Carnac aero road helmet

Irohug5

Anyone got one? £30 at the moment from PX so thought maybe worth a punt for crits and races rather than £160 I'm about to spend on an evade.

Be interesting to hear from anyone who has one as I can't find any reviews other than from Planet X themselves.

bigmat

Tried one on last weekend, size S/M I think it was but still fit my largish head so I think they size up fairly large. Seemed nicely finished and looks good, not sure how effective the vents are and it wasn't as secure a fit as my Air Attack but probably worth a punt at £80. Bell Star Pro reduced at Ribble might be worth a look too.

stronginthesun

sounds a bargain at £30 . I have a 58/59 head . its saying on the px website that there is only one size that fits most heads . would it fit mine ? too far away to consider a drive and a try on

Irohug5

I'm in same position. Usually around a 58. Seems good value for £30 but can't find a single review anywhere outside of Planet X site.

fenix

Some interesting aero reviews here - http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/arti ... ted-44719/

rudivoller22

I read that bike radar review. Was interesting but then I saw some of the manufacturers weren't happy with the way the tests were done. Surprisingly Giro (whose products came out pretty poorly) objected loudest http://www.giro.com/eu_en/statement-fro ... editorial/

I'm guessing the Planet X/Carnac aero helmet is cheap because it's rubbish - I may have unfairly reached that conclusion but there are no reviews, and more poignantly Planet X themselves don't even bother to make any claims about its aero benefits other than to say it's aerodynamic. Everyone else will claim 10 watts saving, or 49 seconds over a 40km ride etc etc - but no such claims with Carnac. So I'm guessing they either haven't bothered testing it (likely) or they did and it faired so badly they can't use it in marketing.

Like anything I guess you get what you pay for.

wasp707

To be fair to PlanetX some of their aero gear was recently tested at the National Windtunnel in Glasgow. There's a video on the Cycling Weekly website. The Aero Helmet saved 18 Watts compared to a non-aero vented helmet. However, one of their aero bikes didn't appear to be aero at all.

Irohug5

That's really useful thanks.

matt_n-2

Irohug5 wrote:

That's really useful thanks.

Agreed.

And at £30 it's £1.66 per watt saved as per the video which lists it at £80.

fenix

Very interesting. 18w on shoe covers too and 32w for a skin suit. The aero bike saved a few watts but 50mm deep wheels were no better than the 30mm deep.

matt_n-2

stronginthesun wrote:

sounds a bargain at £30 . I have a 58/59 head . its saying on the px website that there is only one size that fits most heads . would it fit mine ? too far away to consider a drive and a try on

Listed as 55-59cm so should?

stronginthesun

clicked the buy button will let you know what I think once it turns up

rudivoller22

Me too just ordered a white one. For £30 it's worth a punt. Will feedback when I get it

trek_dan

Tempted for £30. Although I doubt they'd be allowed in the 'roadman' category I enter in local TT events as they are non vented and kind of the cusp of being a TT helmet.

supermurph09

stronginthesun wrote:

sounds a bargain at £30 . I have a 58/59 head . its saying on the px website that there is only one size that fits most heads . would it fit mine ? too far away to consider a drive and a try on

I do not believe this true, I drove up to Sheffield to buy one (when at full price), went into the shop, looked the helmet and then realised it only came in small. This was confirmed by the miserable git behind the counter. As I'd drove up I thought I'd try it anyway on my 58cm head, no chance was that going on, so left the store empty handed. The next day when the price drop to £29.99 kicked in I was quite relieved as I would have been annoyed paying £90 the day before.

I have to say the PX shopping experience is not what it was, they had two guys in the shop when I walked in, neither of whom so much acknowledged me or offered any suggestion about alternate products once I asked about the helmet.

I cannot think of any reason why they would only sell a helmet in small?????????

trek_dan

They'll only sell you an aero helmet if you have a small aerodynamic swede?

fenix

Maybe thats the only size they had left and hence the low price ?

You can find the Kask Infinity for £99 - that might be worth a look. Sky are still using that - so it's not a dog and I've worn it in fairly warm weather (for the UK).

stronginthesun

well its turned up and I have to say im impressed , I have a 58 head but on the the box it said s/m , anyway tried it on and it fits perfectly with plenty of adjustment at the back either way . looks a lot more than £30 . only downside is the inner is not removeable for washing , which I would probably never do anyway . a quick spray of lynx is quicker . had to go to work so a road test tomorrow

JesseD

stronginthesun wrote:

well its turned up and I have to say im impressed , I have a 58 head but on the the box it said s/m , anyway tried it on and it fits perfectly with plenty of adjustment at the back either way . looks a lot more than £30 . only downside is the inner is not removeable for washing , which I would probably never do anyway . a quick spray of lynx is quicker . had to go to work so a road test tomorrow

Any chance you can take some photos of how it looks on your head?

I am curious to see how high it sits, and what it looks like from the front and side.

I am beginning to think that all aero road helmets look like mushroom place on top of a head.

Yes vanity I know but how it looks is important too :roll:

matt_n-2

Back up to £99 today and only available in blue/fluro, very odd?

trek_dan

Not for me? Use the 15% off code and its actually brings it down to £25.50..

JesseD

Just checked the page and the Blue/Fluro, White and the Union Jack ones are all £29.99 and the Black/White and Matt Black are £39.99 (which is a tenner more than yesterday).

I am wondering if the fluro on the blue/fluro helmet is a yellow fluro or a green fluro, hard to tell from my computer screen? Anyone know?

trek_dan

I'm sure black and union jack were £40 yesterday too.
If it matches the Planet X Northside racing team kit its right in between green/yellow. More on the green side by my eyes. Although their pro team wears Giro helmets and shoes rather than PX/Carnac so no actual pictures of the helmets on their Instagram account :roll:
I'm going to take a punt on matt white colourway for £25.50.

supermurph09

stronginthesun wrote:

well its turned up and I have to say im impressed , I have a 58 head but on the the box it said s/m , anyway tried it on and it fits perfectly with plenty of adjustment at the back either way . looks a lot more than £30 . only downside is the inner is not removeable for washing , which I would probably never do anyway . a quick spray of lynx is quicker . had to go to work so a road test tomorrow

Pity PX didn't take the time to show me how much adjustment could be done. When I tried it, it barely went on.

fenix

I know my Infinity came with the cradle all tucked up inside the helmet - it was a tiny fit.
But if you pull the cradle down to where it should be - it fitted normally.

I know at least one person on here didn't realise that and sent the helmet back as being waaay too small.

Maybe something similar ?

matt_n-2

trek_dan wrote:

Not for me? Use the 15% off code and its actually brings it down to £25.50..

Oops, for some reason I looked at the normal version.

I'm very tempted to give this a go at under £30 delivered for the matt White.

stronginthesun

went out for a ride in it today and all seems fine , very little wind noise which I guess is down to lack of vents . fits fine and you forget its there which is always a good sign . bit odd that on the box it says small/medium when my head has always been a large 58 . my head didn't get hot but there again it was only 16 degrees . the person who wanted pics ? well it doesn't look odd and I think it looks a lot more money than it was . go for it today with the 15 percent off . bargain

MikeBrew

My main concern would be that with any concerted efforts there could be overheating, due to the lack of vents. In the event of which, you'd lose way more than the tiny amount of watts that were saved by any aero benefit. Then you end up a very clear triumph of form over function.

JesseD

MikeBrew wrote:

My main concern would be that with any concerted efforts there could be overheating, due to the lack of vents. In the event of which, you'd lose way more than the tiny amount of watts that were saved by any aero benefit. Then you end up a very clear triumph of form over function.

Id tend to agree with you, be interesting to see from those who have bought them if this is the case, the 4 small vents in the front don't look like they would suck much air in despite the big vents at the back?

May hold off from purchasing one until someone can confirm (by then with PX pricing it may go up to £3000 )

MikeBrew

The other thing is that the I can't see (I may have missed it) where it states that it conforms to BSEN1078. Wiggle have a blanket statement that any helmets they sell do conform to that standard. I'm not sure whether it's a statutory requirement yet (it didn't used to be) so some manufacturers may simply not bother to get their's tested and approved to this standard...That aside, surely the one size fits all approach of the Carnac has implicit safety compromises as far as all users being able to achieve their correct individual fit goes.
In my view a cheap helmet that fails to protect your bonce if the event of a fall is only a bargain, if you can source a similarly cheap replacement head. And no, I don't want to get into debate with the anti helmet lobby. :!:

The Carnac does look lovely though, doesn't it.

matt_n-2

Yeh that's true it doesn't state it, but surely it must confirm to a standard?

Here's the aero data video link incase anyone can't find it:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/videos/c ... -bang-buck

I'm gonna give a matte white one a go at £25.