Product Review: How Does The Melbourne Bike Share Helmet Stack Up?

Bicycle helmet design has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, particularly in the road/time trial segment of the market. For quite a few years, design seemed a little stagnant and apart from a few minor innovations in fit adjustability and the ever-present quest to reduce weight, the general shape, look and design of a “performance” road cycling helmet remained fairly typical.

Between 1999 and 2005 not much changed in the way of helmet design (or Tour de France podiums) – although there has been some subsequent movement in official placings.

But a new wave of helmet designs have hit the market in the last few years that are changing all that.

Amidst this flurry of (mainly) European-inspired design innovation came the Melbourne Bike Share scheme, which was criticised early on for not appropriately dealing with Australia’s tough compulsory helmet laws. After such a significant investment by the Victorian State Government, the response was to firstly make heavily subsidised helmets available for purchase from convenience stores (and later vending machines) for the low, low price of just $5. The next step was to offer the helmets free-of-charge by attaching them to the bikes and then trusting share bike users to return and secure the helmets when docking their bikes.

This week we take a look at just how well, the $5 (or free) Melbourne Bike Share helmet compares to some other new models available on the market.

Thanks to Melbourne Osteopathy Sports Injury Centre’s Dr Brendan O’Loughlin for the chance to take a close-up look at the Melbourne Bike Share helmet.

__________________________________________________________

1. POC Octal Aero

POC Sports is a Swedish company who have brought out some very distinctive helmets in the last few years. Very much focused on aerodynamics, their time-trial and semi-aero road helmets have both generated a lot of buzz since debuting on the market.

Steele Von Hoff rode to victory in the 2014 Australian National Criterium Championships sporting the very fetching semi-aero stylishness of the POC Octal Aero proving that just because you look like a giant Smurf penis doesn’t mean you can’t win bike races…and also score with the ladies.

The Octal Aero (shown above) weighs in at 215g (for a medium size), which is fairly similar to the Melbourne Bike Share helmet, listed at 210g +/- 10g.

The idea behind its semi-enclosed design is that fewer air vents (1 front plus 4 rear) make it more aerodynamic, hopefully improving a rider’s chances at victory when hitting top speed in sprints or long solo breakaways. The flipside is that there’s less ventilation so it’s probably not the best helmet for hot conditions particularly if you are climbing long, steep hills.

The Melbourne Bike Share helmet also follows in this semi-aero vain, although with 9 vents in the shell (3 each on the front, back and top), it’s clear that the Melbourne Bike Share helmet is a little less semi-aero than the POC.

This helmet is available through certain local Australian bike shops, but you can also purchase the Octal Aero directly from the POC website for 3000 Swedish Kronas – around $495. If you’re not able to get your hands on one of the free Melbourne Bike helmets, even at the $5 pricepoint, this still represents a 98.99% saving off the full price on the Octal Aero. In terms of value-for-money, it looks like the Melbourne Bike helmet just manages to edge out the POC in this criteria.

On a side note, for those cyclists not content with spending $400-$500 on a bike helmet, POC also offers the Tempor, a full aerodynamic time-trial helmet, for 3800 Swedish Kronas – over AUD $600.

Unfortunately though, the Tempor does not come with the all-important Australia/New Zealand AS/NZS 2063 safety standards sticker, meaning that although it is considered safe in Europe and North America (where apparently anything goes), if you use this helmet in Australia, it will pretty much be guaranteed to kill you.

This sticker is widely regarded as the toughest of international helmet standards stickers compared to Eurpoe’s CE EN 1078 and America’s CPSC 1203.

Melbourne Bike Share vs. POC Octal Aero

Price
Melbourne Bike: $5
POC Octal Aero: ~$500

Weight
Melbourne Bike: 210g
POC Octal Aero: 215g

Aerodynamics
Melbourne Bike: 5/10
POC Octal Aero: 8/10

Ventilation
Melbourne Bike: 7/10
POC Octal Aero: 3/10

Safety
Melbourne Bike: AS/NZS 2063
POC Octal Aero: AS/NZS 2063

__________________________________________________________

2. Kabuto Redimos

Japanese brand OGK Kabuto make some interesting high-performance helmets but before you order one, make sure that your head shape suits their design ethos.

The Redimos is one of their top-of-the-range road helmets and it comes in at 195g (for the XS/S) or 205g (for the S/M). This puts it just slightly ahead of the Melbourne Bike Share helmet in terms of weight.

As stated on their website, the Redimos is “The premium helmet with CARBON.”

