A ventilated helmet with an add-on aero shell: How does the Uvex Surge fare in a wind tunnel check?

Prior to its August launch, the Uvex Surge helmet was first seen at full flight atop the top of Biniam Girmay on the 2024 Tour de France, a race by which the Eritrean grew to become the primary black African to win a stage, earlier than doubling up, after which getting a 3rd on his option to take the inexperienced jersey classification as the perfect sprinter within the race. 

Ahead of that race’s begin in Florence, I managed to catch Girmay, alongside his teammate Louis Meintjes, for 5 minutes forward of the Teams’ Presentation, and so they had been comfortable to inform me about their sponsor’s all-new top-tier helmet. 

They defined that it was designed to be a two-in-one ‘convertible’ resolution with a detachable shell which converts it from a highly-ventilated helmet to an aero helmet, however that as a result of UCI guidelines stopping such issues, that they had been pressured to convey twice as many helmets to the race and superglue the shell into place on half of them. 

Luckily for you and me, these UCI guidelines do not apply, so we cannot have to go to such extremes. 

This helmet has been on check right here at Cyclingnews since earlier than that dialog occurred. Uvex kindly despatched it to us for our wind tunnel highway helmets group check, and I’ve been utilizing it alongside a number of its opponents since then, so I’ve acquired a fairly good concept of the way it stacks up towards the perfect highway bike helmets in the marketplace at this time. 

Having a detachable cowl not solely provides to its aero credentials although. It serves as a protecting barrier towards the climate, and I’ve ridden it in the whole lot from freezing winter to sweltering summer season to check its versatility. 

It has definitely impressed me. I like a product that provides versatility and worth for cash, however it did not fairly make it into our purchaser’s information. The cause for that I’ll clarify beneath. 

Design and specification

The headline characteristic of the Uvex Surge helmet is the already-mentioned aerodynamic ‘shell’ cowl.

The cowl itself is designed to take a seat over the entrance face of the helmet, closing the vents and leaving simply three small air inlets on the centre, two sun shades storage vents alongside the flanks, and three outlet vents in the direction of the rear. 

It’s produced from a sturdy, light-weight plastic that has a small quantity of flex that can assist you get it on and off. It options three protrusions on the entrance which hook into the vents to carry it in place, in addition to three hooks on the again which seize onto a lip on the rear. The match when in place is safe and unwavering, and it seems to be completely built-in.

The entire design could be very effectively thought-about. I battle to think about anybody would realise there is a cowl in place in any respect. And whenever you do take away it, there are not any plugs or holes to counsel it was ever there within the first place.  

With the duvet eliminated, the helmet has 5 channels that run entrance to again, separated by EPS bridges that run parallel, with small carbon fibre struts that run horizontally between them. Visually, it is arduous to not liken it to the Specialized Prevail III, as the one different helmet to undertake this wide-open carbon-strut design.

At the rear, Uvex has used its personal small retention dial. This is simple to function, even with gloved fingers, and the vertical adjustment of the rear cradle is simple to set but sturdy sufficient to not self-adjust mid-ride. The rear can also be adorned with a pair of reflective flashes, that are delicate however assist so as to add visibility in low-light conditions. 

The straps on both facet are a standard 10mm black webbed strap, with a primary clip buckle and Y-splitters that sit beneath your ears. These splitters can’t be adjusted vertically, however they do provide a modicum of fore and aft adjustment to assist them sit comfortably. 

Inside, the MIPS Air Node extra rotational influence safety system is in place. MIPS, which stands for Multidirectional Impact Protection System, is a Swedish model whose focus is on growing the protection of helmets. Air Node is the model’s smallest, most discrete iteration but, present in lots of at this time’s high helmets. 

Like all helmets, the Uvex Surge is topic to trade normal security assessments, so when mixed with MIPS Air Node, ought to provide ample peace of thoughts within the occasion of a crash. However, there’s not but any third-party verification to check the extent of safety towards its friends. Virginia Tech is probably the most well-known of those third events, however it has but to place the Uvex Surge by means of its paces. 

That does not imply it is any much less protected than others, however the absence of an unbiased comparability and thus a validation of its credentials may be sufficient to discourage the extra safety-conscious consumers.  

Performance

It’s quite tough to evaluate the efficiency of a product that provides jack-of-all-trades versatility as a result of it can invariably be the grasp of none. That does seem to have rung true right here, however that does not imply it is best to ignore it. 

