"Quiet" Aero Road Helmets - Advice Needed

[19wisconsin64]

Hi All,
While riding I usually listen as carefully as possible to everything around me, for safety reasons. Even my hubs, Onyx, are silent! At speeds above 20 miles per hour and higher I'm looking to purchase a new helmet that is quiet as the wind rushes around it so that I may hear better.
Kask Utopia: Designed with a smooth, aerodynamic shape and strategically placed vents, the Utopia reduces turbulence around the helmet, leading to quieter rides. Its internal channeling also helps manage airflow efficiently.

Please let me know if you have some recommendations, thanks!

[Mark McM]

You might want consider ear wind deflectors, as discussed in this older thread:

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showt...hlight=catears

[Jdm]

I have too-loud wind noise with every helmet I’ve ever tried.

My only solutions for every ride.
- a headband that covers my ears. Works well enough. Blocks sweat. Covers ears from sun and cold.
- any brand of wind blockers that attach the the front helmet straps. This works the best for blocking wind, but looks horrible.

[marciero]

I worry about hearing loss; particularly high frequency, yet I've never tried any of these wind blockers. But generally if anything I want to attenuate sound volume on the bike across the board.
In fact I seem to have become increasingly sensitive to loud or sharp noise from applause or from traffic, and have taken to sometimes wearing an ear plug in the traffic side ear if I am in a high or loud traffic situation. I can still hear fine with them. These are cheap earplugs I bought in bulk. But there are fancy ear plugs that musicians wear that either attenuate the frequencies evenly, or, I would imagine these days, are tunable to act as low, high, or notch filters and attenuate certain frequency ranges. In other musical applications, feedback suppression systems actively find and attenuate the offending frequencies. Im sure this technology could or has been implemented in ear plugs so that for example they could notch out the wind or traffic sound only when descending or when that Harley assaults your left ear.

[Mikej]

If you’re trying to listen for cars, get a garmin varia.

[bikinchris]

The quietest helmet I ever had was a Bell Vortex from the late 80s or early 90s. Very dorky looking helmet, but the air management was amazing. I could hear everything around me easily and drivetrain noise was aggravating in group rides. That's when I first noticed that Shimano drivetrains were much louder than Suntour or Campagnolo.

Since that's not available anymore, maybe try this?:
https://www.cat-ears.com/

[benb]

The helmet strap wind blockers are pretty amazing. You should definitely start there cause you're talking $10 instead of hundreds for a new helmet that might not get the job done.

I only have them on one of my helmets so far.. but that's the one I ride on the road where it matters. I need to order some more of them.

[Carbonita]

Keep straps on the skin to avoid generating turbulence near ears. Glasses arms over straps for same reason. Cat ears may help attenuate acoustic energy, but I can't tell when testing with one side only.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Carbonita

Keep straps on the skin to avoid generating turbulence near ears. Glasses arms over straps for same reason. Cat ears may help attenuate acoustic energy, but I can't tell when testing with one side only.

Cat ears instructions say they require running your glasses over them.

If you have the Cat ears it's very easy to see how they work. Put them on both sides of the helmet then you ride down the road, go about 20mph, and then pull the strap out away from one of your ears. It's very, very obvious how well they work when you do this and can basically turn them on/off.

They're pretty eerie on a mountain descent when you start hitting 35, 40, 45mph and the wind noise is so quiet it feels like you're going a lot slower than you are.

[David in Maine]

Originally Posted by benb

Cat ears instructions say they require running your glasses over them.

If you have the Cat ears it's very easy to see how they work. Put them on both sides of the helmet then you ride down the road, go about 20mph, and then pull the strap out away from one of your ears. It's very, very obvious how well they work when you do this and can basically turn them on/off.

They're pretty eerie on a mountain descent when you start hitting 35, 40, 45mph and the wind noise is so quiet it feels like you're going a lot slower than you are.

Has anyone compared the 4 different models of CatEars? I tried the lowest profile Airstreamz slim in the past, but didn't find the different that dramatic. I also think I probably failed to run my glasses arms outside the straps so I spoiled the experiment.
EDIT: to answer the OP, I find my Specialized Propero 4 helmet to be pretty quiet.

Daivd

[benb]

Originally Posted by David in Maine

Has anyone compared the 4 different models of CatEars? I tried the lowest profile Airstreamz slim in the past, but didn't find the different that dramatic. I also think I probably failed to run my glasses arms outside the straps so I spoiled the experiment.
EDIT: to answer the OP, I find my Specialized Propero 4 helmet to be pretty quiet.

Daivd

It's good Specialized has fixed the straps on their more recent helmets.

The first Gen S-Works Prevail I had was far and away the noisiest helmet I ever had. Crazy crazy loud if you didn't keep glasses over the straps at all times.

[Spdntrxi]

2 new aero helmets that I can think of :

Kask Nirvana
POC Procen Air

I have the procen air, there is a flexible material that cover a portion of the ear, it's help slightly but I purchased for aero purposes and it excels at that.

[marciero]

Originally Posted by David in Maine

Has anyone compared the 4 different models of CatEars? I tried the lowest profile Airstreamz slim in the past, but didn't find the different that dramatic. I also think I probably failed to run my glasses arms outside the straps so I spoiled the experiment.
EDIT: to answer the OP, I find my Specialized Propero 4 helmet to be pretty quiet.

Daivd

So I finally got a pair of these. I got the "classic slim". My sense is that the after the original ones they wanted a streamlined version because they are so goofy looking. Airstreamz are a different material, so a little slimmer, then they have an even thinner version, Airstreamz slim, that you got. Then they went back to original material but slightly slimmer than the original- Classic slim. I got these thinking they would be better than the Airstreamz slim and almost as good as the original.

The wind noise does seem reduced but its hard to say by how much. When I lift them away from my cheek there is a dramatic increase in wind noise, but that may be because they are directing wind at my ear more than would be without these things.

[benb]

After we had this thread I pulled out my Bontrager Ballista (which does not have Cat ears) and wore it last Saturday.

I felt like I was going deaf compared to the other helmets that have them.

They are really worth trying.

I haven't tried more than one model. I have the "Cat Ears Airstreamz Slim" ones. I got the slim ones out of the fear the thicker ones would be even more fredly.