POC Omne Air Bike Helmet - Whether cycling to work, exploring gravel tracks or on the local trails, the helmet gives trusted protection

Product Information

What I haven't done, and you shouldn't either, is to cut corners. Any helmet available will have passed government-mandated test procedures. You have a guarantee of a minimum amount of safety but there's more to a great bike helmet. When you start looking for the best budget bike helmets you want something from a reputable brand. Whatever the reason, as I weighed all the helmets, the Limar Air Atlas + MIPS was the lightest I found. There are some caveats though. The Air Atlas uses a removable fairing at the rear of the helmet that Limar refers to as the UFO. The low weight is with that tail removed but removing it also reduces aero performance. In my testing I found no noticeable impact on cooling performance so I suspect most people will leave the insert in most of the time. That will put the actual weight at 279 grams. The last extras on the POC Omne Ultra are at the rear of the helmet. The obvious one is a daisy chain with three loops attached to another section of Velcro. The centre loop has a latch so it opens while the other two are permanently stitched closed. The lower one is a bit bigger than the upper and below it, you will find a small red Recco logo. The SPIN system certainly isn’t noticeable — it feels just like regular cushioning pads. I’ve worn the helmet over longer rides, and it’s never felt anything but good to wear. You might find it surprising to see an all out aero helmet in the best lightweight helmet category. The scale doesn't lie though. My guess is that more venting requires a heavier structure to hold the same standard of safety.

There are two parts to consider when it comes to a helmet. The first is the technical side. Said simply, you need a helmet that is safe. This might sound obvious but it's worth consideration because there is a lot of confusion surrounding what that might mean. You'll find lots of claims but remember, every single helmet on the market will have gone through testing as mandated by the location you are buying it in.If you want to dive deep, Virginia Tech goes into great detail covering the science behind the number. To keep it simple though, the lower the number the better, and right now the top ranked helmet, out of 188 tested, has a score of 8.4. If you also see a star ranking, that is the same testing displayed in a different way. Any helmet with a score below 14.00 will have a five star ranking. Should you consider a bike helmet without a Virginia Tech rating? The big difference between the two is that Smith adds Zonal Koroyd in addition to MIPS. Koroyd looks a bit like a handful of straws and the idea is that it actually replaces some of the foam to add rotational impact protection right into the helmet itself. There's another interesting effect of the Koroyd though. Read more details in our Giro Escape MIPS commuter helmet review. How to choose the best road bike helmet superior levels of comfort, fit and performance, and is fitted with the Mips Brain Protection System for enhanced

Because some helmet manufacturers offer separate women's-specific helmets, and others do not, there can be confusion. You might be wondering why we don't have something listed for women. We covered whether women need women's-specific helmets in depth recently, but if you just want to get right to the point, the answer is no. The main takeaway was that most women tend to prefer unisex helmets and that there's nothing about a woman's head that would require a different helmet shape. All of the helmets in this list are unisex. How do we test the best budget bike helmets? The one thing I do wish this helmet had was a Virginia Tech score. This doesn't mean anything on its own, but helmets that have a test score from the independent testing facility allow consumers to compare their level of protection in an unbiased way. It's a nice added feature even when it just confirms what we already know. Completing the system of safety enhancements is MIPS Air Node. In practice, Air Node is as simple as a very specific padding design that "enables 10-15mm of relative movement between the energy-absorbing layer and the padding." Honestly, it doesn't look like it could possibly do that much but Virginia Tech has the Prevail 3 listed as the third best helmet the brand has tested. Even without the ANGi certification, you get a great helmet. For one thing, this is one of the few helmets on this list that carry a five-star Virginia Tech test result. It's great to know that even a budget helmet lets you choose something that's scored as high as some of the most expensive helmets on the market. You can also count on a comfortable strap system that is easy to adjust and should you need room for a ponytail, Specialized leaves room in the rear cradle. Overall, the Rapha + Poc Omne Air Spin is a comfy, functional lid that also delivers on protection with the SPIN technology. Its slim profile fitted me snugly and makes it aesthetically pleasing too. You can get lighter MIPS/MIPS-alternative helmets at this price point and a little lower, but the Omne Air Spin is still pretty good value for money. However, if you often need to lower the spot where the two straps join together in other helmets, you might find this one doesn't have the right adjustability for you. Verdict

