Track Helmets

The Giro ones that the British Olympic squad have look pretty good, don't know if they're widely available yet though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/wavydavy/hoy.jpg

I want one of those!!!

Apparently something a little more old school doesn't stop you from winning gold and breaking world records either. I don't know what brand/model though.

Lindsay

62vette, my helmet has ventilation holes in it and the helmet in the 2nd pic is still way better than mine.

I say you'd have to be down in the low 1minutes for the kilo to start worrying about aero dynamic helmets.And even more so in a 200m TT.

Who said anything about being worried? But I want me something with the sleek lines like in the first pic, sometimes I feel like 15% of my total drag is comin off my head and helmet what with the whistling I hear in my ears as the air blows over and around my helmet and when it actually buffets it side to side and forward and backward.. Having one of those should be good for a 15-20 k TT too. In terms of cost effectiveness, I think a good aero helmet is a better option than buying a new, expensive, low drag bicycle with deep aero rim wheels.

The Louis Garneau ones are pretty cool loking anf it like a glove. I've just got one and am most impressed,though admittedly the Giro ones BC use look better and appear more aero. The Aussie helmets are well long and sleek too! Anyone know where us mere mortals can buy these?

bikeguy said:

Who said anything about being worried? But I want me something with the sleek lines like in the first pic, sometimes I feel like 15% of my total drag is comin off my head and helmet what with the whistling I hear in my ears as the air blows over and around my helmet and when it actually buffets it side to side and forward and backward.. Having one of those should be good for a 15-20 k TT too. In terms of cost effectiveness, I think a good aero helmet is a better option than buying a new, expensive, low drag bicycle with deep aero rim wheels.

Ofcourse an aero helmet will work in a 15 to 20km TT.But buying a helmet over some lighter faster wheels,go right ahead lol.

Laugh all you want Lasalles, but according to this site:http://damonrinard.com/aero/aerodynamics.htm, an aerodynamic helmet saves 5.2% drag over a person who wears no helmet, and is 2nd on the list of changes that most effects aero drag with running a disc front wheel at 7.2%. The disc wheel costs a lot more than the aero helmet, but I don't know where I can get a good aero helmet. I know that the helmet I wear has worse drag than when I don't wear a helmet, because I feel slower than when I went out helmetless, but after my crash I will never go out riding without a helmet again.

i dont think u r goin faster without the helmet, think its more a phycological thing going on...the wind through ur hair 😉 haha

bikeguy said:

Laugh all you want Lasalles, but according to this site:http://damonrinard.com/aero/aerodynamics.htm, an aerodynamic helmet saves 5.2% drag over a person who wears no helmet, and is 2nd on the list of changes that most effects aero drag with running a disc front wheel at 7.2%. The disc wheel costs a lot more than the aero helmet, but I don't know where I can get a good aero helmet. I know that the helmet I wear has worse drag than when I don't wear a helmet, because I feel slower than when I went out helmetless, but after my crash I will never go out riding without a helmet again.

Ok now lets work this out.Firstly you wouldnt be allowed to attempt a flying 200mTT without a helmet so the 5.2% doesnt matter.So say an aero helmet in comparison to a helmet (say a Limar),now it may be say 3% more aero.So now if you were riding 12seconds for a 200m and add the aero helmet your time would drop by 0.03seconds.Any Actuaries or Mathamaticians here as my maths isnt real good? By dropping 0.03 seconds suddenly doesnt sound worthwhile of an aero helmet.

Lasalles said:

Ok now lets work this out.Firstly you wouldnt be allowed to attempt a flying 200mTT without a helmet so the 5.2% doesnt matter.So say an aero helmet in comparison to a helmet (say a Limar),now it may be say 3% more aero.So now if you were riding 12seconds for a 200m and add the aero helmet your time would drop by 0.03seconds.Any Actuaries or Mathamaticians here as my maths isnt real good? By dropping 0.03 seconds suddenly doesnt sound worthwhile of an aero helmet.

