Best Road Bike Helmet of 2021 for Serious Racers

We have been highly impressed with just about every piece of POC gear to come through the doors here at Gearhacker. POC is well known for pushing the envelope when it comes to innovation in safety technology for cyclists, and the POC Ventral Spin road bike helmet is a perfect example of this. The Ventral Spin is POC’s attempt to make a full-on aero helmet into something that you would want to ride with every day, and we have to say that this helmet lives up to its lofty aspirations.

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See Our The Best Road Bike Helmets of 2021: Cycling Helmet Review!

Comfort, Fit, and Adjustability

The POC Ventral Spin road helmet uses a lightweight retention system that wraps around the entirety of the head, rather than attaching to the temples. Like the Roc Loc Air fit system on the Giro Synthe, this makes for a highly adjustable helmet that will be extremely comfortable for almost all head shapes.

The POC Ventral Spin does not have any vertical or fore/aft adjustment. Instead, this is handled by putting the helmet on with the adjustment open, settling the helmet where you want it on your head, and then using the 360-degree fit system controlled by the large rear dial to hold it perfectly in that place.

While it might seem like a minor aside, POC helmets are known for having some of the nicest straps around, and the POC Ventral Spin lives up to this reputation. The large, Y shaped ear straps are not only comfortable but also feature three-way adjustability to make sure that they sit flush and comfortably against your face, keeping in line with the helmets aerodynamic theme.

Finally, the padding that makes up the SPIN system itself, which we will cover in the safety section, is also quite comfortable.

Weight

Could a helmet really be comfortable, aerodynamic, well ventilated, and lightweight? More or less, yes. The POC Ventral SPIN weighs in at only 280g, which is quite impressive considering all of the other boxes that it checks.

Ventilation

Historically, there have been aerodynamic cycling helmets and well-ventilated cycling helmets, but rarely if ever has there been a truly well ventilated aerodynamic cycling helmet. However, the POC Ventral Spin set out to rewrite this narrative and appears to have done so. Aero helmets of old focused on moving air around the helmet and off the back of it as efficiently as possible, thus the large, smooth, teardrop-shaped time trial helmets that had virtually no ventilation.

With the Ventral Spin, POC has taken a different approach. Rather than move air around the helmet as efficiently as possible, the Ventral Spin is designed to move air through the helmet as efficiently as possible. Naturally, this makes for a helmet with much better ventilation than aero helmets of old. Behind each large vent in the front of the helmet is an air channel ushering air across your head before being ushered out of large exhaust ports in the rear.

If there is a downside here, it is that the POC Ventral’s ventilation only really shines while moving, and it can get warmer than some of the coolest helmets on long hot climbs. At speed, however, the POC Ventral is just about as cool as any helmet in our review.

Safety Tech and Additional Features

Rather than MIPS, POC uses its own proprietary SPIN technology to help absorb rotational impacts. SPIN, which stands for Sheering Pad Inside, refers to the actual pads within the helmet. These SPIN pads are filled with silicone gel, which allows them to move and twist when external forces are exerted upon the helmet. This achieves the same effect as a MIPS liner, but without introducing a foreign object between the helmet’s shell and pads. It also alleviates the issue of feeling and hearing the helmet bounce around on the MIPS liner, which is a frequent issue with MIPS helmets.

The POC Ventral Spin also covers more of your head than most road helmets, which also earns it a few extra points in our book.

Finally, two of the front vents have a rubberized coating to help hold sunglasses in place should you wish to store them on your helmet for long climbs.

Aerodynamics

Admittedly, we do not have a wind tunnel at our disposal to test the POC Ventral Spin’s aerodynamics. However, we more or less buy the explanation that POC gives for the helmet’s design. The helmet was made according to the Venturi Effect. Essentially, for our purposes, this just means that a smaller object will create less drag than a larger object. So, rather than direct airflow around the helmet (a larger object), the POC Ventral Spin directs airflow through the helmet and around your head (a smaller object). This is done via large front ports which are backed up by air channels that lead the air to large exhaust ports. 

Meanwhile, the outside of the helmet is extremely smooth, helping direct air that does flow around the helmet to the back, where great pains have been taken to release this air with the least amount of turbulence possible, thus creating the least possible amount of drag. We are also fans of the smooth outer shell because it will be less likely to grab the road in the event of a crash, which can whip your neck and head.

The Bottom Line

The POC Ventral Spin is another innovative helmet from POC with high ambitions that blew us away. All in all, we think the POC Ventral Race Spin is the best all-around road bike helmet on the market for serious racers. We put the qualifier, “for serious racers” because there had to be a downside, and that downside is price. The POC Ventral Spin retails for $290 and because it is so new, it is difficult to find below this price. A better value can be found in the Giro Synthe, but for racers who want the best and aren’t afraid of breaking the bank, the POC Ventral Spin is our top pick.

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