not seem to have tons and i also like to have lots up there to collect and re-direct my sweet away from my eyes. This is just an observation since i have not worn the helmet for an extended period of time.
So really, i am as useless/useful as Jeff.
I really like it - it's super comfortable on long rides, not nearly as hot as I expected it to be, and it fits great. I will say that it IS a lot harder to hear when I'm wearing it - but only with respect to having a conversation with someone (and usually that's only John, because I rarely wear it for training - and he's used to my horrible hearing! I have legit bad hearing, so maybe it's just me that has this issue!).
***EDIT - just saw Jonathan's reply above mine... I'm not a big sweater at all, so that's not an issue for me... have you considered a Halo headband, maybe?
tardiz is what I have been using. I have weird shaped head so sits high and had had to put in some extra padding to make it not hurt the top of my head.
so I am awaiting the Giro Air Attack (as Al suggests). Hopefully in the mail within a couple weeks. looking forward to being able to move head around without penalty. more aero than regular road helmet. maybe not as aero as regular aero helmets. The Giro should be temperature cool. The Kask is probably hot.
I have the Giro Advantage 2. I've worn it twice (RR and IM) and found really no heat/sweat/comfort difference from my road helmet. I like it.
Al, per reviews the Kask doesn't ventilate/cool worth a damn so that could be an issue for warm weather racing.
The Rudy project wingspan - even in their largest size - didn't come even close to fitting my "gargantuan cranium" (one of my favorite lines from 'so I married an axe murderer').
If you haven't done so already, go try all of your options on, or buy from somewhere that you can exchange or return them. The most aero helmet in the world is no good if you get a headache or have to adjust it and move your head/body around.
The question came up earlier in the thread, what should you really be looking for in an aero helmet? I'd break it down into 3 very simple categories:
It is up to you to prioritize the order of that list, and do so full well knowing that there are almost always compromises between them.
As has been alluded to in this thread, comfort and fit are obviously subjective. There is certainly some objective element to it, some helmets are simply designed better than others, but ultimately you really are going to have to try them on to make the determination yourself. As Matt pointed out, even being very comfortable in a specific company's road line does not mean you will like their Aero helmets very well.
By speed, I'm talking about the aerodynamic design of the helmet. There have been a lot of trends in Aero helmet design over the years, from helmets that had short snub tails years and years ago, then onto the trend of having long curved tails that are supposed to seamlessly join with your back and smooth airflow over your head and down your back, to the more recent trend of going back to short snub tails again to the 'latest' trend of going to almost round track-style helmets.
It is worth noting that the Giro Advantage 2 is a relatively old design compared to most of the other helmets mentioned in this thread. It is a long tail design which requires you to keep your head in in very fixed and specific position to be most effective. This works fine on a mannequin in a wind tunnel, and is probably good enough for time trialists with excellent position (flat backs) and smooth efficient pedal strokes (no head bobbing or turning)-- who are able to maintain these mannequin like positions because they are spending a relatively small amount of time on the bike.
This is not so great for real-world triathletes spending hours on a bike, changing positions often to access nutrition, often without ideal position or positional fitness, where that long tail becomes a liability rather than a help when it is exposed to the wind laterally, or sticks way up into the air like a shark tail when you look down.
The Tardiz and the Wingspan to a greater extent are shorter tail designs than the Advantage, supposedly designed to be faster over a more realistic range of yaw angles (either from head position or variable winds) than the long tail designs. They also have a greater emphasis on the last major point, ventilation.
I'm a heavy sweater, so ventilation is a pretty big deal to me and I can pretty much rule something like the Bambino (with seemingly no ventilation at all) out completely. There's some debate over the science of it all, that helmet ventilation may not be as big of a deal as we make it out to be, but for me, it's a deal breaker. However, you need to understand that the entire point of an aero helmet is about smoothing airflow, that reduces drag and is what makes the helmet 'fast'. This is at odds with basic way vents work, which by their nature must divert airflow in order to be effective, which creates turbulence, which creates drag.
Of course vents can be designed in such a way that some induce less drag than others, but you must always accept that it is a compromise and that if you were looking for the fastest possible helmet on a mannequin, it would be completely smooth like the Bambino (ignoring the whole LG dimple thing).
So for all of that, my current helmet of choice is a Rudy Project Wingspan. I've had that helmet for a few years and I chose it because it offered increased ventilation over something like a Advantage 2, and I believed the shorter tail design was more practical for me as a triathlete. However, if I were in the market today, I agree with Al and Robin, I am bypassing the new 'super' aero helmet designs like the Giro Selector which wile far sexier, I think are far more apt for a time trialist than a triathlete, and looking more towards helmets like the Giro Air Attack.
There are several listed on eBay so it won't be a big issue to get one of you really need it
FYI- I have a Giro Advantage for sale...used no more than 12 times...(>60hrs)....in great-excellent shape...white & silver version...if you're interested $75....I'm going to list it in the classifieds...but message me if your interested.
I was also able to get it cheap. I found a 25% off one item for new customers at some smaller online shop and got it there.
In my mind, I I can get something that works fairly well for half the price of the 'really nice, all the bells and whistles' thing and it works just as good, I'll take the cheaper one. Even if it loses me 2-5 seconds over an IM race ;-) You can find the Tartiz really inexpensive if you are patient and look around for coupons etc.
I've used the Spiuk Kronos for about 5 years and I like it a lot. Looking ahead, I've been back and forth between using it and the Ekoi CXR 13 (a sub-$200 snub-tail used by this year's Abu Dhabi winner) for Kona next year, largely in light of the crosswinds on course. Having said that, I am pretty consistently 'head low' on the bike, so the Spiuk may be the faster option.
Ventilation on the Ekoi is non-existent, but I can't imagine it will be that much different than the Spiuk, with its three very narrow vents. But I don't think head ventilation has as much to do with overall heat management than it does with comfort.
(And for the ultimate geekery, I edited a pic of the Spiuk to see what it would look like as a snubtail for "eyeball winttunnel testing." Results: inconclusive.)
Anybody heard anything about the Bell Javelin?
I remember reading that having your aero helmet tail up in the air wasn't nearly as bad as people imagine it to be (still less bad than a regular helmet with all its ventilation), but I don't have a primary data source.
I confess that in summer, I often wear the aero helmet to protect my neck from the sun....
It's a Project Rudy Wingspan for me as well. Lots of options to adjust the cooling. I got it on sale at 50% off so if you are in the market just keep an eye out for the sales and don't pay full price.
There was a post made by Jordan on ST where he indicated "(the snub tail) is a very real aerodynamic advantage," and points to his September Lava article. However, the article really didnt provide any conclusive data.
in a separate thread, Nealhe claims 1+mph in http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin...i;#4296185, but this is in companion with the head-down cyclops glasses. I'm not sure if I'm ready to go there quite yet.
Dave-- can you drop the link to the first ST thread you mentioned?