Why do aero helmets look like fancy dress?

Ex-pro racer and aerodynamics expert

Andy Turner

Andy Turner is an ex-pro racer turned Aerodynamicist. He works with Venturi Dynamics at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub, where his expertise assists Olympians and professional athletes in understanding and refining their aero performance. He knows a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to saving watts in the wind.

When it comes to marginal gains, aero-tech remains a key battleground at the World Tour level. Rapid prototyping and improved access to simulations and testing technology are driving incremental advances that make professional cycling almost as difficult to keep up with as Formula 1 in terms of aerodynamic developments. It hasn’t yet matured to the extent that wings have developed winglets — perhaps thankfully — but races, and in-particular time trials, can be won or lost in the wind tunnel, and the new equipment that delivers these ever faster times is pushing cycling’s well-established aesthetic proclivities to their limits.

Last year, Visma-Lease a Bike turned out with a helmet design only a mother could love, in the Giro Aerohead 2.0. It looks challenging, to say the least. It should really have been identified with a suitably disparaging name like the ‘Speed Sniffer’ SL8 concept which landed with an audible gasp when Specialized’s update to the SL7 broke cover. The ‘Aerohead’ features a massively elongated front, and flared rear of the helmet, which means it wouldn’t look out of place on the Death Star.

A big difference now is that more sport cyclists understand the benefits of aero-tweaks. It also seems that pro-tour technology has a now routine habit of finding its way into our shopping baskets and onto our own bikes much more quickly than it may have done in the past. Sometimes, regardless of the cost-benefit analysis. The worry is here that we’re all going to be riding around in fancy dress.

Well, the idea behind them is sound. They are extremely effective at smoothing the transition of airflow all the way from the hands, over the head and shoulders and out over the back. This reduces turbulence and friction drag. The likes of Rudy, Giro, and many other helmet manufacturers will now sell you an incredibly effective aero helmet. Still, it’s hard to imagine them being a very high-volume play for those brands, given the niche nature of time trialling and more importantly, just how out of place off the bike or outside of a time trial they would instantly seem.

Visma-Lease a Bike bike is convinced the looks are worth it. They are already using the Giro Aerohead time trial helmet in road races, such as the Tour of Oman earlier this year. It is not the very latest and most extreme space-helmet effort from the brand, instead they are using the older, first generation Aerohead helmet, as used in 2015 to win the opening prologue in that year’s Tour de France. It was a smaller, profiled, smooth helmet designed to have a small frontal area. It turns out it is a very quick design for road racing due to its capacity to work in the context, and not impact aerodynamic drag negatively when moving the head around.

Many do not work so well in so many conditions though. And, practically all ultra-slippery helmets forgo quite a lot of ventilation in favour of maximal aerodynamic performance. This is one of the reasons why in triathlon, and especially long course or Ironman competitions, athletes will often opt for an aero road race helmet, rather than a specialist time trial set-up due to the comfort and practical advantages. There is also a lot more positional movement on the road. It’s just the nature of the road race. You move your head around more to climb, sprint or to simply be aware of your surroundings, so a helmet that’s ultra-sensitive to position just doesn’t make as much sense.

Even then, these helmets are quite rider-dependent. A good example is the British Cycling pursuit team, who often wear different helmets to each other with the sponsor’s logos removed, as do Lidl Trek in time trials. This is because for each individual rider, a specific and individual helmet is generally the fastest in their own most efficient position. It’s another reason why these latest time trial helmets vary so much and so often in their designs.

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Why do aero helmets look like fancy dress?

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