You could pay over $250 for one of these Kabuto helmets online, leaving the $5 Melbourne Bike Share helmet well ahead, once again, in terms of price.

All the Kabuto helmets are certified by the JCF (Japanese Cycling Federation) but unless you can manage to find one with the all important AS/NZS 2063 certification, it will be about as useful as a hairpiece in terms of safety equipment – in Australia anyway. Another plus point to the Melbourne Bike Share helmet.

The Kabuto Redimos has an impressive 25 ventilation channels, meaning that, while it will keep your head cool on hot days, you will also have to deal with a large volume of air relentlessly smacking you in the head. The Melbourne Bike Share helmet (with only 9 vents) should put any fears of an airflow-induced concussion at ease and does seem like a much better option, even if slightly less ventilated.

At the budget end of the spectrum, Kabuto also make the WR-L, which is a “Reasonable Model for Cycle Sports”.

And they also offer a great range of bicycle accessories including the “Hello Kitty” themed bidon and tool box.

Melbourne Bike Share vs. Kabuto Redimos

Price
Melbourne Bike: $5
Kabuto Redimos: ~$250

Weight
Melbourne Bike: 210g
Kabuto Redimos: 205g

Aerodynamics
Melbourne Bike: 5/10
Kabuto Redimos: 1/10

Ventilation
Melbourne Bike: 7/10
Kabuto Redimos: 9/10

Safety
Melbourne Bike: AS/NZS 2063
Kabuto Redimos: JCF only

__________________________________________________________

3. EKOI CXR13 MAGNETIC EVO TT

French brand EKOI Sports sponsor the AG2R pro cycling team with some very futuristic-looking helmets including the CXR13.

You can purchase the CXR13 MAGNETIC EVO TT on their website for €189 plus €30-€40 shipping, which works out to about AUD $325. This helmet has zero ventilation ports, making it super-aerodynamic but unfortunately this comes at the cost of its rather hefty 310g weight – a full 100 grams heavier than the Melbourne Bike Share helmet.

If you want to improve the aerodynamic performance of a regular helmet, EKOI also offers this novel Universal Helmet Cover, which, at €24, costs as much as seven times that of a Melbourne Bike Share helmet, despite basically just being a glorified swimming cap.

There are obviously cheaper ways to make your helmet more “aero”, and a quick browse of some triathlon forums reveals:

1. “Clear packing tape hit with a hair dryer makes a taut surface. Remember that the inside surface is sticky, of course. “
2. “I've set some of my fastest splits with a Rudy Project Kontact helmet covered in packing tape. It doesn't look good, but it seemed plenty fast.”
3. “Last year I covered my vents with electrical tape. Took forever. Didn't look too bad. Not sure how well it worked.”
4. The Swimming Cap and Aluminium Foil DIY

Again, the EKOI only bears the European CE standards sticker so it’s unlikely that you’d manage to cheat death long enough to exploit any of the aerodynamic benefits that this helmet might have – in Australia anyway.

Melbourne Bike Share vs. EKOI CXR13 MAGNETIC EVO TT

Price
Melbourne Bike: $5
EKOI CXR13: ~$325

Weight
Melbourne Bike: 210g
EKOI CXR13: 310g

Aerodynamics
Melbourne Bike: 5/10
EKOI CXR13: 10/10

Ventilation
Melbourne Bike: 8/10
EKOI CXR13: 1/10

Safety
Melbourne Bike: AS/NZS 2063
EKOI CXR13: CE only

__________________________________________________________

The Final Word

While the Melbourne Bike Share helmet’s semi-aero design is probably going to be a fraction slower in a race against the clock than the exotic, wind-tunnel tested profile of the EKOI CXR13, its weight savings, improved ventilation and the all-important AS/NZS 2063 standards sticker more than make up for that. Likewise, for the JCF-approved Kabuto Redimos, which, although well ventilated, doesn’t bear the AS/NZS sticker and will also be a lot tougher to push through the air compared to the Melbourne Bike offering. The POC Octal Aero also trumps it in terms of aerodynamics, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that you could buy a new Melbourne Bike Share helmet every week for almost two years for the same price as this, admittedly striking, piece of Swedish-inspired design.

The bottom line is that the Melbourne Bike Share helmet provides a great balance of aerodynamics and ventilation in a sufficiently lightweight package that gives new meaning to the phrase “value for money”.

So, why not go and try one? After all, it’s hard to be disappointed by something that only cost you $5 (or nothing).