Scott Cadence Plus Mips helmet

If you've watched any pro racing this year then you may have noticed the new yellow helmets atop the heads of the Orica-Scott team this year. They are wearing this, the new Scott Cadence Plus Mips helmet. As you'd expect, it's an aero helmet but it's well ventilated too. It features the MIPS technology to help prevent brain injuries from angled impacts, and of course passes the CE tests.

Aero helmets for road racing are still a relatively recent development and the approaches from different brands haven't yet entirely converged. Quite a few have gone for the approach of retaining vents front and rear and smoothing over the top of the helmet, as we see here. Empirically it seems like a sensible approach given the somewhat conflicting needs to improve airflow without depriving the head of cooling. Scott claimed when it launched the Cadence Plus that it offers "class leading ventilation without compromising aerodynamic performance".

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Let's have some nice stats then, shall we? Per manufacturer claims, the Cadence Plus will "save up to 13 seconds compared to competitor aero road helmets, when riding at 40kph over a distance of 40km." As is often the case, there aren't any specifics about which competitor helmets were tested, but what is more eye-opening is the parallel claim that this helmet is so well-ventilated that it is "cooler than not wearing a helmet".

That sounds unlikely, doesn't it, but there are some stats here too. Scott used 36 temperature sensors mounted to a head while wearing the helmet, at a speed of 40kph with a 15-degree head tilt angle and 0-degree yaw angle, and concluded that it cools your head 1.1% better than if not wearing a helmet at all. I'm not sure how it did that, but hey – I'm not a leading aerodynamicist.

We've not had any scorching hot days round these parts yet, but I've worn the Cadence Plus on some days where it was in the high teens and low 20s and I have to say it does offer very decent ventilation, certainly better than most aero helmets, and such that I wouldn't expect problems wearing it in high summer.

On colder days, or when you need even more aero, Scott supplies the helmet with bungs to close up the front vents. They're a simple concept, like Polo holes – sections of expanded polystyrene bonded to polycarbonate skin that simply push in from the outside.

I expected to have a sweaty melty head as soon as I stuck the bungs in, but to my surprise I found that I was comfortable going at a reasonable pace in the mid-teens. I noticed while watching some of the grimmer stages of this year's Tour of Romandie that a number of the Orica-Scott riders had the bungs in place, and if you get a cold head during the winter then this will be a definite benefit. One of my bungs was initially a bit reluctant to push fully into the vent, as you can see in the photo below, but over time it settled in nicely.

One area where the Cadence Plus is really not competitive when measured against some competitors is weight. Making things more aero commonly results in some added weight, but even so I was surprised to weigh this helmet (in large) at a portly 346g without the bungs. Scott claims a weight of 280g, presumably for a smaller size, but even that is comfortably more than some competitors. After an 11-hour ride I could feel some extra fatigue in my neck, but for shorter rides or races you probably wouldn't notice the difference. My suspicion is that most of the extra weight is in the tail of the helmet, where – in the name of aero – it extends further back from the head than a conventional lid.

Fit and comfort are very good. This helmet is fitted with Scott's top end retention system which it calls Halo 360. There's a twiddly knob at the back to adjust around your head, and the rear cradle is also adjustable in the vertical direction to suit different head shapes. My head is large and quite tall, and some helmets sit on top of it, looking quite ridiculous. Not so here – it offers decent coverage and (I think) doesn't look too bad. The X-Static anti-bacterial padding inside is slim and lightweight, but very well positioned such that it remained supremely comfortable with no pressure points even after 11 hours.

The arrangement of straps under the ear is unusual, sitting flat against the jaw. The strap that goes under the chin is a separate piece of webbing to the ones around the ear. This doesn't allow any adjustment to suit different ear positions. If you have lower ears than average, you might the straps are a bit close to them – mine were generally comfortable but I wouldn't want the upper straps any shorter.

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It's really good to see more helmets being fitted with the MIPS system. We've written about this before in other helmets, but the basic idea is that there is some rotational slip allowed between the helmet and the head in the event of an angled impact, to reduce the rotational forces transmitted to the brain. Scott has adapted the yellow MIPS layer here with lots of small holes punched through the yellow plastic to help with the ventilation. Happily, I didn't have occasion to test the helmet in a crash, but for my money I would certainly prefer a helmet which has this additional layer of safety.

It's a decent helmet, this, offering aerodynamic benefit without sacrificing ventilation. I applaud Scott's use of the MIPS system and its adaptation here to improve airflow through the helmet. The only real downside is that it is on the heavy side compared with most of the competition. Comparison with aero rivals such as the Kask Infinity (265g), Bontrager Ballista (266g) and particularly the Met Manta (215g) don't do it any favours. A full-on TT pointy hat is going to be heavier still, and with its small rearward extension, perhaps this is best seen as being part way to that sort of helmet.

Like most stuff worn by the pros, it's not cheap, with its RRP of £169.99 setting it up against popular choices such as the Giro Synthe and (my personal favourite) the Kask Protone. That's to be expected, and there are plenty of lower cost options if you want to spend less. For me, the main factors in choosing a helmet would be comfort and fit, and the Cadence Plus is excellent in both of those respects, so I'd recommend it.

Verdict

Excellent combination of MIPS-enhanced safety, aero, ventilation and comfort, if a bit overweight