Time trial helmets with visor

pianoman

At a recent bike fit I was recommended to use a long tail helmet I bought nearly a decade ago. When I used it at the Snowman Triathlon on Sunday I wanted eye protection so used it with sunglasses which are normally fine with my road helmet. However I was constantly adjusting the glasses throughout the 70k bike leg as I had to squint just to avoid getting double vision.

I notice how most of the newer helmets have built in visors and I'm thinking that they would be safer for me (please note I am NOT the type who wants to be lazy and just "buy" speed, I've had enough of such threads, however I've signed up for a half Ironman next year and the last thing I want to do is crash out).

So I wondered if anyone had had any good experiences with TT helmets with built in visors, preferably long ta as suggested at my fit (which BTW was fantastic and saved two and a half minutes at the Darley Moor duathlon in May)

58585

Built-in visors can be good and bad - generally better visibility with them I find, the frame on sunglasses often sits just a bit too low so I need to tilt my head back. Only drawbacks I have found are in humid conditions - a steamed visor isn't fun at TT speeds and depending on the design it isn't easy to remove at speed, plus where do you store it.

Was the recommendation for a long tail based on any testing or just from looking at your position on a trainer? Long tail can be great but if you get tired and start moving your head round you will lose a lot of (all?) the benefit. It's also not easy to know what works without testing, personally the Sworks is pretty good for me for both head down and head up. Aerohead also gets a generally good review for most people. The Bell Javelin is a proven helmet for a longer tail option.

fenix

What sunglasses do you have ? I'd look at changing those first as the cheaper option. Plenty of frameless ones out there.

My jawbreakers work fine with my long tailed Giro helmet.

simon_e

If you already have a helmet that fits well and works then I'd second the suggestion to look at different sunglasses first. Bolle safety glasses are dirt cheap and there are lots of different styles and choice of tints.

I find that on warm days with the visor my head gets hot in the Javelin so I sometimes leave it off for ventilation but for fast descents or riding in rain the visor is better than sunglasses.

Darius_Jedburgh

I used to use Bolle safety glasses. They work well but had a tendency to slip down my nose. I picked up a s/h pair of Jawbreakers which never move but give an unobstructed field of view.

schlepcycling

You could do worse than this from Planet X https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HECAKROTT/carnac-kronus-time-trial-helmet

lakesluddite

Fenix wrote:

What sunglasses do you have ? I'd look at changing those first as the cheaper option. Plenty of frameless ones out there.

My jawbreakers work fine with my long tailed Giro helmet.

Indeed - these for example: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLCAEQEVO ... sunglasses

undapressure

Is there an updated version of your long tail with a visor? You can't just buy any long tail and assume that it will work, helmets are very individual. The S Works, Endura/D2Z and Met Drone tested poorly on me but the POC Tempor was really fast. The only helmets that seems to work on most positions are the Giro Aerohead and POC Cerebel.