Trying on road bike helmets in London

bmf

Hi,

I'm after a new helmet but not sure which brand I want, could be any of 6. I understand the only way to know before you buy is to try on lots of helmets until you find one you are happy with.

Basically I need to do a load of comparison shopping, but most bike shops only stock 2 or at best 3. Evans for example does Specialized and Giro.

Is there anywhere in London I can go to get to try on loads of helmets, either in adjacent stores or a large store?

mroli

Condor is pretty good - Gray's Inn Road and there are other shops close.

bmf

mroli wrote:

Condor is pretty good - Gray's Inn Road and there are other shops close.

Hi - thanks for replying. Never been to Condor - any good? I dismissed it originally because I saw from their web site they list only 9 helmets:

http://www.condorcycles.com/Helmets/Vie ... ducts.html

I see they have 2 stores. http://goo.gl/maps/PPFBG

What other shops are you thinking of nearby? Google maps search doesn't show up anything near..

RDW

Condor is a nice shop and well worth visiting (there's only one, marked 'A' on the map, 'F' is wrong), though I don't remember their helmet selection being very large. Cycle Surgery is pretty close, and has a few more:

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/helmets/clo ... lters=true

On Your Bike at London Bridge has some others:

http://www.onyourbike.com/helmets.php

You might do better at one of the suburban shops, like Geoff Butler in Croydon:

http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/category/11/Helmets

bmf

RDW wrote:

Condor is a nice shop and well worth visiting (there's only one, marked 'A' on the map, 'F' is wrong), though I don't remember their helmet selection being very large. Cycle Surgery is pretty close, and has a few more:

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/helmets/clo ... lters=true

On Your Bike at London Bridge has some others:

http://www.onyourbike.com/helmets.php

You might do better at one of the suburban shops, like Geoff Butler in Croydon:

http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/category/11/Helmets

I suspect you are right regarding suburban. I'm in North London (sorry didn't say before) so Croydon isn't ideal.

I'll consider On Your Bike though and try to find something in North London and beyond.

nickellis

Not North London, but Sigma Sport in Hampton Wick stock Specialized, Bontrager, Giro, Kask and I think Lazer.

RDW

For the record, I dropped by Condor today and they had a bigger selection than I'd thought (>20). Worth a look.

giant_man

+1 - condors is a good shop for trying stuff on

northpole

Defo recommend Condor - usually have good stock and the guy in the part of the store where they sell shoes and helmets (if still there) offers good impartial advice to ensure you are getting the best fit.

Sigma is a great shop too but would require a bit of a hike to Kingston.

Peter

bmf

Hi - ok Condor is my first stop. Will try to get there on Wednesday as they open late then.

If I get desperate Sigma is worth a go but it's halfway round London.

Went to Evans in Canary Wharf today - god they are crap. Limited stock, nearly every single helmet was on the wrong label and they had several with size "small" out. Who wouldn't put out "medium" to cover the widest range of people?

TheEnglishman

giant man wrote:

+1 - condors is a good shop for trying stuff on

Like asking for a 20% discount ?

bmf

So here is what I ended up doing.

I went to condor's. Great shop. Really great. I tried on several helmets. I liked the kask ones but they didn't have anything in my price range. I tried on a couple of Kask that fitted, including the K10. But it was over £100 - budget blown. I left having learnt more about good helmets but disappointed.

I went onto chainreactioncycles.com and to my surprise found Kask K10 older model for £64.99. I bought it - went for my first ride with it today and it's great. The date on the manufacture label is 12/10 which must be Dec 2012. I know helmets have around 3 years give or take. I figure as an intro to better cycling this is not a bad compromise.

on-yer-bike

December 2010, otherwise it hasnt been made yet and that really is a bargain!