The Drone was probably the first "normal-ish" oversized helmet and like most it tends to work well when held in line with the shoulders, just like the Tempor. The Uvex is a weird one. It seems too tall, but you do see them on some of the UK TT riders that are known to test quite a bit. There must be some weird magic there, but I don't have any idea of generak rules for when it mught work well,

I think it might be similar to Ineos starting to use Kask Bambinos that are a couple of sizes too big.
The design intent I believe with the MET Drone was to push the air around the shoulders of the athlete. I talked to Dan Bigham after seeing Adam Yates with a Kask that was way too big last year and pretty sure it was for the same reasoning. Likely that's also how the Poc Tempor works so well for some positions.

I did see a screen shot pop up of (new) UCI rules indicating max dimensions of TT helmets, so it seems like they're already working on/against it :p

I always hear "who is checking anyway" but the Drone isn't cpsc approved for use in the US racing unless you're a pro in most places where you can get an exemption. As, who can tell pros on a sponsorship if even just a free helmet that they can't wear what pays the bills.

Kind of like the Aeroswitch, not cpsc approved either.

IMO, a lot of folks run too much stack height combined with "peeking down road" enough to make the "around the shoulders" helmets irrelevant. Hence.....go back to the Aerohead.

I just tested a top 20 MPRO at IMWC St. G edition. We increased his stack height 1.5cm with no increase in drag. Actually I'm seeing a lot of people go up .5-1.5cm with no increase, not to say it will work for everyone bc YMMV.

I think the aerohead is still among the most forgiving helmets across a wide spectrum of yaw angles even if it's not alway the fastest at every single yaw angle. I often see a helmet beat it at zero or at yaw in the tunnel, but rarely at both 0 and yaw.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I guess I meant average joes cutting their teeth to break an hour for a 40k, versus pros or elite amateurs with respect to my wording about stack/bike fit. As that going up .5 to 1.5cm with a pro or elite amateur still means they are likely miles less stack than your run of the mill amateur.

For pros/elite amateurs, oh yeah, I agree with ya on that one.

I. Haven’t tested yet but have a Met Drone and Codatronca to compare.
Anecdotally I have course PBs and wins on two local TT courses wearing the Drone and have neither wearing the Codatronca.
Rob Barrett has tested the Drone vs Uvex Race 8 and other than the Drone being better for visability up the road there didn’t appear to be much in them.
https://www.floataero.com/...Race-8-Met-Drone.pdf

Tri_Joeri wrote:

I think it might be similar to Ineos starting to use Kask Bambinos that are a couple of sizes too big.
The design intent I believe with the MET Drone was to push the air around the shoulders of the athlete. I talked to Dan Bigham after seeing Adam Yates with a Kask that was way too big last year and pretty sure it was for the same reasoning. Likely that's also how the Poc Tempor works so well for some positions.

Similar comment from a recent Joe Laverick post: "When Adam Yates pulled up to the UAE Tour time-trial with an absurdly large Kask helmet, the cycling world did a double take. Had his head grown overnight? No, he’d just been to the (Dan) Bigham school of aero. Now, I don’t know for sure as I haven’t seen the data. But, I imagine that by giving Yates (what I think is) a large Kask Mistral, Dan has tried to mimic the POC effect."
Full link: https://www.thepelotonbrief.com/...bsession-with-speed/

Hi Joeri

apart from the purely aerodynamic gain (pushing the air around the shoulders, Tempor like), do you think large helmet could also help head cooling ?
In hot temperature / high humidity (Kona...), having more "fresh" air flowing around the head could be another reason to us "oversize" helmets ?

Regarding the ketone experiment we talked about 2 years ago, do you know if the final report is finally published in english (my dutch did not improved :-)

Cheers
Philippe

The irony is I own a medium kask mistral. And an aerohead. Maybe I should fork out for a uvex or met on the cheap from marketplace. Great read, thanks for that

I hear this over and over again. And I question it every single time. Tested it myself in the field and CFD models and have not found the Aerohead to be faster than Javelin nor Rapid Tri. All three were faster than the Vanquish. How are two aerodynamically competent (and poorly ventilated), visored (?) and similar shapes be so different as it is often claimed?. From a pure basic fluid mechanics perspective, what exactly would make the aerohead "generally" faster than...choose...Kask, Uvex, Drone, Wing? I simply don't buy it.

Bigger helmets, I do see it. Rider shoulders will hit the wind and a bigger helmets would help smoothen the transition. It is in my spare time's to do list to build a CFD model to test and maybe "prove" this.

Hi Philippe!

It very well could be a factor I think! The Uvex only has one small slot in the center though so as with most TT helmets, I guess it still runs fairly hot.

Ah yes the ketone experiment. It should be this report https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33196605/ but I have not read it myself yet, since I was one of the guinea pigs and it was clear there was no performance benefit for me.

I have tested both the drone and the codatronca and the former didn’t work for me despite having broader shoulders than many. I think it’s still early days on the shoulder air deflection concept so I think we’ll have to wait a while before brands do it properly.

Do you find the Codatronca faster at the expense of field of view though.
I have a feeling that those using a Kask Mistral as it tests fast have a hugely restricted field of view and those using a Kask with the new Aero Pro Visor have a much improved field of vision with a higher head position for little to no aero loss or perhaps even a gain?

You're using yourself as the barometer. As a "general rule" the aerohead is fast helmet for "most" people. If you're not going to test multiple options in multiple positions this is the one I recommend. It is also far more forgiving with head movement. You don't have to buy it, but I have tested it hundreds of times. Just my .02.

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Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook

All the current helmets easily fit into the UCI box. I've measured the POC, Kask, and MET drone. Don't know of many larger than that. There's still quite a bit of room to push the envelope. Kask quietly had a new/revised helmet on several at the world track championships. I'd bet most missed it.

If you want to see where most of the positioning and tech is coming from, it's there, definitely not in Triathlon.

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Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook

I’m not surprised the aerohead would test badly in a cfd simulation. Unless your simulation replicates your actual head movement you have when in a race, it’s not a representative simulation. It’s also why some people are coming out of wind tunnels with the wrong helmet recommendation.

To clarify, it did not test "bad", it is indeed a fast helmet. But compared to other poorly ventilated helmets with a visor, it was just as good as the others. Road testing got me the similar results (1s/km faster than the Vanquish, but no different between the other two). I can see the Javelin being a drag when moving your head down compared to the Aerohead, but maybe not the Rapid Tri.

There's a helmet discussed in this very thread that doesn't fit into the new UCI box.

What maximum dimensions? What UCI box?

Nothing ??

Look here:

https://assets.ctfassets.net/...ts_on_01.01.2023.pdf

Thank you! I keep a Specialized TT2 in the stable - not sure why - and even that isn't 450mm long, so length probably won't be an issue.

Anybody knows what helmet Magnus is using here? Looks like the Uvex. (that he has used in the past) But it has this "line" of material just by the edge of the ear, made me doubt ...
Also the Uvex Race 8 has (golfball) dimples and a like running horizontally...

Here even more visible: