Winter bicycle riding requires something warm in the way of headgear.
A thin balaclava under your summer bike helmet works fine if it is not too cold. I am talking Minnesota cold. If you live elsewhere, your results may vary.
Last year riding my fat and ice bikes I wore an old Giro snow helmet. It had no vents but it did have ear flaps. The fit was not that great on my perfectly shaped head, but when we crashed on some white ice and tapped said helmet on the street. It became clear to me that this was not the right winter helmet for me anymore.
A new winter/snow helmet was in order.
It is interesting the way helmets fit, or don’t. Some brands fit my perfect head shape, others do not. In the early days, Giro was my go to helmet. Now the current ones I have tried, push down on the top of my head. Bell Helmets fit me just fine as do the Lazer brand helmets.
Various helmets use different inside pad thicknesses to tune the fit to you. Other styles use a ratcheting headband to make it snug. I am a big fan of the ratcheting fit system. What if your hair grows out between helmet uses? All you need to do is move the adjuster a click or two and it fits. Shave your head, and click it snug. Is it balaclava time? No problem, just click, click to loosen. It beats looking for the pads you hid so that you didn’t lose them.
I purchased a Lazer Helium road helmet a year or so ago. It fits my head, it is light weight and has lots of ventilation. Lazer use what they call the Rollsys® system to let you tweak the fit. You just roll this adjuster located on the top rear of the helmet. There is an optional safety blinky light you can purchase that fits into the adjuster. Lazer offers a warmer “winter” liner with ear flaps that works great for our Minnesota early spring and fall weather. Below 20°f, I need more warmth, less wind chill.
Helmet rules and regulations are the bailiwick of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “Snow” helmet and “Bicycle” helmet certification involve different tests. Some helmets are certified for both activities, but most are not. Certification costs the helmet companies money. The market for winter biking is small compared to the “snow” arena. My layman understanding is that the safety tests for both sports are similar, but not the same.
I tried on a bunch of the new winter helmets we sell at the shop. My criteria was, brain protection, fit and warmth. OK, I am mildly interested in looks. Price? We all have budgetary concerns, but ask your loved ones If they prefer you as you are today, or would they like it if you were drooling into a cup for the rest of your life. The cost of even the most expensive helmet is cheap compared to a head injury.
After careful consideration, the winner of my winter helmet competition is the Lazer Dissent. The Dissent comes in 4 colors. The hue I picked is Fat Bike Fluoro Yellow. It is a color not found in nature. It is so bright I think it could melt snow. It is so bright, that If I crash in the woods people will be able to find the body. It is so bright, it can be seen from space.
What pointed me to the Lazer Dissent aside from it’s color and fit, was it’s adjustable vent system, cozy interior and ear flaps, plus the Magic Buckle. The Lazer Dissent started out life as a “snow” helmet. Somewhere along the way Lazer decided to put a label on the box that they got from the U.S. CPSC that says that the Dissent complies with the crash standards for bicycle helmets for persons age 5 and older.
I will alert you if my Lazer Dissent hits the ground or the snow with me in it.
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