Smith Trace MIPS

What's actually most striking is just how light the helmet is. Although it has a long profile, a size medium weighs in well below the Trek specs at only 260 grams. The effect is that of disbelief when held in your hand and it comes in partnership with an innovative rear cradle design that likely contributes to the low weight. Instead of using plastic connections to the front, Trek has gone with only thin string. Not only does it help lower the weight but it also means the rear cradle folds flat for ease of storage and travel. Virginia Tech is the only independent organisation that provides a test of bike helmets with more detail than pass or fail. That makes it hard to ignore the testing that Virginia Tech does and yet, not every helmet has a test result. You will have to decide if that sways your choice or not but there are some reasons why it might be missing. If you were to dream up what form an aero road helmet would take, you might very well dream up the Trek Ballista MIPS. The big vents make it easy to stash glasses and more importantly, they keep you cool even on the hottest days. The style is reminiscent of a long-tail TT helmet and Trek goes so far as to say that it offers "very competitive performance among TT helmets." Trek even considered visibility as part of the visual signature and angled the front up so it's easier to see when you are down low in the drops. There's more to the helmet than the look though. the helmet delivers superior levels of comfort, fit and performance, and features a host of safety systems, What really makes the Omne Air MIPS work as a gravel bike helmet is that it has a casual style that lends itself to the more upright position you often find on a gravel bike. That also works for endurance road bikes as well and POC has some very cool colours available. Stylistically you should be able to match a lot of riding.

Overall, the performance offered by the POC Omne Air Resistance Spin is impressive. Sure, it's more aligned to the best XC helmets than anything else but the versatility it offers as a discipline-blurring mountain bike helmet is hard to ignore. One thing I did have a hard time finding, however, was a helmet that worked for all of those disciplines. A road bike helmet should be lightweight and well-ventilated, a mountain bike helmet should provide ample coverage of each side of your head, and a commuter helmet should be simple, affordable and reliable.The one downside to the outrageous looks is that it limits useability. While there's certainly nothing stopping you from using the Trek Ballista MIPS with any bike you've got, it might look out of place in certain situations. If you are looking for a helmet that looks good on both a road and gravel bike, this might not be the one. At the rear of the helmet is a charging port and on either side there is a power button for the integrated front and rear lights. The battery lasts a long time and you can decide if you'd prefer flashing or solid lighting. Beyond that, it's just a good helmet. It feels incredibly comfortable, even though it's definitely on the heavy side, and there is lots of coverage. That means it comes down farther but also that the peak at the front is a solid part of the crash structure and not just for show. A helmet that I did spend time with is the Bontrager Starvos. It's another WaveCel design and there's very little to complain about. In the end, the only reason it didn't make the list is because the Bontrager Circuit is very similar both in price and design while also adding the ability to mount lights when needed. If you like the idea of Circuit but don't think you'd ever use the magnetic light mounting then the Starvos is worth a look. One of the basic tenets of an aero optimised helmet is that it's hot. At least that's what everyone believes. The reality is that modern aero helmets make use of exhaust ports to speed up the flow of air through a helmet by carefully managing the flow. Keep moving and a good aero helmet should never feel hot. Things change a bit when you stop moving though. As you, for example, climb a hill at slow speeds, there's not enough air flow to evacuate heat. It's in these situations that Swedish brand POC feels different. On the outside, the POC Omne Air features an optimised-density EPS liner for "ideal impact force absorption". The exterior aesthetic is quite minimalist, with a relatively low profile, meaning it sits neatly on your head without looking bulbous in any way.

comfort and functionality on longer rides. By taking our whole-helmet approach to the creation of the Omne Air MIPS, You don't lose out on anything with the POC Omne Ultra MIPS. The weight penalty is an additional 10 grams but you do get the Recco reflector in exchange. Otherwise, there's the same longer coverage in the rear as other POC helmets and the same large vents are the Omni Air. There's also the same fit and 360-degree tightening system. There's very little to take umbrage with. Rapha’s treatment adds some really nice two-tone colourways, which I think alone make this version tempting (for no extra over the standard version). Rapha also offers a wide fitment in two more sizes, opening up POC’s helmet to a bigger audience of those who don’t have a conventional head shape.While there are still a few brands that make women-specific helmets, we interviewed a host of people from around the industry as well as a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience to ask ' do women need a women-specific helmet?' The vertical adjustment requires an internal plastic ratchet to be rotated 90° and slid along a channel to change, which can’t be done while wearing the helmet. Even after several attempts, I found this function difficult to use as the plastic pieces are so small. It’s not an ideal system but this isn’t an adjustment you’re going to be making frequently. Any helmet on our list will work with any kind of bike you want to use. That said, most riders prefer to match the gear they have with the type of riding they are doing. Some of that is about specific features but it's okay that some of it is just about style. POC is obviously not ashamed to embrace that style element, and the POC Omne Ultra MIPS is unabashedly styled for gravel cycling.