Going by the 12 seconds and 3 percent thing you would actually be saving .36 of a second and your time would be 11.64. Not bad for a relatively small investment compared to a disc wheel.

even if it is only 0.03 of a second its better than nothing. at nationals i missed out on qualifying in the sprint by 0.02...so if i had that helmet i would of qualified. it all depends on how close the competition is. think that came out right 😕

The no helmet situation is with a shaved head. Gentlemen, you are misordering. Wearing a crappy non aero helmet > no helmet, hair > no helmet, shaved head > aerodynamic helmet. This means that a aero helmet could carry 10% aero advantage over a standard helmet.

bikeguy said:

The no helmet situation is with a shaved head. Gentlemen, you are misordering. Wearing a crappy non aero helmet > no helmet, hair > no helmet, shaved head > aerodynamic helmet. This means that a aero helmet could carry 10% aero advantage over a standard helmet.

I think you've got it the wrong way around..

From the site mentioned above:
"The wide-spread ANSI approved helmet Bell V1 Pro gains around 9.8% compared to a bald head"

The context is "increasing aero drag", so it basically states that wearing an approved aero helmet is aerodynamically worse than a bald head by 9.8%.

Also, you can't calculate a performance increase/decrease of x% based on the drag increase/decrease of x%. The drag percentage isn't directly related to speed. So 5% better aerodynamics isn't necessarily 5% faster..

Also quoting that site:
"New wheels offer the largest aerodynamic advantage with the bicycle"
but it goes on to mention front disc problems in winds and the cost.

So, maybe you could get a better helmet if you can afford it and swap your spokes for bladded ones and maybe some deep, aero rims?

hippy

Hippy.. no a standard helmet has worse aero drag than a bald head, a good aero helmet has much better drag than a bald head. As for speed increases, since drag is proportional to velocity cubed, a 10% reduction in drag would cause a 3% increase in speed at constant power. air drag (watts)= VA*VA*VG*0.5*air density (in kg per cubic meter) *frontal area (in meters squared)*drag coefficient (dimensionless number) Va is air velocity, Vg is ground velocity, in meters-sec of course.

bikeguy2 said:

Hippy.. no a standard helmet has worse aero drag than a bald head, a good aero helmet has much better drag than a bald head. As for speed increases, since drag is proportional to velocity cubed, a 10% reduction in drag would cause a 3% increase in speed at constant power. air drag (watts)= VA*VA*VG*0.5*air density (in kg per cubic meter) *frontal area (in meters squared)*drag coefficient (dimensionless number) Va is air velocity, Vg is ground velocity, in meters-sec of course.

Yep, as per: "The Bell Stratos, an ANSI approved helmet, increases the
aero drag by approximately 1.3 % over a bald head."

and: "Aero helmets, as they are used for racing, which do not however
meet the ANSI safety requirements, reduce the aero drag by approximately 2% compared to a bald head or a rubber cap over the hair."

But I'm not sure I'd call 2% drag reduction "much better" than a bald
head. Maybe at the elite level 2% is a lot, but not for me 🙂

Anyway, 2% less drag is MUCH less benefit than the 5% _time_ benefit
some people were calculating. It's only a 2% _drag_ decrease which is
NOT 2% speed increase.

Ahh.. too much maths not enough riding! 😉

hippy

That Bell (razor?) that the Kiwi rode in the pursuit is cool. You don't see many of those around anymore. I've always been curious why Bell stopped making them. Also, why Troxel stopped making the radius titanium. Both really cool lids from the mid 90's.

At the Junior Worlds, some of the German team members had some pretty cool lids. I wasn't able to catch the brand, but they looked more like skate helmets but had no vents and a visor. Not so much aero as a classic round helmet. They really looked ideal for the mass-start track events. Can anyone shed any more info (brand names, retail ordering, etc)?