With the aero shell eliminated, the Uvex Surge is a genuinely glorious ventilated helmet. That’s most likely not too large a shock given simply how open it’s, however it outperforms different vented helmets such because the Trek Velocis and the Kask Protone with aplomb. 

Its closest competitor on this area, each visually and functionally, is the Specialized S-Works Prevail III. Having ridden the Surge and the Prevail back-to-back on a number of events, I really feel the Surge runs barely hotter. It’s an in depth name, however in case you’re in search of the perfect in air flow, the Specialized could be my choose. It additionally has Virginia Tech testing to again up its security credentials. 

With the aero cowl popped again into place, the vents are closed off and the intentions of the helmet change into a distinct gear. Uvex would have you ever imagine it transforms into top-of-the-line aero helmets, however once we examined it within the wind tunnel, it got here out as one of many slowest on check. 

We examined it each with and with out the duvet in place, and though the duvet saved 1.3 watts at 45kph, neither carried out significantly effectively towards its friends. Even with the duvet in place, it was half a watt slower than the aforementioned Prevail III, and it was 7.5 watts slower than the quickest road-style helmet on check, the Specialized S-Works Evade III. 

Now, there is a large caveat to this in {that a} helmet’s aero efficiency is kind of a person factor. One that performs badly on our check rider – on this case, our esteemed Tech Writer Tom Wieckowski – may work rather well for you. We can solely go by the information we now have although, and in our wind tunnel check, the Surge did not carry out. 

Beyond these metrics, although, the Surge does shine. It’s really snug all day lengthy, with no pinching or strain factors throughout the top, and the straps sit comfortable towards my face with none flapping. 

It’s price reiterating that the Y splitters can’t be adjusted vertically although, and so they sit fairly excessive beneath the ears, marginally decrease than the Van Rysel FCR Aero helmet, and at across the similar top because the POC Ventral. This is not one thing I’ve ever discovered a difficulty with, however in case you discover both of these to be uncomfortable in that space, you may discover a comparable challenge right here. 

Value

At €249.00, the Uvex Surge is unlikely to ever discover itself on our information to the perfect price range highway bike helmets, however there’s an argument that you just’re getting twice as a lot performance as lots of its friends. 

If, as Uvex tries, you argue that this twin performance comes within the type of air flow and aerodynamics, our wind tunnel outcomes disagree. If you worth air flow, you would be higher off simply shopping for the Prevail III, given it’s fractionally higher within the warmth and is quicker than each Surge variants. If you worth aerodynamics, you would be higher off with an Evade, or a Scott Cadence Plus, given they had been solely a fraction slower than the Poc Procen Air and their air flow is way from dangerous. 

But in case your concept of dual-purpose is staying exceptionally snug in each scorching sizzling and frosty chilly climes, there’s a case for proudly owning the Uvex Surge.

With the Prevail III, an uncovered Uvex Surge, or certainly different well-vented helmets, using in winter is a recipe for mind freeze. And using within the top of summer season in most devoted aero helmets is equally uncomfortable for the precise reverse cause. 

But the Uvex Surge, with its spectacular hot-weather air flow and the flexibility to cowl them up, permits you to journey comfortably all yr spherical. 

With that stated, the Scott Cadence helmet may also be purchased with ‘plugs’ for its vents. The outright hot-weather air flow of the Cadence is not nearly as good as with the Surge, however in case you’re available in the market for one thing that provides this weather-based versatility whereas additionally serving to you go sooner, that’d most likely be my choose. It additionally comes with a clip-on rear mild too, for a little bit of added security. 

Verdict

I actually just like the Uvex Surge helmet and I used to be genuinely a bit unhappy when it carried out badly in our wind tunnel check. 

Despite that outcome, I nonetheless put on it rather a lot, each in races and for longer simple rides. I additionally take it with me if I’m going away and I’m not sure what the temperature will likely be. 

I feel Uvex’s try to supply clients a flexible product that performs on the high degree is price celebrating, and I’ve no qualms trusting the helmet’s security credentials, even with out third-party testing.

Regardless, I am unable to objectively say it affords extra air flow than the Specialized Prevail III, higher aero efficiency than the Evade, nor higher worth than the Scott Cadence. The solely actual use case the place the Uvex Surge comes out on high could be somebody who desires a helmet to put on year-round and is more likely to expertise the extremes of each cold and hot.