Met Rivale

The Met Rivale offers a decent level of ventilation, for an aero helmet, combined with comfort and a good fit. There are also some nice design features such as a low, racy profile and, best of all, you can store your glasses in it!

The Rivale is Met's second tier helmet, one down from the Mantra, which is Met's even more aero option. You might have seen it on the heads of Steve Cummings and Mark Cavendish towards the end of last season and beginning of this, as it is used by the Dimension Data team.

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As with all helmets, the most important element is safety, and here the Rivale uses Met's HES construction system, designed to allow the impact of any collision to be spread throughout the entire helmet. During the test period I was lucky enough not to need to test it out, but going purely on feel and some experimental knocks, it seems like it would fare well in a crash...

The Safe-T Advanced fitting system adjusts the fit around the entire head rather than just at the back. It reminds me of the Rollsys system used on the Lazer Z1, and it works very effectively. The Airlite straps are also some of the best I've used – not too thick that they feel heavy, and not too thin that they twist. Met bills them quite high in its marketing material for the helmet (‘15% lighter than a standard helmet strap’), which I would say is justified.

Thanks to the micro-adjustability (the dial at the rear of the helmet adjusts the fit by 2mm for each click), it was easy to get an exact fit. The dial at the back can also be fitted with a light, which you buy separately; it's not the best, but it's a well thought out touch for increasing your safety.

The cradle at the rear of the helmet also has four heights, so you can adjust it for comfort. Some really good padding helps here – it's not only soft, but also after hundreds of miles covered during the review period, it didn't smell.

As for aerodynamics, Met claims the Rivale gives you an extra three watts of power. The road.cc labs are currently being used to test the latest and greatest developments in the aerodynamics of seat clamp bolts, so I couldn't test it that accurately... but it's certainly low slung and could perhaps give you a '1 second advantage' as Met also claims.

The helmet comes in nine different colour combinations, so you should be able to find one you like. I think it looks great, sitting really low on the head, and the large vents at the front remind me of a car grille. The vent at the top also looks like a scoop on a 70s muscle car...

Not only do the vents make me think about cars, they are also very effective for an aero helmet. They don't have the same kind of airflow as a Lazer Z1 or Catlike Mixino, for instance, but for an aero helmet designed for speed over ventilation, they work surprisingly well. They also let you store your glasses in them, which is great – although perhaps avoid doing that in a TT.

> Should you buy an aero helmet?

One of the biggest pluses of this helmet, though, is its weight. It comes in at 229g on the road.cc scales, 1g lighter than Met claims. To put this into perspective, the Catlike Mixino is only 2g lighter and has 34 vents compared with the Rivale's 16. This is really impressive, especially given that the Mixino is £70 more. That makes the Met a bit of a bargain at £109.99 RRP, even more so if you can get it for less (under £100 if you shop around).

> Check out our guide to the best cheap helmets

Overall I really enjoyed using this helmet. It brings together some really strong design elements with a very lightweight aero shape, and it's comfortable to use over long period thanks to the retention system and decent ventilation. In fact it's hard to find something about the helmet I don't like, and that isn't something I can always say.

Verdict

A well thought out helmet that combines an aero design with some good innovative elements