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Pointy helmets. Yay or nay?

Ok - I have no great love of Pointy helmets, I've been of the opinion that they are for the Pro's and the seriously fast but...
I'm about to take delivery of a Ceepo TT bike, am I now eligible for the pointy lid crew? :roll:

NB: Miss Wellington shuns pointy...

Comments

  • The Venom is a serious bike, but a serious bike doesn't always make a seriously fast rider. You've said yourself that pointy helmets are for the seriously fast. Your call.
  • Ha! Nice answer.
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    pointy helmets are for the seriously fast or those who believe themselves to be seriously fast.

    i enjoy nothing more than catching someone on some carbon bling with full aero kit. doesn't happen very often though (unless they have a pnucture, or have been caught in a terrible crosswind and been blown over)
  • okennyokenny Posts: 231
    I read analysis here once, where someone had calculated how much time one can save in a 40k TT with an average speed of ~40kph and an average speed of ~30kph.

    It showed that you gain more aero benefit (percentage speed iincrease) as a faster rider than a slower rider, the slower rider gained more in minutes and seconds because he was simply cycling for longer...

    I think the aero helmet will certainly help a little even if you are a slow cyclist.
    I'd be more worried about looking like an idiot.....with an aero helmet and still really slow.

    If you are worried about being as fast as absolutly possible and you don't care how u look, get an aero helmet, otherwise just ride like Chrissie does, with a normal helmet.
  • okenny wrote:
    I'd be more worried about looking like an idiot.....with an aero helmet and still really slow.
    Think I'll stick with my old stinky helmet for now. Pointy lid can wait until I'm bothering the TT guys.
  • Good call. Deep down, we probably all want a pointy helmet, but we all think we aren;t really good enough to justify them and we're also worried about looking complete twats. Hey ho, that;' Tri though!
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    If you can read the wind tunnel article in last month's 220. They reckoned if you had a properly fitted aero helmet the time saving was equivalent to the difference between a £1000 TT bike and a £6000 one!

    However, I too would be wary of the all the gear no idea look if I had one.
  • willtriwilltri Posts: 436
    i'd have to be averaging a pretty decent mph!! before i would not feel totally embarassed!!
  • it all down to what you call fast 1 year ago I would have called 32 kph fast but now after a season I think around 40 kph

    I don't wear a pointy helmet yet was thinking about one to make that extra difference from good age grouper to world qualifying age group

  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    if you feel fast then you will be fast

    if you look fast then you are fast.

    fact.

    Get the "pointy hat"!!!
  • This thread should be banned as heresy.

    We're triathletes, we need ridiculous clothes (lycra, wetsuits..), bikes (let's face it TT bikes look strange), and hats/ helmets.

    This thread is almost bordering on anti-bling

    Next you'll be saying "Don't buy carbon", or "It doesn't need to be red", or "Soreen isn't that great".

    ...but seriously, if you hold a good aero position, get the helmet - It makes a big difference (as long as it fits right). It's one of the cheapest £s per seconds saved items.

    which reminds me, I need to post a picture of mine in the bike bling thread...
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    Just make sure you put it on the right way around. I saw one hero leaving T1 in Salisbury Sprint with his aero hat on backwards. The timing marshal nearly choked trying to tell him.

    Benny posted a pic of a similar numpty some time ago... so it has happened more than once.
  • There' are numerous photos if you search, but a video is better, enjoy this http://www.tri247.com/article_5797_The+ ... &category=





  • ...don't know why I'm laughing. That could be me!
    Has anyone done a study of time saved by aero qualities, offset with extra transition time making sure the bloody thing is the right way round?
  • willtriwilltri Posts: 436
    brilliant - looks like a woodpecker!!
  • willtriwilltri Posts: 436
    brilliant - looks like a woodpecker!!
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    I did a post on pointy hats post53022.html#p53022

    Yes the young thrusters will go faster but us lesser mortals actually go relatively faster still, in effect we gain on the young thrusters. It is only 'I don't want to look a berk wearing a pointy hat when I am well down on the pecking order' attitude that lets the young thrusters grind our noses even more in the dirt.

    C'mon, we wear what to all intents and purposes look like leotards which shows off every roll of lard (unless you are built like a Greek Adonis), have a number which crumples up and slides all over the place on a number belt instead of being nicely pinned and level and you are worried about what you look like? A fortune is spent on getting the right shades, aero wheels, carbon drink cages, titanium bottle cage bolts and you hold back from spending on one of the best 'bang for the buck' accessories.
    As Mark Cote of the MIT cycling team put it, “Most people don't realize that a nonaero helmet creates four times the drag of a nonaero wheelset. So you can spend two thousand dollars on a wheelset, or spend two hundred on a helmet and be faster.”
    http://www.examiner.com/x-6088-Boise-Tr ... ntage-real
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    Conehead wrote:
    If you can stay down and stay aero then get one - you'll get a benefit from it. And if you're compfortable.

    Yeah, Miss W maintains she wobbles her head a lot apparantly, which would cancel it out. This (being fidgety) is the one single thing I have in common with her
  • hussler.hussler. Posts: 390
    If you fidget around...looking at the views etc not alot of point in getting one. However If you can stay aero then get one.

    Also another point to be aware of is that you need to get one that fits you aerodynamically....
    Ie it needs to sit flush with your spine with no gap. Each person will look different in each make of helmet.
    Me for example..... I use the Bell Meteor 2 as it (now) sits flush with my spine. If I use the Spuik aero helmet then it doesnt sit flush therefore defeating the object of wearing one.
  • This is an easy question to answer

    Get a naked black carbon one, with red bits in it and ye carbon gods will propel you along at the speed of light.

    Personally I can just about finish the bike leg of a tri without dying so it's not my cup of tea and I'd look like a right spanner.

    Up to you.
  • When they're not on yer head they look great!
    [img:2fg44l78]http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Images/Models/Full/30347-2.Jpg[/img:2fg44l78]
  • willieverfinish,
    may be if you had one the bike leg might be that much easier,
    as we all know,if its expensive it will make you go faster,
  • I just couldn't.... I'd feel so bloody daft.
  • It's not so much what you would feel like, but what you'd look like.
  • think back to the first time you ever saw a tri suit,
    i'd almost guarantee you said something along those lines
  • I bought it
    Got all winter to build the legs to warrant it!
  • will you wear it for training?
    let us know how you get on,
  • So which helmet did you get?

    I've been using one of those new Chrono TT ones from Italian company KASK, and they are are as comfy as you can get as they are a normal roadie helmet covered in a nice carbon fairing... boy they look the business, and as they have a hinged visor, i can wear my prescription specs underneath them, AND they don't fog up on climbs - cool eh?
    Andy at Kinetic One bikes sold it to me and his mate Simon at Wind tunnel experts Veloscience as tested the begeezers out of it and says it is fast.

    So if you want to be super comfy, even on full Ironman distance tri's, then i think this is your baby.

    look forward to hearing how you get on with it.

    DJ
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