The idea here is to better protect against rotational impacts, while the outer shell can absorb glancing blows. By using its Air Cage design, it’s been able to strip down the usual foam bridges to help increase ventilation by almost 25% when compared to the Prevail 2 without compromising safety. Essentially the cage design acts like a suspension bridge, distributing the forces of an impact across the entire helmet. There’s also a 10-gram weight, saving to be had on a like-for-like size, with the brand putting this weight saving down to the Helios Spherical helmet having less technical ventilation structure than the Aether. I found it a barely noticeable difference having ridden both helmets, with the two equally as comfortable as each other.
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.
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 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.
There is more information about these below in the ‘How to choose a helmet’ section. The Feather is an all-purpose single-speed commuter or urban utility bike that might genesis bicycles just be the most fun bike you’ve ever ridden. A flip-flop hub puts a fixed gear cog on one side and a freewheel on the other so you can choose your riding style.
The Montane Icemen (Pete Sissons and Paul Cosgrove) underlined the bikes capabilities as they used a pair of Croix de Fers to circumnavigate the 1600-mile coastline of Iceland in 14 days. One of the great strengths of the Genesis range is their commuter/ all round/ cyclocross bikes – the Croix de Fer, Tour de Fer and CDA. While the EPS foam in a bike helmet won’t just deteriorate with age, it’s genesis bicycles over that time span that it will suffer with minor knocks and bumps from being stored, dropped from handlebars or popped in a kit bag. The aggregation will add up to volume loss and require a new helmet to be purchased. It’s rare to find a time Trial / track helmet that not only offers MIPS but also an impressive field of view, thanks to the wrap-around eye shield made by ZEISS Optics.